White Sox spring training headlines: John Danks, Matt Thornton roughed up

Saturday's game couldn't be watched from afar, and for John Danks and Matt Thornton, they may have appreciated the relative secrecy. They struggled just a little bit during the White Sox's 11-9 loss to Arizona, posting these lines:

• Danks: 2⅓ IP, 7 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 2 K, 1 HR
• Thornton: ⅔ IP, 5 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 1 BB, 0 K

As you might expect, both pitchers denied physical woes playing a part. You can hear Danks' explanation up top (speed and movement were fine, but he didn't get the ball down), and Thornton took it a step further by saying, "Physically, I feel awesome. This is the best I've felt in a long time." Ventura pointed to Thornton's lack of reps due to the elbow issue earlier.

That sounds about right to me, although if Thornton continues to get these results, I'm hoping somebody will hold him to his "12-pack of beer and a big ol' loaf of bread" vow. And also videotape it.

On the plus side, Paul Konerko has nine hits in his last 12 at-bats, including a three-run homer, his fourth of the spring. He's hitting .409, and even then, a couple of teammates continue to outpace him. Jared Mitchell boosted his average to .450 with a 2-for-4 day (no strikeouts), while Jeff Keppinger spanked two more singles in three at-bats. He's now hitting .475, or 10-for-21.

Elsewhere

*Gordon Beckham has vowed to stop fighting himself. That's among many of the self-affirmations we've grown to know and ... know ... in this Dave Van Dyck article.

A new one: Beckham saying, "I had four good months and two awful months" in 2012. Normally, I'd be tempted to pick it apart and say that Beckham had three months with an OPS below .700, and that even his "good" months in 2012 didn't match his overall line from 2009. But if this is Beckham refusing to be hard to himself instead of Beckham calling a .688 OPS "good," then I'm willing to let it slide.

*Addison Reed likes the progress he's making with his slider, while Jesse Crain hopes to throw any kind of pitch in a game "sometime next week."

*Rob is exploring the studio space on his new blog, expounding on the Blackhawks' ability to erase ill will from the lockout, and lamenting that the Sox couldn't do the same after the work stoppage in 1994.

*Brandon McCarthy said he and A.J. Pierzynski are friends, and so he can't explain why this plunking on Aug. 10 happened the way it did:

*Mexico and Canada brawled during their World Baseball Classic game on Saturday, and by basebrawl standards, it's an 8.