Danks rules as White Sox blast Cubs, Big Z

[GotGibson?]

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.

"I was surprised that it was a stolen base, but looking back at it, I guess that's the only way you can rule it," Getz said. "It was a suicide squeeze, Zambrano recognized that I was going and tried to avoid Wise from bunting it. So it turned into a stolen base."

Getz's steal that made it 4-0 was just one rare play in the sixth inning Sunday. After he was hit by Zambrano, Wise later scored when an infield fly rule was called with the bases loaded

"With Getz on third we put the squeeze on. Zambrano threw a pitch really wide. I stepped in the box and I kind of told myself, `This next pitch may be at me," Wise said.

"Sure enough it was."

Wise had a few words for Zambrano as he headed to first and plate umpire Brian Runge stepped between them before ushering Zambrano back to they mound.

"I just told him that wasn't right and moved on from there," Wise said.

John Danks (6-6) allowed four hits over seven innings and reliever Scott Linebrink completed the shutout as the White Sox won two of three before sellout crowds at U.S. Cellular Field. The teams split two games at Wrigley Field last week and still have a makeup game to play from a rainout in that earlier series.

Zambrano (4-3) gave up nine hits, including a homer to Alexei Ramirez, and was charged with five runs, four of them earned in 5 1/3 innings.

"When I saw this guy taking off I was trying to tell [catcher] Geo [Soto] 'Get out, get out.' But it was too late," Zambrano said of the squeeze play.

Zambrano said the ensuing pitch that hit Wise was a cutter that "cut too much."

"In that situation, I don't want to get more in trouble. I want to get out of the situation and pitch my six or seven innings," he said.

"I wasn't even looking at him [Wise]. I heard what he said, but I didn't understand what he said. I just said, 'What?' The umpire was good [getting in between] because it was starting to get a little hyper."

Cubs manager Lou Piniella went to the mound for a visit, and after Wise stole second and Scott Podsednik walked, he came out again to remove the emotional right-hander.

Ramirez then blooped a single to left against reliever David Patton to load the bases. As Jermaine Dye hit a towering pop that fell behind shortstop Ryan Theriot into short left field, umpires called the infield fly rule. Dye was called out, but Wise had raced home when the ball fell in -- Theriot was given an error on the play -- and the White Sox had a 5-0 lead.

"With the wind going and stuff like that, I think the call may have been called a little bit too early, but they felt like that was the decision to call it that early," said Dye, who homered in the eighth. "It was a weird and wacky play, but we ended up getting a run out of it."

When Danks plunked Ryan Freel to start the seventh, Runge issued a warning to both benches.

"I knew it was coming," Freel said. "I told the umpire, 'It's coming, right here, watch. Can you go ahead and give him a warning right now?"

Podsednik, who had four hits Saturday, was hit by a pitch by Zambrano with one out in the third. Ramirez then drove a 1-2 pitch into the left-field seats for his 10th homer, giving the White Sox a 2-0 lead.

Singles by A.J. Pierzynski and Gordon Beckham gave the White Sox runners at the corners in the fourth. With Beckham breaking for second, Wise hit an infield single off the glove of Cubs second baseman Andres Blanco to make it 3-0.

Danks ran into trouble in the sixth. A leadoff double by Alfonso Soriano and back-to-back two-out walks to Derrek Lee and Jake Fox loaded the bases.

But he was bailed out when Ramirez, who had two errors Saturday, went to his knees in the hole to stab Soto's hard grounder and threw to third to barely force out Lee.

[mikecancelliere]

zambrano *****