White Sox' Danks not at all happy with himself

What happened to the White Sox' stellar starting pitching?

Since returning to U.S. Cellular Field - which is again becoming the Sox' House of Horrors - Philip Humber was about as far from perfect as you can get while allowing 9 runs over 5 innings in a 10-3 loss to the Red Sox on Thursday in the series opener.

It was John Danks' turn Friday night, and he was almost as bad as Humber.

In yet another 10-3 loss to Boston, Danks was way off his game again, allowing 7 runs on 6 hits and 4 walks in 5 innings.

To his credit, Danks (2-3) was much better in the postgame clubhouse.

"It's frustrating," he said. "It (stinks). It (stinks) going out there and getting your head handed to you. We're all competitive; we don't want that to happen. What are you going to do? Try to be ready for the next one."

We'll excuse Humber for Thursday night's dud because he was swamped with interview requests and swarmed by family and friends in the wake of last Saturday's perfect game at Seattle.

But Danks is a different story, and he knows it.

The 27-year-old lefty has made 5 starts this season, and they have ranged from so-so to sorry. Yes, Danks is 2-3, but the 6.23 ERA and 15 walks in 30 innings are much more telling.

Over to you, John.

"I'm not OK with it at all," Danks said. "I stole 2 wins and pitched like (bleep) in the other ones. Way too inconsistent. That's the deal. I have to do my job every day, and I haven't."

Danks got off to an 0-8 start last year, but his ERA was a much more respectable 5.25 ERA and run support was the big problem.

This year his changeup and cutter have been in and out, and Danks hasn't been able to consistently command his fastball, either. Other than that, it's all good.

"Try to throw quality strikes," Danks said after the White Sox lost their fourth straight game. "To this point, it's been very inconsistent. We're going to keep working at it. I know I have it in me and hopefully starting the next outing we'll get on the right track."

Danks appeared to be on the right track against the Red Sox, and Paul Konerko's solo home run with two outs in the fifth inning put the White Sox in front 3-2.

But after getting the first out in the sixth, Danks walked Adrian Gonzalez and Kevin Youkilis, and David Ortiz singled to load the bases.

"You look up and down that lineup and the way they work counts, Johnny walks the two and that's the stuff that happens with good lineups like that," Sox manager Robin Ventura said.

"It was a little bit of being erratic and not having as much control as he had earlier. It seems like they kind of sense that, and they took advantage of the ones that were in the (strike) zone."

After Boston loaded the bases, an RBI single by Cody Ross, a 3-run double by Darnell McDonald and another run-scoring single by Marlon Byrd broke the game open and chased Danks.

"Walking two guys in a row doesn't help," Danks said. "Walks have bit me in the (bleep) all year. It's definitely something we're going to focus on, that and keeping the ball in the ballpark.

"I struggled with kind of everything. That's the frustrating part of it. I felt good. I felt like I had good enough stuff to give us a chance to win, and I didn't."

sgregor@dailyherald.com