Before kicking off a four-game weekend set in Boston — where Paul Konerko launched home run No. 26 on Saturday — the White Sox got the week started with a series win over the Royals. The South Siders began that series in thrilling fashion, piecing together a seventh-inning rally led by Danny Richar’s clutch home run.

Seven games and the only salvageable details are two home runs, lest we dwell on the Sox’ 9-16 record for the month, Ryan Bukvich giving up five runs while recording zero outs Saturday or A.J. Pierzynski’s team-leading .267 average. Unbelievable.

Which begs the question: at what point does the rest of the season become unjustifiable? The Sox stand 16 games out of first (1 game out of fourth) and the Tragic Number is already down to 17 with 31 games left to play. 5-26 is all that’s keeping them from joining the century club, and the Indians have to be licking their chops over the three games they’re going to gain on the Tigers courtesy of the Good Guys.

Pods is hurt again. Jim Thome keeps tweaking upper-body muscles. Grindy McGrinderstad has played in all of 68 games. The only batter with a respectable batting average is now playing for the Padres. Jose Contreras’ win today over the D-Rays to get to 7-16 was his first as a starter since June. Joe Crede may never play another game in a Sox uniform. Only five Sox players are hitting over .250. Paul Konerko’s team-high 77 RBIs are good for 26th in the AL. Alex Rodriguez has knocked in more runners than the Sox’ entire outfield; Jose Reyes and Juan Pierre each have more stolen bases than the Sox’ entire team.

It should be clear by now just how little good can come from the Sox playing the rest of this season. Hilarity? Yes. Disgust? Possibly. Civic shame? Absolutely. So we might at least have an entertaining fight for the basement to look forward to.

And hey, remember when Danny Richar hit that clutch home run against the Royals last week? That was awesome.

The Cubs score two cheap runs on two cheap wind-carried home runs. As payback the Sox, the mighty Sox, the South Side Hitmen, the Sleeping Giants from the Tough Part of Town answer with one cheap wind-carried home run of their own, then stick with the script and hand the game over in the 9th. Meanwhile 12 Sox go down on strikes. Cubs 5, Sox 1.

It wasn’t all bad news, however: The Most Grindy Man In The World finally discovered the secret to keeping a Sox hitter’s average from plummeting.

No sooner was this game over than my phone started beeping to life with all kinds of baseball-related messages. Things like “Sox suck,” “Sox really suck,” “I hate the Sox,” and “I hate the Cubs.”

You and me both, friends. You and me both.