CHICAGO | White Sox fans looking for Cubs this weekend will be particularly ravenous.
Their favorite team has gone on a startling run to jump right back into the American League Central race. At the same time, their least favorite big-league franchise -- one that does not compete with them for a division championship -- is careening out of contention as fast as possible.
So the emotional level at U.S. Cellular Field should be even higher this weekend as the majority pro-Sox crowd will look to further bury the Cubs. Sox fans have always pointed at the Cubs series even more than logical rivalries like the Minnesota Twins or Detroit Tigers.
Sox players themselves have always pointed at the Cubs series as one that stirs their juices. But they take their cues from the fans, according to a veteran of more of these interleague duels than anyone on either team.
"As a player, you have your routines and try to approach each game the same way," said Sox first baseman Paul Konerko. "I think there's no question our fans know those games against the Cubs mean more to them than anybody. So I think that kind of plays into it because you know you want to win it for the fans.
"You know those games are big in our fans' eyes, and that adds to it. I've been here since '99, and there's never been a time when any games against the Cubs were overlooked or the fans didn't hang on the outcome of any game. So they're pretty intense games and they're not easy."
The Sox have a 21-15 record against the Cubs at The Cell since the inaugural interleague series in 1997. The most startling Sox victories have taken place at The Cell.
Carlos Lee cemented his status as a Cubs-killer with a walk-off grand slam off reliever Courtney Duncan in 2001. The Sox wiped out an 8-0 second-inning lead against Kerry Wood to win 12-9 in 2002. That rally equaled their second-biggest comeback in team history.
Sox fans make sure Cubs players know full well they're the enemy.
"I can't repeat (the taunts)," said first baseman Derrek Lee, who has played in the series since 2004. "It gets ugly. We were in the stadium, getting out in my car, we were berated. They let you know they don't like us. They get on you."
Reliever Sean Marshall, who has played in the series since 2006, is even closer to the fans from his perch in the visitors' bullpen in right field.
"There's creative commentary," Marshall said in comparing the series to a college-football rivalry. "There's a picnic area next to our bullpen. They yell back and forth. You laugh at what they say. It's a fun place to play.
"I think the fans really are more vocal in their support down there where North Siders are a little bit more laid back."
A relative newcomer to the series is Sox center fielder Alex Rios. He played in a makeup game at Wrigley Field last September, then the three-game series on the North Side two weeks ago, won 2-1 by the Sox. This will be his first experience at The Cell.
"It was pretty intense," Rios said, comparing the rivalry to playing the Yankees when he was a Toronto Blue Jay. "(Sox fans are) pretty good at giving the other team a hard time. Whenever you play in a good atmosphere like that, you feel good and perform good, too."
The mutual dislike does not seep down to player and manager relationships, though.
"I won a World Series with Ozzie (Guillen) in Florida," Lee said of the Marlins' 2003 run accomplished largely at the Cubs' expense. "I played with Ramon Castro. Mark Kotsay is a good friend of mine. Juan Pierre's one of my best friends. I like those guys over there. We want to beat them, but not necessarily more than any other team."
But the last time the Sox -- who own a 39-36 all-time edge in regular-season meetings -- beat the Cubs, it ignited them on a run of three straight sweeps they don't want to see stopped this weekend.
"The last series, it made us a better team because we came out of it playing on a good level and went to Pittsburgh and Washington and did well," Konerko said.
MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL
More inside on Page B6
White Sox continue winning streak with ninth straight
Cubs go into extra innings in series finale at Seattle
Pitchers, broadcast information
Today: Carlos Zambrano (3-5) vs. Jake Peavy (6-5), 3:05 p.m.
TV/Radio: WGN (Ch. 9)/Comcast SportsNet (cable)/WGN-AM (720)/WSCR-AM (670).
Saturday: Carlos Silva (8-2) vs. Freddy Garcia (8-3), 6:10 p.m.
TV/Radio: Fox (Ch. 32); WGN-AM (720)/WSCR-AM (670).
Sunday: TBA vs. John Danks (7-5), 1:05 p.m.
TV/Radio: WGN (Ch. 9)/Comcast SportsNet (cable); WGN-AM (720)/WSCR-AM (670).
