Good ol' Johnny Danks - Game Preview & Lineups 5/2

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With 3 wins against this year, a trip to Cleveland might be just the cure to the White Sox little losing skid. A battle of promise never quite  fulfilled in John Danks against promise still yet to be fulfilled in Danny Salazar. The two faced off in the last series, and a repeat of that would be just fine by me.

Three weeks ago, Johnny Danks threw the second of four straight quality starts. In 6 innings against Cleveland he allowed 3 runs. This works out to about what is currently his average start for 2014. Salazar’s average run allowance is similar, albeit in lesser innings contributed per outing. And while Danks is coming off of his worst start of the year, Salazar is riding high on his best, a 7 inning 1-run affair against the Giants.

The White Sox offense has been having a battle of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde of late. In the last week they’ve had two 9-run outbursts bookend a shutout, and have tallied 4 runs in their last two combined games immediately following a 7-run contribution. What comes next, nobody knows, but it may have just as much to do with which Salazar shows up as which

Including the short series against the Tigers as indictment of the White Sox having trouble putting up runs might be unfair. They pulled Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer and that’s a tough pull. Nobody did terribly, everybody that started got a hit, just nobody got hot, nobody saw either pitcher well enough to hit for much power save for a couple of doubles from the picture of smart hitting Dayan Viciedo. Against a couple of potential Cy Young candidates, who can be blamed? Tonight they’ve got less to worry about. Danny Salazar is not half as scary.

The Indians offense has no aces to blame. They’ve had a rough start, bottom half of the league in wRC+ as well as pretty much every other offensive category. Enough to get them some national coverage on their struggles. With Jason Kipnis on the DL, the Sox may have caught a bit of a break there though as is often the case, his Sox-killer status is overblown. His .885 OPS against the team ranks 9th against opponents, landing in between the divisional Twins and Royals.

Today’s Lineup:

  1. Eaton – CF
  2. Beckham – 2B
  3. Abreu – 1B
  4. Dunn - DH
  5. Viciedo - RF
  6. Ramirez – SS
  7. De Aza – LF
  8. Semien – 3B
  9. Nieto - C

John Danks - SP

Indians Lineup:

  1. Bourn – CF
  2. Aviles – 3B
  3. Swisher – 1B
  4. Santana – DH
  5. Raburn – RF
  6. Brantley – LF
  7. Cabrera – SS
  8. Gomes – C
  9. Johnson – 2B

Danny Salazar - SP

Where to Watch:

Today’s game will be broadcast on CSN and SportsTime Ohio.  6:05 Central start time.