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ARLINGTON, Texas -- Chicago White Sox centerfielder Jordan Danks was scratched two hours before the series opener against the Texas Rangers due to a bursa sac inflammation behind the right knee.

Dewayne Wise will spell Danks, a native Texan, in centerfield and bat ninth.

White Sox manager Robin Ventura said Danks’ injury wasn’t serious.

“It was one of those decisions that we’d rather have him available off the bench than start him and have to take him out after a couple of innings,’’ the manager said.

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CHICAGO -- Jeff Keppinger was out of the Chicago White Sox’s lineup for a third consecutive day with back spasms, but the club isn’t anticipating a stint on the disabled list.

“It looks like he’ll be good by Tuesday, for sure,” manager Robin Ventura said.

The White Sox have a day off Monday before opening a three-game series and an eight-game, three-city road trip Tuesday at Texas.

Before his back discomfort surfaced, Keppinger had started to recover from a slow start with two hits in three consecutive games.

The White Sox have already seen six players go to the disabled list this season. Keppinger would have ran that total to seven and three from the Opening Day starting lineup.

CHICAGO -- The little-used Chicago White Sox bench stirred the pot Friday, raising the energy and carrying the team to its first three-game win streak of the season.

Hector Gimenez, Tyler Greene and Conor Gillaspie were insurance policies that paid big dividends Friday, with each hitting a home to rally the White Sox to a 5-4 victory over the Tampa Bay Rays.

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CHICAGO -- It’s getting to the point that you can’t spot a White Sox player without trying to figure out his latest injury.

Jeff Keppinger was not in the starting lineup Friday against the Tampa Bay Rays because of back spasms and Dewayne Wise was a late scratch because of a sore neck. The White Sox were already without starters Gordon Beckham (hand) and Dayan Viciedo (side), who are on the disabled list.

Then there is starter John Danks, who had shoulder surgery last summer, and Angel Sanchez, the utility infielder who is dealing with a strained lower back.

For a franchise that has used the least number of DL days over the past decade, it’s as if injuries are catching up to them all at once.

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CHICAGO -- Once the seas finally parted for Conor Gillaspie, the former first-round pick in the 2008 draft took complete advantage of the situation.

One of the White Sox’s modest under-the-radar pickups between the end of last season and the start of this one, Gillaspie has started to move himself into the spotlight with solid play both offensively and defensively.

When spring training started, though, Gillaspie had nowhere to go. As a member of the San Francisco Giants organization he spent brief stretches in the major leagues but had been blocked by regular Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

So the White Sox moved in not long after players started arriving into spring camps and plucked Gillaspie away from the Giants in exchange for pitcher Jeff Soptic, currently 2-0 at Single-A San Jose, but with a 7.36 ERA after eight appearances.

“I never really worried too much about it honestly,” said Gillaspie, who said that getting out from behind Sandoval’s shadow gave him a small sense of freedom. “It’s not really worth it. Life’s too short to worry about a bunch of things you don’t have control over. You just have to just enjoy it. Enjoy the rise.”

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CHICAGO -- Despite his struggles and the fact that the Chicago White Sox are facing a left-handed pitcher on Sunday, Adam Dunn is back in the lineup, batting from the fifth spot.

Dunn is in a 1-for-37 slide and went 0-for-4 on Saturday against the Minnesota Twins with three strikeouts.

The White Sox will be facing Twins left-hander Scott Diamond on Sunday and his relatively small sample size against Dunn could have contributed to manager Robin Ventura putting his struggling slugger back in the lineup. Dunn is 3-for-10 (.300) in his career against Diamond with a home run and three RBIs.

“You can think about anything, but for us to turn around and start playing better, he's going to have to get some hits and be part of that, part of the answer,” Ventura said when asked if he considered giving Dunn a rest Sunday.

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CHICAGO -- Conor Gillaspie was in the Chicago White Sox's starting lineup for a second consecutive day, as expected, with Jeff Keppinger getting his first day off.

Keppinger is in the midst of a 1-for-21 start at the plate and the hit came in his second at-bat of the season. Gillaspie, meanwhile, had two hits Saturday against Mariners ace Felix Hernandez and scored a pair of runs.

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CHICAGO – Those swirling winds inside U.S. Cellular Field on Saturday were fitting as amateur storm chaser Conor Gillaspie used his first ever White Sox start to land on the radar.

The left-handed hitting third baseman, who was acquired in a trade with the San Francisco Giants at the start of spring training, not only delivered a pair of hits in the White Sox’s 4-3 victory over the Seattle Mariners, but also impressed with his glove.

He tripled in the fifth inning against Felix Hernandez and scored the White Sox’s first run, then added another hit off Hernandez in the seventh inning and scored the run that ended up being the difference in the victory. All in all, it seemed much easier than tracking down tornadoes as he likes to do in his spare time.

“For Conor, he wants to be a storm chaser and it was a perfect day for him,” manager Robin Ventura said. “He’s pretty comfortable in those conditions and it’s one of those reasons we picked him up. He’s a tough kid and plays hard and as a compact swing that has a lot of pop with it too.”

It begs the obvious question: with starting third baseman Jeff Keppinger struggling at the outset, will Ventura give Gillaspie more playing time?

The only guarantee he seems to be getting is that he will start Sunday’s series finale at third base against the Mariners.

Gillaspie’s two hits in his lone start already give him more than Keppinger in five games. Keppinger played first base Saturday after playing the first four games at third base. With an 0-for-4 day, Keppinger is now 1-for-21 on the season and hitless in his last 19 at-bats.

