Weekend Series Previews

White Sox (29-22) vs. Mariners (23-30)

The White Sox return back home to Chicago tonight having won their last 8 games and 12 of their last 13. Coming of a sweep of the playoff caliber Tampa Bay Rays, it has White Sox fans believing this team could be for real. A lot of the White Sox success has been lead by Dayan Viciedo in which he is hitting .552 with four home runs and 14 RBIs that during his current seven game hitting streak. Viciedo has always had the potential to be a real threat in the White Sox lineup but now he has become that what everybody had expected when Kenny Williams signed him away from Cuba. In Viciedo's last 14 games, he has raised his average nearly 100 points from .196 to .291 and driven in 23 RBIs. Viciedo's offense along with Adam Dunn's and Alex Rios' resurgance this year has lead to a very dangerous lineup on the South Side.  Here are the pitching matchups for this three game series:

FRIDAY:  Felix Hernandez (4-4, 3.17 ERA) vs. Jake Peavy (6-1, 3.07 ERA) 7:10 P.M.

SATURDAY:  Hector Noesi (2-5, 5.26 ERA) vs. Gavin Floyd (4-5, 5.02 ERA) 3:10 P.M.

SUNDAY:  Kevin Millwood (3-4, 3.56 ERA) vs. Chris Sale (6-2, 2.34 ERA) 1:10 P.M.

Cubs (18-32) vs. Giants (27-24)

After losing a near record 12 straight games, the Cubs have now won three straight going into their 4 game series in San Francisco. Given the Cubs had three games against the lonely Padres, they were still able to produce quite a few runs against a pretty respectable pitching staff. The most impressive day coming on Wednesday when the Cubs trailed 6-3 and were able to score five unanswered runs, including a game winning two run, walkoff home run by Darwin Barney in the bottom of the 9th. The rally was keyed by Cubs having patient at bats and the speed of Campana and Castro in the 8th inning of a win that gave the Cubs their first 3 game winning streak since last July when they swept the Houston Astros at home. The bullpen was also a key part of the series. Shawn Camp, Randy Wells, and James Russell among the "core" of the bullpen all put together solid outings in the last two games of the series to help the Cubs and Dale Sveum enjoy their actual winning streak of the season. Here are the matchups to what should be a competitive series this weekend in San Fran.

FRIDAY:  Paul Maholm (4-3, 4.62 ERA) vs. Madison Bumgarner (5-4, 3.14 ERA) 9:15 P.M.

SATURDAY:  Matt Garza (2-3, 4.22 ERA) vs. Matt Cain (5-2, 2.79 ERA) 6:15 P.M.

SUNDAY:  Travis Wood (0-1, 5.94 ERA) vs. Barry Zito (4-2, 3.41 ERA) 3:05 P.M.

MONDAY:  Jeff Samardzija (5-3, 3.09 ERA) vs. Ryan Vogelsong (3-2, 2.36 ERA) 2:45 P.M.