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| KANSAS CITY -- Rob Mackowiak's one-hop throw from center field to third baseman Joe Crede during the Royals' six-run fourth inning Friday bounced away for his third error this season. But a brutally honest Mackowiak doesn't need to look at statistics in order to pronounce judgment on his shaky defensive play during the current campaign. "I've been horrible, actually," Mackowiak said. "There's no point in lying or candy-coating anything. It's been bad. "I don't know if it's not being out there much in your career and you get out there and you are overexposed. Before, I would play one [game] in right, one in center and maybe play third. But when you go out there on a daily basis, you see the stuff you need to work on to get better at a certain position." Mackowiak continues to work hard every day during batting practice, trying to improve essential but basic intangibles in the field such as his reads on the ball off the bat. But in fairness to Mackowiak, he was not brought in from Pittsburgh to take part in a platoon situation with Brian Anderson. The left-handed-hitting veteran previously has served more as a jack-of-all-trades, playing more of his games in right field (231) and third base (167), as compared to center field (110), since 2001 with the Pirates. Mackowiak started for the 48th time in center Friday at Kauffman Stadium, compared to six starts in right and one at third. It was Anderson's early offensive woes, though, which thrust the veteran into a more prominent role in center. By Mackowiak's own admission, improving his defense in center was not a priority during his last offseason workouts -- not with how he envisioned the White Sox using him. It will become a far greater focus during this upcoming break between seasons. "It's something I need to work on in the winter and try to get better defensively, because it has been absolutely terrible this year," Mackowiak said. "My routes are not as crisp as a guy like Brian's are. You are taking banana routes to balls and it becomes a struggle. "You continue to keep trying to get better, but it's frustrating because it's an important position up the middle to have good defense. It's frustrating to not do your best out there and that it sometimes hurts the team." Look to the future: White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen has a piece of advice for his players with exactly one month remaining in the 2006 season, and the South Siders in a daily battle for their playoff life. Don't worry about the Wild Card, the Twins, the Tigers or the standings. Just worry about the White Sox. "When you are playing for the Wild Card ... The Wild Card is weird," said Guillen, whose team finished August with a 16-13 record. "You can be up for one day and down for three days and then up for two days. I hope the players don't get caught up like, 'Oh, we're up now. We have to win.' "Take care of ourselves, win the games we're supposed to and that will take of that. Don't change anything from now on. Everything should be the same, go out and play the way you should be playing, push a little bit harder because every game's going to be tougher and tougher and tougher, no matter who you face. "It will be tough until this thing's over," Guillen added. "It's not going to be easy at all, and we've been playing like that for a month and a half. We know about it and we have to be prepared." Back in action: Although Guillen had a backup plan in place just in case Jim Thome's strained left hamstring kept him unavailable Friday, Thome returned to the lineup against Runelvys Hernandez. Thome still showed a bit of the after-effects from the injury while running out a double-play grounder in the fourth. "His problem is the first step out of the batter's box," said Guillen of Thome, who missed six of the last seven games, of which the White Sox won three. "So hit home runs. Hit home runs and you don't have to run the bases. "I trust him. He could have pinch-hit [Thursday]. He told me he's good enough to put him back there." With left-handers starting both Saturday and Sunday's games for the Royals, Guillen added that Thome could sit one of those contests. The move would be primarily as a precautionary measure, avoiding a re-aggravation of the injury. Down on the farm: Adam Russell allowed just one run on five hits over 7 2/3 innings, striking out three, but he still suffered the loss in Double-A Birmingham's 1-0 loss to Huntsville on Thursday. ... Brandon Allen knocked out his 12th home run and drove in two during Class A Kannapolis' 12-10 victory at Asheville. ... Rain was the only thing that could slow down Dustin Hermanson and Triple-A Charlotte. The veteran reliever, who will be called up to the Majors when the Knights' playoff run comes to an end, has not allowed a run in his last seven appearances. Hermanson has fanned 12 and given up three hits in seven innings. ... Ricardo Nanita was named to the Southern League All-Star team. Nanita is hitting .286 with eight home runs, 42 RBIs and 11 stolen bases. Up next: It was a victory over Kansas City on Aug. 17 at U.S. Cellular Field that put an end to a six-game losing streak for Mark Buehrle (11-11, 4.71). On Saturday, Buehrle tries for his second straight victory, against Odalis Perez (1-2, 5.73 with the Royals) at Kauffman Stadium. Buehrle is 2-0 with a 2.08 ERA in four starts against the Royals this season. |