The Chicago White Sox seem to be getting better swings at Zack Greinke every time they see him. Before a packed house Friday night, they finally beat him. John Danks threw 7 1-3 innings and got a big lift from reliever Scott Linebrink, while A.J. Pierzynski and Scott Podsednik had three hits apiece to lead the White Sox over the Kansas City Royals 5-0, their seventh straight victory.

The White Sox will be keeping a close eye on the Royals' Zack Greinke when he takes the mound Friday night, and they will be ready to duck.

Of the 29 batters Greinke has bruised throughout his career, nine have been members of the Sox. He has hit only five batters in the rest of the Central Division.

"To pitch in the big leagues, you have to pitch inside," Sox manager Ozzie Guillen said. "To have success in the big leagues, you have to pitch inside. It's one thing to pitch inside, and it's another thing to pitch behind the hitters."

Guillen said there have been times when he has felt Greinke purposely hit his players.

"I remember last year when he hit (Nick) Swisher, that's not inside," Guillen said.

The last thing the slumping Kansas City Royals needed was for Mark Buehrle to get even better. But the Chicago left-hander tinkered with the grip on his sinker and became even more dominant than usual against the Royals, taking a four-hit shutout into the ninth before settling for a 4-1 victory that gave the surging White Sox their sixth win in a row.

Jose Contreras feels like a complete pitcher again. The command, the fastball, the bite on his nasty forkball, it's all as good as ever. "I've got it back," he said. Contreras, demoted to the minor leagues earlier this season after an 0-5 start, pitched eight superb innings for his third win since his return to the majors as the Chicago White Sox won their fifth straight, 6-2 over...

The rainy weather stopped the game prematurely. The Chicago White Sox ended Cliff Lee's night soon after it started. Paul Konerko and Jermaine Dye drove in two runs apiece Tuesday as the White Sox chased Lee in the fourth inning and pounded the miserable Indians 11-4 in a game called in the seventh to move above .500 for the first time since May 2.

Gavin Floyd made 95 pitches, some good ones, some bad ones. However, the strike he threw to first mattered most. Floyd shut out Cleveland on five singles over 7 2-3 innings and made a smart defensive play to escape a bases-loaded jam in the seventh as the surging Chicago White Sox climbed back to .500 with a 6-3 win Monday night over the free-falling Indians, who lost for the 11th time in 13 games.

The squeeze was on as Chris Getz made a dash from third and headed for the plate. When Carlos Zambrano threw outside and wild, Getz got a steal of home Sunday and the White Sox were on their way to a whacky 6-0 victory over the Cubs. It's also the play that seemed to unnerve Zambrano. The emotional Cubs ace hit DeWayne Wise with the very next pitch and a short time later was out of the game.

Gordon Beckham saw A.J. Pierzynski and Jim Thome sprinting after him, and just like that, his euphoria gave way to nerves. Soon, the mob engulfed him, delivering jabs to the ribs and a couple other shots -- none was as big as the blow he delivered. Beckham singled in the winning run with two outs in the ninth, and Scott Podsednik homered while tying a career high with four hits to lift the Chicago...

Lou Piniella lost his patience after Milton Bradley lost his cool. The Chicago Cubs still won, and they can thank Geovany Soto, of all people, for that. At the center of controversy the previous day, Soto delivered the tie-breaking three-run homer to help the Cubs beat the White Sox 5-4 on Friday at U.S.

Scott Podsednik knows what it's like to thrive in the clutch in Chicago -- and he loves the feeling. "That stuff never gets old," Podsednik said Thursday after his bases-loaded, two-out single in the 13th inning lifted the White Sox to a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers. "Winning hits are always fun." He is something of an authority on the subject around these parts.

Josh Fields got what every baseball player who's been sitting on the bench craves -- a chance to play. Breaking out of a slump while making a rare appearance in the Chicago White Sox's starting lineup, Fields responded by hitting two of his team's six homers Wednesday night in a 10-7 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

On the night Manny Ramirez started playing ball again, the Los Angeles Dodgers showed why they haven't missed him very much. "We play the same way every day," catcher Russell Martin said after Tuesday's 5-2 victory over the Chicago White Sox. "Our pitching has been great. You can't really get better than what we're doing right now." James Loney, whose two-run...