"It took almost three weeks for the White Sox to win their first series, but the way they did it -- dramatic walk-off style in successive victories against the Seattle Mariners -- may be a key to future success.

The glum faces that had manager Ozzie Guillen worried were gone Friday when the Sox lost their lead in the late innings. And they didn't return Saturday when the Mariners scored twice against Bobby Jenks to take a two-run lead in the ninth on a controversial ground-rule double caused by fan interference that scored two runs -- and led to Guillen's ejection.

When Paul Konerko homered off Mariners closer David Aardsma in the bottom of the ninth with one out, the ruling took on real significance.

But when Carlos Quentin drew a two-out walk and Alex Rios followed with his first career walk-off home run for a 5-4 victory, the decision became moot.

The long-term effect, however, could be loud and strong.

''We put good swings on the ball, and we've been battling,'' Rios said. ''That's what we have to do from here on out. It feels pretty good to come back. At the end of the season, you'll see these games are important. You can see we're batting. When you win games like this, they're pretty important. We know we can do good out there and never quit. In the ninth inning when they scored, we were like, 'We gotta go.'''"