Danks and White Sox Offense Pound Orioles

John Danks is turning into one of the best pitchers in baseball. Just how good is he? He was good enough that Aubrey Huff said Danks' change up is as good as former Cy Young winner Johan Santana's. And Danks backed the praise last night by spinning another gem. He went 7 innings while giving up only 4 hits and one towering home run to Luke Scott in the White Sox' 8-2 victory over the Orioles. Danks is now 2-0 on the season and sports a miniscule 0.95 ERA. Chris Getz, Josh Fields, and Brian Anderson all had multi-hit games to aid Danks offensively. If Danks keeps on getting the run-support that he has gotten in the past two games, where the offense scored a total of 16 runs for him, he should have no problem winning 20 games this season.

As mentioned before, Danks was stellar. It's his third quality start of the season and he's only given up 2 runs in over 19 innings of work, both of which came on home runs. If you can remember how the other team scored against you without even thinking about it, that's saying something. Danks has only made three starts, but his last three outings should be proof that he has completely matured. He is still not as economical with his pitches as I like him to be, but the bottom line is, when he is in the game, the other team is going to have a very hard time scoring on him. Linebrink and Thornton closed the door on the game as they combined for two innings of work and one earned run. Thornton did not look too sharp, as he gave up a double to Nick Markakis and then a single to Aubrey Huff. The Orioles' second run came on a groundout to third. Overall, the pitching was stellar once again. It looks like the only man who hasn't proven anything yet in the rotation is Jose Contreras.

Offensively, the Sox got on Jeremy Guthrie early. Carlos Quentin knocked in Chris Getz in the first inning with a broken bat blooper over the third baseman's head. Getz, Fields, and Thome would provide the runs in the 2nd inning, giving the Sox a 4-0 lead. Luke Scott homered in the 5th to make it a three run game, but the Sox came storming back in the 7th with an opposite field two run homer from Josh Fields, his first of the season. The Sox then capped it off with a two run eighth, where Brian Anderson had a RBI double. Josh Fields was only a triple away from the cycle, as he broke out of his minor slump. Chris Getz went 3-4 with three runs scored and two batted in. Brian Anderson went 2-4 with a run batted in and is now batting .276 on the season, something that is very encoraging to all Sox fans. Anderson's defense is a premium to have. I wouldn't care if he hit .240, his defense in center is that valuable. Now that he is hitting and getting on base, it just gets better. Let's hope Brian keeps this up. Our center field problems might finally be solved. On a day where the middle of the order went just 3-17, the top and bottom of the order picked it up for the Sox big time. This is great to see. The lineup is clicking right now and this team seems to be back on track after that horrid loss on Tuesday.

With the series nodded at one, the White Sox will try to take the series tonight in the rubber match. It'll be Bartolo Colon vs. Adam Eaton. Let's all pray that Bartolo brings out his good stuff once again.

- Stan (White Sox writer)