Greatest Ever Article on Mack in CF

[Heads22]

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...sp&c_id=cws

 

Notes: Mackowiak's glove needs work

Outfielder to work on defense; Thome returns to lineup

By Scott Merkin / MLB.com

 

 

Rob Mackowiak says he will work on his center-field defense this winter. (Charles Arbogast/AP)

 

 

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.

 

This is why I can't knock Rob on his effort or anything. It's not his fault Ozzie doesn't put him in a position to succeed.

[rangercal]

he f***ing sucks so bad. Guess I have to give him credit that he gets it. Go Rob!

[southsideirish71]

http://chicago.whitesox.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb...sp&c_id=cws

This is why I can't knock Rob on his effort or anything. It's not his fault Ozzie doesn't put him in a position to succeed.

 

When Mack is doing interviews stating that he is not a good option in CF and our manager still puts him there, then I question our managers thought process.

 

Timo playing 1st base was funny last year, well not really but it was for one game.

Timo as a DH was not funny, kind of sad and embarassing.

Timo as the leadoff guy was sad.

 

These were all bad things last year, but ozzie kept marching Timo out in positions he couldnt play. Mack is the same thing this year. Ozzie knows that Mack isnt a CF but keeps marching him out there. Pods cant play at all in LF and he keeps playing. These are basic baseball decisions that a AA manager could make.

 

Play BA every single day, back him up with Sweeney.

 

Play Mack/Sweeney and Ozuna in LF and keep Mr Dergan on the pine for a pinch runner.

[Guest $I Need Money$]

You want Ozzie to bench pods for the rest of the year?

[Jordan4life_2007]

My respect for Mack just doubled after reading that article. He knows he's no good out there. What can he do, though? Tell Ozzie he doesn't want to play if he has to play CF?

 

You want Ozzie to bench pods for the rest of the year?

 

Pods needs a few days off. I just can't believe he's this bad. Maybe seeing a rookie with no major league experience in his spot will shame him to the point he starts playing better.

[chisox72]

You want Ozzie to bench pods for the rest of the year?

 

Why not? He is utterly useless to this team right now. Popping out bunts, fouling off bad pitches to the point of fouling out, unable to get any sort of hit (clutch or not)....

 

For all of the reasons he is on this team, he is not living up to a single one of them, and his numbers suck to prove it.

 

I was a HUGE Pods advocate, but, he has turned from a helpful player to a hinderance, plain and simple. He is a liability in almost every aspect of the game.

[Texsox]

I am reading the challenges of being the jack of all trades, versus the challenges of being called on for one position on a daily basis. I am not certain, with enough off season time, if he could or couldn't be a decent everyday guy in center. I am certain he would be much improved.

 

I also have respect and a certain amount of empathy for his plight.

[SABR Sox]

You want Ozzie to bench pods for the rest of the year?

 

Absolutley.

 

At this point there is a good chane Sweeney ir anyone if RF really is going to be more productive than he is.

 

Leadoff man with speed or not, his OPS is sub .700's. That hurts a lineup, especially when you get the most PA's.

[DBAHO]

Well let's just hope that Ozzie finally gets it, and we see BA pretty much every game from here on in.

[chisox72]

Well let's just hope that Ozzie finally gets it, and we see BA pretty much every game from here on in.

 

 

I said that after Saturdays loss to the Twinks, when Mack let two fly balls sail right over his head. I thought he DID get it after he started BA four straight games....

 

But alas, he didn't. He won't. Ozzie is Ozzie and it will never change. God could stand in front of him and tell him to play Brian in center every day and Ozzie would still follow his "gut".

[Jordan4life_2007]

Well let's just hope that Ozzie finally gets it, and we see BA pretty much every game from here on in.

 

If anything I see Ozzie playing him there more out of spite. This makes Ozzie look bad when the player himself is telling you he's being put in a position to fail.

[Rowand44]

If anything I see Ozzie playing him there more out of spite. This makes Ozzie look bad when the player himself is telling you he's being put in a position to fail.

Ozzie doesn't need any help to look bad.

[shoota]

I replied to this article when Heads posted it in the postgame thread, so I'll add it here too:

 

Mackowiak has earned even more respect from me. He's telling Ozzie and us fans that he shouldn't be playing center field with regularity! Not only did he say his center field defense was "horrible," he specifically mentioned Brian by name and how he's a better option.

