Owens preferred choice
TUCSON, Ariz. -- In his strongest endorsement yet, White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen on Friday said Jerry Owens is the starting center fielder/leadoff man as long as he continues to play well.
"If you look at our lineup and (Owens) is the first hitter, our lineup is going to be a lot better,'' Guillen said. "That's our expectation. We'll give (him) the shot to play every day and hopefully he can grab it and keep it and we don't have to worry anymore about a $100 million player.
"We're going to give this kid a shot and hopefully he looks good.''
The Sox made runs at high-priced center fielders such as Torii Hunter, Kosuke Fukudome and Aaron Rowand during the off-season, but they appeared to settle for Nick Swisher, who came over in a trade from Oakland.
Swisher can switch to left field if Owens continues to impress, and Swisher's power bat also can drop to the No. 6 or 7 spot in the lineup.
Owens played his first exhibition game Friday, going 2-for-4 with a walk and an RBI. The 27-year-old outfielder also scored 2 runs and stole a base.
"So far he's been great,'' Guillen said. "It's not about one game. It's about continuing to do it and get better and better. The opportunity is there and he knows it. Hopefully he does something about it."
Owens strained his right groin while going 2-for-2 in Monday's intrasquad game, but he was good to go Friday.
"It was a little sore, and I was a little slow on my first step going after a couple (fly)balls I probably could have gotten to,'' Owens said. "But it feels real good and I'm pleased with how it went.''
MacDougal struggles: Making his first Cactus League appearance Friday, relief pitcher Mike MacDougal pitched 1 inning and gave up a 3-run homer to Arizona's Mark Reynolds.
MacDougal was a huge disappointment last season, going 2-5 with a 6.80 ERA.
Still convinced MacDougal has an impact arm, Ozzie Guillen said getting the pitcher straightened out is paramount this spring.
"I think this kid is going to be a huge part of the program,'' Guillen said. "But he needs to put it together and make sure this outing doesn't affect him for the next ones. I put a note in my book that our biggest challenge is to get Mac mentally right.
"If this kid is right to help us, this bullpen will be fun to watch. He's a big part of this thing and hopefully this outing won't bother him. I have a lot of confidence he will bounce back and do what he's supposed to do.''
Take it easy: Mark Buehrle looked good in his first spring start Friday, pitching 2 scoreless innings against the Diamondbacks.
Buehrle wanted to throw at least 1 more inning, but the White Sox want the workhorse left-hander to be fresh for the regular season.
"He wanted to pitch another inning,'' Ozzie Guillen said. "We didn't let him. He was feeling pretty good. We didn't let him because he piled a lot of innings in his career and we're going to try to give him fewer innings in spring training to keep him strong.''
White Sox 7, D'backs 5
White Sox' record: 2-1
At the plate: Juan Uribe was 2-for-3 with 2 RBI. Jerry Owens and Jeff Liefer each went 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored. The Sox have 14 doubles in their first three games.
On the mound: Starter Mark Buehrle pitched 2 scoreless innings, allowing 1 hit. Mike MacDougal pitched 1 inning and allowed 3 runs on 3 hits and 1 walk. Octavio Dotel pitched 1 scoreless inning.
Next: Gavin Floyd starts against the Diamondbacks today in Tucson.
-- Scot Gregor