Hairston Socks a Pair as Mets Win; Danks One-Hits Dodgers Over Five

Players of the Day for Sunday, March 13, 2011

American League

John Danks

Riding five solid innings from starting pitcher John Danks, the Chicago White Sox beat up the LA Dodgers, 6-1, in Cactus League play.

Danks earned his first victory of the Spring, allowing one harmless hit over five scoreless innings, walking three and fanning a pair of batters.

Following a 2010 campaign in which he went 15-11, his third straight winning season for the Sox, Danks is tuning up well and expected to be a solid starter in the coming season. He needs more work on his control, having walked 8 batters in just 10 1/3 innings, but he's kept runners on base from scoring for the most part, registering an ERA of 1.74 in three games.

National League

For the NY Mets, keeping outfielders healthy has been an issue the past few years, which is one of the reasons they fetched Scott Hairston away from San Diego in the off-season.

Scott Hairston

Despite batting just .210, Hairston played in 108 games for the Padres last season, but his performance was so far below his previous seasons, the Mets saw some promise and make the deal.

Mets' brass must have been high-fiving in their skybox on Sunday as Hairston, playing right field, singled, socked a pair of solo homers and scored three times in four at-bats, helping the Mets to a 13-3 feast courtesy of some unusually accommodating St. Louis pitchers.

Hairston is 11-for-27 (.407) in ten Spring games.