Armed and rarin' to go
Once again, the fate of the White Sox' season rests on the arms of young pitchers John Danks and Gavin Floyd as the ALDS switches venues to the South Side.
Not a bad option, according to those in the know.
"They're the best two pitchers going that we've had all year," said Sox starter Mark Buehrle, who picked up a tough loss Friday in St. Petersburg. "They're young guys that haven't been in a playoff game yet, except the (play-in game), but they're our two best guys.
"You
ask for two better guys to be out there now."
Sox manager Ozzie Guillen was even more emphatic.
"Without those two guys, I wouldn't be sitting here right now," Guillen said prior to Saturday's off-day workout at U.S Cellular Field.
It all starts today with Danks, who's coming off a career-making performance - allowing just 2 hits over 8 innings - en route to a thrilling 1-0 victory over Minnesota in the play-in game Tuesday.
With the way the offense has been scuttling of late, Danks might need to turn in an encore performance if the Sox are to stay alive in the best-of-five series.
Danks (12-9), whose confidence appears sky-high following that win over the Twins, says bring it on.
"I definitely like being in these situations," he said. "I like being relied upon in a game like this.
"I think I did pretty well the other time and hopefully I can continue to pitch that way."
His manager hopes so, too.
"I hope he puts on a show like he did last time because I think he deserves it," Guillen said. "He's got fire. He wants to do good."
Like Danks, the Rays' Matt Garza is looking forward to getting his first playoff pitching performance under his belt.
"I'll enjoy every minute of it," said Garza, who was 11-9 in the regular season. "This is what you play 162 games for so why not enjoy it?"
Danks, who allowed 2 earned runs or less in 22 starts this season to tie Cleveland's Cliff Lee for the top spot in the AL, considers himself battle-tested after his duel with the Twins.
"This is the exact same thing as what we had on Tuesday," Danks said of the pressure of going to the bump for Game 3. "Tuesday was a playoff game for us. This is the same thing."
A victory Monday would set up a possible series-tying game Monday at the Cell with Floyd (17-8) on the mound.
"So win (Sunday) and we get Game 4 and get to get Gavin in there," Danks said. "Lose and, you know, go home."