 

This is exactly how Mack should handle this situation. He can't insult his manager saying he's foolish to start him over BA, he can't go to Ozzie and tell him to play him over Podsednik in Left. He respectfully made his point to Ozzie and us fans, that he's trying his best but thinks the team's better with BA starting.

 

The way he handled it offers the best chance at changing the situation for the better. Well done Mack.

 

If anything I see Ozzie playing him there more out of spite. This makes Ozzie look bad when the player himself is telling you he's being put in a position to fail.

 

I can totally see that. Ozzie hasn't matured past this elementary behavior.

 

He will cite some a mi manera bulls***.

Edited September 2, 2006 by shoota

[kwolf68]

Mack was not brought in to platoon in CF, but to play all around the diamond giving multiple guys (not just Brian) time off...

 

We dealt Rowand and we dealt the brilliant Chris Young because we thought we had a CF talent...so now that kid, that CF talent, has started to finally hit and is still playing great defense...WHY NOT JUST LET THE BOY PLAY?

 

We win yesterday if our starters are in...I know that's conjecture, but reality says that pitching and DEFENSE wins the day...Im disgusted we put crappy defense on the field and expect mediocre pitching to pitch around it....we need brilliant defense, because our pitching is average...Brian Anderson should play EVERY SINGLE DAY.

[Gene Honda Civic]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines

"Why you play Mackowiak?" Guillen asked. "Well, we've been playing Mackowiak since the beginning of the season. We are not going to change anything. One thing about it is if I start changing the way we play all year long, they start to panic. I'm not panicking. I will go with the guys I trust. We go with the guys we've had all year long and, hopefully, they perform well."

[Rowand44]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines

[Heads22]

Boo.

[beautox]

[DABearSoX]

well I don't try to knock ozzie too much but it makes too much sense for him to keep putting him there......oh well not gonna b**** about it....

 

 

oh yea and heads..... Iowa State vs. CU later in the season...and if my buffs played like they did today then looks like you can chalk one up for the cyclones

[Balta1701]

The single best thing that could happen to the White Sox right now is a collision between Rob Mackowiak and Scott Podsednik. And it's nothing against either of them, I hate seeing people get hurt. But keeping Mack out of Center Field and Podsednik out of left field, by whatever means necessary, would give this team the best chance to win every game.

 

Seriously, someone at Soxfest next year, ask Ozzie why the Hell he keeps doing this. And distribute tomatoes to throw up at the stage when he gives that answer.

[GoodAsGould]

Well next season I hope to god we dont have Mackowiak out there every 2-3 games.

[thomsonmi]

I'm now going to kill myself....

 

Reading this s*** makes me...

 

[Kalapse]

http://chicagosports.chicagotribune.com/sp...tesox-headlines

What the hell does that even mean? I'm not sure it's even possible to hate a manager even more than I do now but Ozzie just continues to piss me off, the sad thing is people will actually accept this excuse even though it makes absolutely no sense.

[Flash Tizzle]

Well next season I hope to god we dont have Mackowiak out there every 2-3 games.

It may be beyond Williams to consider such an action, but frankly, he should forcibly instruct Guillen to play Anderson in CF.

 

I suppose these are the downfalls of "player managers." More concerned with intangibles such as clubhouse chemsitry and making people feel comfortable rather than doing whats necessary.

 

Honestly, who the f*** would panic if Mackowiak were removed from CF? Would it cause a mutinity within the team? If Mack himself realizes his downfalls in center, doesn't Guillen realize the entire team likely sees it as well?

 

Someone needs to come forward. Whether its Mackowiak himself, Williams, several veteran players, or whomever; this needs to end. This includes Podsednik's absurd amount of playing time.

[DBAHO]

"Well, we've been playing Mackowiak since the beginning of the season. We are not going to change anything.

 

I'm sorry but this is just stupid logic Ozzie. You played Machowiak earlier in the season because Brian Anderson was hitting terribly, so you were forced into making such a move.

 

We did not trade for Mackowiak to play in CF every 2nd day. Now that BA is hitting, he should be out there in CF every single freakin day, while Macko goes back to his utility role where he backs up at 1B, 3B, LF and RF.

 

You talk about pitching and defense. Well when you have Scott Podsednik and Rob Machowiak as 2/3rd's of you OF defense, well I'm sorry but you are not going to win what that type of defense.