Danks, Ramirez lead Sox to 4-1 win over Cubs

Drive for show. Pitch and putt for dough - not to mention first blood.

On an overcast Wednesday afternoon that featured a cool breeze off the lake, the White Sox won the season's first of six matchups with the Cubs thanks to John Danks' brilliant start and a startlingly effective short game.

After Alexei Ramirez set the tone with a solo homer into the basket on the game's 11th pitch, Scott Podsednik's perfect suicide squeeze and Paul Konerko's textbook hit-and-run single highlighted the White Sox's small-ball attack as they outmaneuvered the Cubs 4-1 before 40,444 at Wrigley Field.

"That's what we haven't been doing in the series before this one," Podsednik said. "And that's what we needed to clean up a little bit: The way we handle the bats; getting guys over and getting guys in with less than two outs.

"The team that takes the field and is able to do those things consistently is going to win games."

Which brings us to the faltering Cubs (30-31), who've posted a grand total of 10 runs in their last six games.

They had runners on first and second with nobody out in the second, but couldn't score as Reed Johnson's double play slowed the momentum.

Then they put runners on first and third with nobody out in the fourth, but Derrek Lee, Geovany Soto and Johnson couldn't find a way to help Ryan Theriot negotiate the final 90 feet.

The Cubs went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position, which looked suspiciously similar to recent White Sox efforts.

No wonder Sox fans, certainly the minority in the sellout crowd, made the majority of the noise at Wrigley.

Lethargic Cubs bats begat legarthic Cubs fans.

"To tell you the truth, today it wasn't all that intense," said right fielder Milton Bradley, who contributed a pair of bloop singles to the Cubs' 6-hit effort.

"We just went down way too easy today and never really got started."

Danks, who delivered his second consecutive sterling start, had a lot to do with that for the Sox (31-34).

Starting with his first batter, when Cubs leadoff man Alfonso Soriano fished unsuccessfully for a full-count changeup that dipped out of the strike zone, Danks' blend of fastballs and changeups couldn't be centered by the hosts.

In his 7-plus innings, Danks posted 9 strikeouts without a walk to drop his ERA from 4.81 to 4.48. Theriot's sixth-inning lineout to left served as the Cubs' only scorched ball against the 24-year-old lefty.

Danks' 71-strike, 28-ball performance was in sharp contrast to Cubs starter Ryan Dempster, who walked a season-high 6 in 6-plus innings while throwing 53 balls and 51 strikes.

"Dempster was different. Last year he shut us down," said White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen. "That's the best I've seen (Danks) throw the ball in a while. I think the key in this game was John Danks."

Well, that and the Sox' ability to do whatever necessary to produce insurance runs in the seventh and eighth.

With runners on the corners and one out in the seventh, Guillen sent Chris Getz flying to the plate on Angel Guzman's first pitch to Podsednik. Not only did Podsednik put down the suicide bunt, he beat everybody to first for a single.

Then, in the eighth, pinch-runner Dewayne Wise took off on a 2-2 pitch that Paul Konerko steered for a hit-and-run single into the spot vacated by second baseman Aaron Miles. Wise flew in on A.J. Pierzynski's sacrifice fly to short left to make it 4-0.

"They executed a good squeeze bunt and we didn't do much offensively," said Cubs manager Lou Piniella. "That's about it. That's the game in a nutshell."

Nonetheless, Guillen tried to stop Cubs fans from going nuts.

"Just people in Chicago relax," he said. "Quit panicking. Worry about something (else). Worry about their family, their kids going back to school and having good grades.

"Don't worry about the Cubs. They'll be fine."

<div class="infoBox"> <h1>More Coverage</h1> <div class="infoBoxContent"> <div class="infoArea"> <h2>Photo Galleries</h2> <ul class="gallery"> <li><a href="/story/?id=301318">Gallery: Cubs vs. Sox (June 17) </a></li> </ul> <h2>Stories</h2> <ul class="links"> <li><a href="/story/?id=301255">Rozner: Cubs stuck in rut thanks to ownership limbo<span class="date"> [6/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301263">Piniella facing 'tough decisions'<span class="date"> [6/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301282">Sox give thanks to Danks<span class="date"> [6/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301286">Cubs notes: Excitement's missing in series opener<span class="date"> [6/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301296">Sox notes: Is city series losing some luster?<span class="date"> [6/17/09]</span></a></li> <li><a href="/story/?id=301306">Notes from the front lines<span class="date"> [6/17/09]</span></a></li> </ul> </div> </div> </div>