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White Sox-Indians Preview

May 13, 2009 - 4:16 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Chicago (14-17) at Cleveland (12-21), 12:05 p.m. EDT

Cleveland's Cliff Lee is the reigning AL Cy Young Award winner, but Chicago's Mark Buehrle is currently pitching like someone worthy of the honor.

The two aces square off Wednesday when the White Sox and Indians meet in the finale of a three-game set at Progressive Field.

A lack of run support has contributed to Lee (1-5, 3.45 ERA) already losing more games than he did in 2008, when he was 22-3. Buehrle (5-0, 2.61), meanwhile, is off to the best start of his 10-year career.

He looks to become the first White Sox pitcher since Wilson Alvarez in 1994 to win his first six decisions.

"I feel so lucky," Buehrle said. "It's an honor to pitch in the major leagues. It's a kid's game and I try to have as much fun as I can, win or lose."

Pitching on five days' rest due to a rainout, the left-hander was perfect through 6 1-3 innings against Detroit on Thursday. He allowed one hit and struck out five over eight frames in the White Sox's 6-0 win.

"He's a guy when you go out there you better be on your toes, because something is going to happen," manager Ozzie Guillen told the White Sox's official Web site.

Buehrle is 8-12 with a 4.85 ERA in 32 starts against the Indians. He also allowed 13 earned runs in 6 2-3 innings over two starts in Cleveland last season.

Lee is 5-5 with a 5.42 ERA in 17 starts against Chicago (15-17), but went 1-0 with a 0.53 ERA in two starts versus the White Sox last year.

The left-hander gave up one run and seven hits in eight innings of a 1-0 loss to the Tigers on Friday.

"I felt I did everything I could to give the team a chance to win," Lee told the Indians' official Web site. "So many other aspects of the game are out of my hands."

Lee is 0-3 with a 1.74 ERA in his last four starts, but has received two runs of support during that span.

Former Indian Jim Thome is batting .208 (5 for 24) against Lee, but hit a pair of two-run homers in Chicago's 7-4 win on Tuesday after Cleveland (12-22) won 9-4 a day earlier.

Thome is 4-for-7 with four runs scored in his last two games after entering the series batting .198.

"It's hard when you're struggling," said Thome, who has 547 homers and trails Mike Schmidt by one for 13th on the all-time list. "You have to understand there are going to be hard times and they're sure not fun to go through."

The White Sox - 3-7 since last winning two in a row from April 29-May 1 - are expected to be without left fielder Carlos Quentin for a second straight game because of a heel problem. Quentin is batting .237 with eight homers and 18 RBIs.

Asdrubal Cabrera had two hits with an RBI on Tuesday and is 6 for 14 in his last three games for the Indians, who have lost five of six and are last in the AL Central.

"We have to keep trying," said manager Eric Wedge, who received a vote of confidence from general manager Mark Shapiro on Tuesday. "Now we have to try and win the series. We're working to string something together."