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Danks goes for third win as White Sox host Mariners

Apr 27, 2009 - 1:18 AM CHICAGO (AP) -- The Chicago White Sox got the best of the Seattle Mariners last season, but maybe that was because John Danks didn't start any of those meetings.

The White Sox will send Danks to the mound Monday in the opener of a three-game home series against the Mariners.

Chicago (9-9) went 5-1 against Seattle (12-7) in 2008, thanks in part to the hot bats of Carlos Quentin, A.J. Pierzynski and Paul Konerko. Quentin went 10-for-24 with six RBIs and eight runs scored, Pierzynski was 9-for-22 with four RBIs and Konerko 7-for-18 with four RBIs versus the Mariners last year.

Danks (2-0, 0.95 ERA) did not face the Mariners last season, and his only three outings against them were all losses when he was a rookie two years ago. He posted a 7.31 ERA in those games, allowing five homers over 16 innings.

The left-hander has pitched very well this season and is seeking a third straight win. He yielded one run over seven innings Wednesday in an 8-2 victory over Baltimore in an outing in which he felt he was forced to work hard.

"It's a good game, obviously, on paper, but I didn't have a lot of fun," Danks said. "After the third, I had 60 pitches and I was hoping just to get through five, maybe to the sixth. The goal is to get deeper in the game and get more efficient. As the game went on, that's what I did."

The White Sox believe Monday's game against Seattle rookie Chris Jakubauskas (1-2, 7.11) is critical since they will face Seattle's Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard in the final two games of this series.

"Hernandez and Bedard throw the ball good and so do we," manager Ozzie Guillen told the White Sox's official Web site. "Hopefully it's going to be good competition this week and we get the best of it."

Chicago fell below .500 at home (4-5) after losing two of three over the weekend to Toronto. The White Sox failed to score over the final six innings of Sunday's 4-3 loss, and they don't want to drop another series at home.

"Seattle is a good team," Konerko said. "But we just lost two of three and need to try to win at least two of three to make it a good homestand."

The Mariners had a three-game winning streak snapped with an 8-0 loss to the Los Angeles Angels on Sunday. Seattle managed only five singles after scoring 17 runs in winning the first two games of that three-game set.

Designated hitter Ken Griffey Jr. will return to face the White Sox - for whom he played 41 games last year to help the club win the AL Central title.

"Those were two of the best months of my career," Griffey told the Mariners' official Web site. "Everything about it was good."

Seattle will give Jakubauskas his third start of the season. He has lost his first two, giving up six runs over 3 1-3 innings Wednesday in a 9-3 loss to Tampa Bay.

The right-hander, who spent five seasons pitching in independent leagues before being signed by Seattle in 2007, has never faced the White Sox.