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Slumping White Sox pay a visit to Yankee Stadium

Apr 25, 2011 - 3:16 PM (Sports Network) - The Chicago White Sox's current 11-game road trip has been just short of disastrous so far. A trip to the Bronx isn't likely to help get the club on track either.

Having won just once in their past 11 games overall, the White Sox will try to end New York's season-best three-game winning streak this evening with a rare victory at Yankee Stadium in the opener of a four-game series.

Chicago has scored more than three runs just once in its past 10 games and is 1-6 so far on its road trip. The White Sox were just swept in three games by the Detroit Tigers over the weekend, getting outscored 21-3 in the series and losing the last two games by way of a shutout. They didn't score in the final 20 innings of the set, losing Sunday's finale, 3-0.

Juan Pierre and A.J. Pierzynski both had two hits in defeat, but couldn't get enough going to support John Danks, who gave up three runs in six innings in a solid start just one day after a 9-0 defeat.

"There's nothing you can do about it but move on," White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said of the loss. "You have to be ready for the next day because you never know what's going to happen."

Recent history may clue Guillen on what to expect in this series. The White Sox are 1-5 in six games since the new Yankee Stadium opened prior to 2009 and have lost eight of the past 10 meetings overall.

Starter Philip Humber hopes tonight is the night the White Sox get it going against the Yankees. He has lost back-to-back starts, giving up four runs in 5 1/3 innings of a setback at the Rays on Wednesday. The 28-year-old fell to 1-2 with a 4.42 earned run average in five games this year, including three starts.

The right-handed Humber will face the Yankees for the first time in his career and his debut against the club may go smoother if Adam Dunn can get his bat on track. The slugger has just two hits in his last 30 at-bats (.067) with one RBI, 15 strikeouts and no home runs.

Dunn is 3-for-14 in his career with a pair of RBI and five strikeouts against Yankees right-hander A.J. Burnett, who draws the start tonight.

Burnett won his first three starts of the season, but did not factor in last Tuesday's 6-5 setback at Toronto. Burnett gave up three runs -- two earned -- on six hits, but also walked five over 5 1/3 innings with six strikeouts.

The 34-year-old, who has a 4.37 ERA through his four starts, is 2-4 with a 5.58 ERA in seven career starts against the White Sox.

New York is on its longest win streak of the season after sweeping a rain- shortened two-game set with the Orioles. The Yankees won Sunday's finale, 6-3, in 11 innings, getting run-scoring hits from Russell Martin, Derek Jeter and Curtis Granderson.

Granderson finished 3-for-5 with a two-run homer, hitting .424 (14-for-33) over an eight-game hitting streak with nine RBI. He has four homers in his last five games and has been key in New York winning seven of its last nine.

After getting the final out of the eighth inning, New York closer Mariano Rivera failed to hold a one-run lead in the ninth inning. The game-tying hit he allowed to Brian Roberts nearly plated the go-ahead run as well, but Robinson Cano completed a game-saving relay to gun down the runner.

"That's one of the more underrated things about Robinson Cano, is how quick he's able to transfer the ball, his arm strength, considering how far he has to go out and typically go away from the play," Granderson said. "[He] makes a great throw and ends up getting a speedy runner at the plate to go ahead and keep us in the ballgame."

Setup man Rafael Soriano was not available on Sunday due to lower back tightness, but the ailment isn't believed to be serious and he could return to action as early as tonight.

Derek Jeter finished yesterday's game with four hits, moving him past Frank Robinson (2,943) for 30th place on the all-time list with 2,945 as he continues to close in on the 3,000-hit milestone.