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Indians-White Sox Preview

Jun 4, 2009 - 11:49 PM By MATT BEARDMORE STATS Writer

Cleveland (23-32) at Chicago (25-27), 8:11 p.m. EDT

The Chicago White Sox haven't had much luck this season against pitchers they've faced for the first time. They may do better stepping into the box against one they faced last month.

Chicago opens a three-game set at U.S. Cellular Field on Friday night when they face a struggling Cleveland Indians club that needs another quality start from Carl Pavano.

On Thursday, the White Sox (25-28) lost 7-0 to Oakland and dropped to 1-7 this season when facing a pitcher for the first time. Rookie Brett Anderson held Chicago to six hits over seven innings.

"Maybe we try to acknowledge too much who we're going to face, maybe," said manager Ozzie Guillen, whose team has been shut out twice in the last three games and a major league-high eight times this year. "To me, the philosophy is see the ball, put the best swing on the ball and see what happens."

Chicago is batting just .220 at home this season.

"Some statistics lie - that one doesn't," said first baseman Paul Konerko, hitting .261 at U.S. Cellular Field.

The White Sox will try to get their bats going against Pavano (5-4, 5.29 ERA), who picked up the win over them on May 11 in a 9-4 victory. Making his first appearance against Chicago since June 16, 2004, Pavano allowed four runs and 10 hits.

Pavano went 5-1 with a 3.60 ERA in seven May starts after going 0-3 with a 9.50 ERA in April.

The right-hander nearly became the first Cleveland pitcher to win six games in a month since Chuck Finley in September 2000. Pavano left Sunday's 5-4 win over the New York Yankees with a 4-2 lead, but the bullpen could not hold the lead after he had yielded three runs and seven hits over 7 1-3 innings.

"I left some balls up and got away with some pitches, but the defense did a great job behind me," Pavano told the Indians' official Web site.

Cleveland (23-33) has won six of Pavano's last seven starts.

John Danks (4-3, 4.80) gets the start for the White Sox, who are looking to snap a three-game slide. The left-hander looks for an extended outing after pitching six or fewer innings in his last seven starts. Chicago, though, has won his last three starts.

"Personally, I could be sharper and stay in the game longer and all that," Danks told the White Sox' official Web site. "But as long as we are winning, everyone is happy and I can go from there."

Danks, however, is 1-4 with a 5.31 ERA in eight career starts against the Indians.

In the lineup at third base and batting eighth Thursday just 364 days after Chicago took him eighth in the 2008 draft, Gordon Beckham went 0 for 3 with a strikeout in his major league debut.

"I felt pretty calm up there, as calm as could be," he said. "I swung at a couple of bad pitches. I think that came from the anxiety of having my first at-bat in the big leagues."

Cleveland's Chris Gimenez homered in the seventh inning of Thursday's 11-3 loss to Minnesota for his first major league hit. He added a single in the ninth.

Victor Martinez went 0 for 4 Thursday as the Indians lost for the fifth time in seven games. Martinez is among the AL batting leaders at .346.

Travis Hafner could rejoin Cleveland's lineup Friday after missing the past 35 games with right shoulder soreness following offseason surgery. He is batting .270 with four home runs and eight RBIs.

The Indians have lost eight of the last 10 at Chicago's South Side ballpark.