Chicago ? No one mocks the White Sox, not after what happened last year.

Last week the Detroit Tigers tried very, very hard not to rub it in, even while they were pulling further in front of the Sox.

And no way did the Minnesota Twins dare go ha-ha-ha (or na-na-na) after a three-game sweep on the World Series kings’ home field.

“That’s a great baseball team over there,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, not gloating for a second after a 7-4 victory Wednesday tied them with the Sox for second place.

“I don’t see them falling apart or falling away. Ozzie (Guillen) does a super job with that team. Everybody goes into a bit of a funk. I guarantee you they’ll be there at the end.”

Oh, but the Twins do have good reason to needle the Sox a little.

They swept this series without using Francisco Liriano (12-2), whose 1.93 earned-run average is the best in the majors.

They won the series finale without using Joe Mauer, whose batting average of .375 is the best in the majors.

Their pitcher Wednesday was Carlos Silva (6-9), whose 6.84 ERA is the worst in the majors.

They didn’t even have the services of outfielders Shannon Stewart or Torii Hunter, both of whom were hurt.

And yet after being 12 games out of first place as recently as July 15 and looking dead in their tracks, here the Twins are, dead even with the Sox.

“Even when we were playing as badly as we were, we still played with enthusiasm,” said right fielder Michael Cuddyer, who homered off a 79 m.p.h. Mark Buehrle changeup in the first inning. “Finally we were able to turn the ship around.”

That ship analogy seems to be a theme up north in Viking land, seeing as how Minnesota’s manager used it as well. Gardenhire had just been asked how the Twins managed not only to catch the Sox but to catch them so quickly.

“Where we’ve been, we didn’t know if we’d ever catch anybody,” Gardenhire said. “We just have to ride our own ship. Where it takes us, you never know.”

Meanwhile, would somebody please send out an SOS to all the ships at sea, or at least on Lake Michigan?

Save Our Sox.

The vessel isn’t sinking, but it sure has sprung a leak. Outscored a sickly 65-42 since the All-Star break, the Sox soon are going to be sick of saying there’s lots of time left, that everything’s going to be just fine.

Their right to brag about having the second-best record in baseball no longer applies. Several teams now have marks up there with the Sox’s, while those running-wild Tigers are beginning to vanish from view.

The only Sox pitcher to win since the All-Star break has been Jon Garland … and even he got yelled at by his manager in front of the whole world.

Jim Thome is 4-for-29 over his last eight games. Joe Crede went 5-for-23 on this homestand. A.J. Pierzynski is 6-for-38 and Paul Konerko 8-for-40 since the All-Star Game.

Detroit refuses to lose. Minnesota has won 34 of its last 42. Their ships and the South Side of Chicago’s are traveling in the opposite direction, Chicago’s very definitely going south.

“People keep saying we’re on a streak,” Gardenhire said. “Streaks don’t last this long. Streaks don’t last a month and a half, two months.”

Does that apply to bad streaks as well? The Sox are on a bad one, trying very hard not to abandon ship.