Opening Day, of sorts: A familiar lineup will be on the field for the White Sox for Wednesday afternoon's Cactus League debut against Colorado at Tucson Electric Park. Scott Podsednik will sit out with a slightly sore shoulder due to swinging and throwing so much in the first week, and Chris Widger will start at catcher so A.J. Pierzynski can catch Javier Vazquez in Thursday's split-squad action at Hi Corbett.
Rob Mackowiak gets the start in left field and will lead off. He's followed by Juan Uribe, Jim Thome, Paul Konerko, Jermaine Dye, Tadahito Iguchi, Joe Crede, Widger and Brian Anderson. With 40 career stolen bases and a single-season high of 13 in 2004, Mackowiak joked that he was the logical replacement for the fleet-footed Podsednik.
"I was messing with Scott about it, how I might take the leadoff role from him," Mackowiak said with a laugh. "But I'm looking forward to getting out there and getting my feet wet against other teams." Jose Contreras will start Wednesday, followed by Jon Garland, knuckleballer Charles Haeger, Javier Lopez and Arnie Munoz. Freddy Garcia and Javier Vazquez start Thursday's games and then leave that night for World Baseball Classic workouts.