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White Sox-Yankees Preview

May 1, 2010 - 4:51 AM By KATE HEDLIN STATS Writer

Chicago (9-13) at New York (14-7), 1:05 p.m. EDT

Derek Jeter helped the New York Yankees end April on a high note, even drawing praise from Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen.

Jeter will have another chance to pad his stats against the White Sox on Saturday when the teams continue a three-game series at Yankee Stadium.

New York went 15-7 during April, capped by a 6-4 win over the White Sox on Friday. Last year, the Yankees went 12-10 in April en route to winning their 27th World Series title.

New York was forced to rally from an early 3-0 deficit Friday after Paul Konerko hit his major league-leading 11th home run in April, setting a White Sox record.

Jeter tied the game at 4 in the fifth with a two-run homer, and added a two-run tiebreaking triple in the seventh. Over his last three games, Jeter is batting .538 with six RBIs after going 0 for 9 in the previous two contests.

"If Jeter wasn't in the lineup, we win the game," Guillen said. "It's fun to watch that guy play the game."

Jeter has been a big part in helping New York dominate Guillen's team over the last few seasons. He's batting .436 in a nine-game hitting streak against the White Sox, and New York has won six straight and 12 of 14 at home versus Chicago.

The White Sox (9-14) closed April by losing three of four to finish with its worst opening-month record since 2001 when they went 8-15.

Chicago hopes to start turning things around in May by sending John Danks (3-0, 1.55 ERA) to the mound.

Danks has been one of the rare bright spots on a struggling rotation, which has a 5.22 ERA. He's given up five earned runs over 29 innings in his first four starts, and allowed two runs in eight innings of a 3-2 win over Seattle on Sunday.

The left-hander is 2-1 against the Yankees, but has a 6.06 ERA in those outings which includes a start in New York in 2007.

Jeter is 3 for 10 in his career against Danks.

The Yankees will hand the ball to Javier Vazquez (1-3, 9.00), who faces the White Sox for the first time since they traded him to Atlanta in 2008 after three seasons in Chicago.

Vazquez, back in New York after pitching for the Yankees in 2004, has failed to make it through the sixth in any of his four starts and has surrendered 20 runs in 20 innings. He went 3 2-3 innings against Los Angeles on Saturday, giving up five runs in an 8-4 loss to the Angels.

"It's kind of embarrassing right now, the way I'm throwing the ball," Vazquez said. "I'm not doing the job."

The right-hander is 3-0 with a 1.88 ERA against the White Sox, but hasn't faced them since 2005 while with Arizona.

Konerko has one homer in 10 career at-bats against his former teammate.