After outscoring the struggling Tigers 20-5 over the weekend series, the best offensive team in the American League welcomed the young Oakland Athletics to the South Side of Chicago.
With the offense thriving, the White Sox gave the ball to Mark Buehrle, who had his start pushed back a game to face the lefty-dominated Oakland lineup.
Buehrle pitched like the stereotypical Mark Buehrle—lasting seven innings while yielding two runs on nine hits and two walks.
The problem on the cold night in Chicago was not the pitching staff.
Everyone brought into the game to pitch threw the ball and got outs, with the exception of Mike MacDougal who did not record an out against the two batters he faced.
No, the problem was the offense.
The American League leading offense mustered eight hits and a walk against the rookie left hander, Greg Smith, and company.
However, the South Side Hitmen were only able to plate one of those base runners.
Jim Thome and Paul Konerko, the three and four hitters respectively, went 0-8 with the only RBI and four strikeouts.
In addition, the bottom third of the line up, Joe Crede, Carlos Quentin, and Juan Uribe, went a combined 0-11 with three strike outs.
Nick Swisher and Orlando Cabrera provided most of the Sox offense. The one and two hitters went 4-7. Swisher added a walk and the White Sox lone run scored.
Without any sort of support behind the two newest White Sox, the South Siders dropped the opener of the series two to one.
John Danks gets the call on Tuesday afternoon against another young Oakland lefty, Dana Eveland.
Eveland is one and zero in two starts for the A's this season. He sports a minuscule .68 ERA with 13 strikeouts.
Danks, however, is coming off an outing where being called "roughed up" would be an understatement.
The 23 year-old, White Sox lefty lasted a mere two and a third innings while yielding seven runs on seven hits and three walks in his last start.
Danks will be looking to get his redemption, much like Buehrle and Javier Vazquez did, against an Oakland A's team that is sitting on top of the AL West.
The White Sox will look for a series split behind John Danks. Hopefully, the Sox bats will come alive against Oakland's Eveland.
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