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Athletics-White Sox Preview

Jul 31, 2010 - 4:57 AM By MATT BROWN STATS Editor

Oakland (51-50) at Chicago (57-44), 7:05 p.m. EDT

The Chicago White Sox don't seem to lose at home anymore.

John Danks hasn't lost anywhere lately.

Danks aims to win his fifth straight start and extend Chicago's home winning streak to 13 when the AL Central leader continues its weekend series with the Oakland Athletics on Saturday night.

The White Sox (58-44) dropped two of three in Oakland (51-51) last weekend but haven't lost since. They improved to 5-0 on their seven-game homestand with a 6-1 victory in Friday's series opener. It was their 12th consecutive home win - Chicago's longest such streak since a 13-game run July 1-Aug. 5, 1989, at the old Comiskey Park.

Gordon Beckham had two hits and two RBIs on Friday to help the White Sox improve to a season-best 14 games above .500.

Danks (11-7, 3.23 ERA) set the tone for this homestand Monday night, winning his career-best fourth consecutive start by holding Seattle to one run and six hits in eight innings of a 6-1 victory. The left-hander, who improved to 7-2 with a 2.83 ERA in his last nine outings, needs three wins over the next two months to surpass his career high of 13 set last year.

"I think I might be a little more aggressive now than I was even a couple years ago, but I think it's just quick innings, making them hit the ball early in the count and having guys make plays behind you," he said.

Danks is 4-0 with a 1.62 ERA in five starts against Oakland, yielding two earned runs or fewer in each.

Given that track record, A's starter Dallas Braden (5-7, 3.77) may need to pitch better than he did in Sunday's 6-4 victory over the White Sox. The left-hander gave up three runs over 6 1-3 innings - enough to earn his first win since pitching a perfect game against Tampa Bay on May 9, but not enough to impress Chicago manager Ozzie Guillen.

"He's a character, a goofy son of a gun. That's all I can say. I don't see anything special," Guillen said. "He throws strikes and changes speeds and he gives his team a good chance to win, but I don't see anything special. Congratulations on the perfect game but, if Mark Buehrle can throw a perfect game anybody can."

Braden, who was making his second start since a stint on the disabled list with elbow tightness, had been 0-5 over his previous nine outings. He surpassed Buehrle's eight-game drought last season for the most winless starts in major league history following a no-hitter.

"I can finally quit answering calls from the Oakland Zoo looking for their monkey," Braden said. "He's off my back and I'll be sending him home."

The A's might like to head home themselves after going 1-3 and totaling nine runs thus far on their six-game road trip. They had won nine of their previous 11 games.

All seven hits were singles in the series opener for Oakland, which has one homer - a solo shot by Kurt Suzuki on Wednesday - in its last five games. Suzuki went 2 for 3 on Friday, when he was the only Athletics player with more than one hit.