“We don’t have any dilemmas,” Ventura said. “Probably (Sunday) we’ll get him in there and get him some at-bats here and there, but I think with Kepp it’s just a bad rut and it’s a small sample. We know his track record and it will change.”

CHICAGO – Just because he was a third baseman during his playing days, doesn’t mean that Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura can’t throw a sneaky curveball.

Whether or not this one is a hanging curve out over the plate will be determined soon.

Ventura made wholesale changes to his lineup Saturday, getting a number of players from the bench a chance to stretch their legs for an extended period. Dewayne Wise, Conor Gillaspie and Hector Gimenez all will get starts.

It comes, though, with the White Sox facing Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez, the same Hernandez who is one victory and five strikeouts away from becoming just the fourth player with 100 victories and 1,500 strikeouts before the age of 27.

“You get the 12 o’clock start and you know it just gets the guys in there who haven’t been in there yet as far as playing and starting,” Ventura said. “It gets them at-bats. (Hernandez) is tough on righties too.”

Dayan Viciedo, Paul Konerko and Tyler Flowers all will start Saturday’s game on the bench, leaving the club at a significant power disadvantage.

Alejandro De Aza will stay put in the leadoff spot, but Wise will bat second. Alex Rios and Adam Dunn stay in their Nos. 3 and 4 spots respectively, but Jeff Keppinger moves down to the No. 5 hole, while Gillaspie bats sixth, Alexei Ramirez bats seventh, Gimenez bats eighth and Gordon Beckham brings up the rear in the nine spot. The new look gets four left-handed bats and one switch hitter into the mix against the right-handed Hernandez.

In other twists, starting center fielder De Aza moves over to left field while Wise plays in center, while Gillaspie plays third base and Keppinger moves to first.

There were so many changes, in fact that Ventura made mistakes in his original lineup, needing white-out to correct them. He accidentally put Giminez in the No. 6 spot and Gillaspie in the No. 8 spot before making some quick edits.

“No, I just wrote it down wrong and I looked at it,” Ventura said. “I wasn’t thinking that hard. It was a quick turnaround (from Friday night).”

CHICAGO – After going with the same lineup in their first four games, the Chicago White Sox are about to see some changes.

Manager Robin Ventura said that Paul Konerko and Tyler Flowers will likely get the day off Saturday when the White Sox face Seattle Mariners ace Felix Hernandez in a 12:10 p.m. start. Ventura specifically acknowledged the early start after a night game as the reason why Konerko will get a break.

Switch-hitting backup catcher Hector Gimenez obviously will play for Flowers, but Ventura wasn’t so forthcoming with who will play at first base Saturday. Conor Gillaspie has come on in the late innings for Konerko as a defensive replacement, but Ventura could also put Adam Dunn at first base.

After having just two players bat from the left side in the first four games, Ventura is expected to have at least four Saturday.

CHICAGO -- The Chicago White Sox's first defeat of the season Thursday exposed some more early-season oddities.

In the 3-1 loss to the Kansas City Royals that prevented a three-game sweep, it was the bottom of the order that did all it could to get the White Sox on track to manufacturing runs instead of the team just powering its way to tally marks on the scoreboard.

No. 8 hitter Tyler Flowers reached base four times with two walks, a single and a pitch that grazed his jersey, while No. 9 hitter Gordon Beckham had four singles to match a career best for hits in a game.

Alejandro De Aza managed to drive in Flowers on one occasion with a single, but the early struggles at the top of the order continued and the White Sox were held in check by Royals starter Jeremy Guthrie and three relievers.

"It's odd you get that at the bottom of the order and you don't get much out of it," manager Robin Ventura said. "It's the pitching. Those (Royals pitchers) find a way to get out of it and that's the way it goes."

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CHICAGO -- Alex Rios says the mental part of his game is ahead of the physical part as the season gets underway, and when the latter catches up to the former he could be well on his way to a productive year.

Rios, who played for his native Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic this spring, got off to a solid start when he delivered a walk and two singles on Monday and went 1-for-4 on Wednesday. Where Opening Day can bring its fair share of jitters, Rios already went through that while advancing to the WBC title game with Puerto Rico.

"I think it helps you mentally to get rid of that anxiety of the start of the season but physically you don't get to work the same way you usually work during spring training," Rios said of the WBC. "You don't get into a routine as quick as you do in spring training. It might have helped, it might have not helped."

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CHICAGO -- That scrambled heart of the order Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura installed this spring will indeed be the look he will go with on Opening Day.

Ventura posted the lineup in the clubhouse Sunday before the White Sox went through their final workout in advance of Monday’s 3:05 p.m. game at U.S. Cellular Field against the Kansas City Royals.

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SURPRISE, Ariz. -- Usually a demotion in the batting order will find a veteran hitter camped outside a manager’s office, ready for battle.

But for Chicago White Sox team captain Paul Konerko, being dropped from fourth to fifth in Robin Ventura's lineup is no big deal.

“Robin and I had a conversation at the beginning of spring training,” Konerko said. “He mentioned sometimes against righties I would probably go fifth, against lefties, depending on what is going on, I could pump up to fourth.”

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PHOENIX -- Chicago White Sox manager Robin Ventura has decided to shuffle his 2013 lineup to begin the season.

Ventura will keep Alejandro De Aza in the leadoff spot, followed by newcomer Jeff Keppinger. The middle of the order will have Alex Rios batting third, Adam Dunn fourth and team captain Paul Konerko fifth.

In 2012 Dunn batted third, Konerko fourth and Rios fifth.

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