SURPRISE, Ariz. (AP) -Hank Blalock initially downplayed the significance of being back in the field.
“I’ve played so much third that I just tried to feel like it was another day out there,” said Blalock, the Texas Rangers’ two-time All-Star third baseman.
Still, even Blalock realizes a routine inning-ending grounder wasn’t just another play. It was his first defensive play since he had surgery last May to remove a rib that affected nerves in his throwing shoulder.
“Yeah, it felt good. It was good confidence,” Blalock said. “You can only take so many fungos and live drills and all that stuff. You can’t practice what happens in the games.”
Blalock got his third straight game off Monday, this time not traveling to Scottsdale with most of the regulars to play San Francisco. But Blalock and manager Ron Washington said that wasn’t reason for concern.
“I played the first three games in a row, and I think they’re just taking it easy on me in the beginning,” said Blalock, who’s had only the normal soreness that comes with spring training. “Everything’s fine.”
Blalock didn’t get a ball hit to him in an intrasquad game or the spring training opener. He finally got a grounder early in the second game against the Los Angeles Angels and flipped to second base for a force. A few innings later, he had to throw across the diamond to first, and did so without any problem.
“It’s relaxing to him,” Washington said. “It’s relaxing to all of us.”
Those grounders are Blalock’s only defensive plays this spring aside from a foul popup he caught in the next game before his extended break.
When Blalock returned from the disabled list last September, he was only a designated hitter and hit .313 with five home runs and 17 RBIs in 19 games, including a grand slam in his first game. He continued his rehabilitation and worked on refinements for his defense without throwing to bases.
“I always said I felt that maybe he could have played a little bit last year, but he felt it was best he didn’t and be ready to come to spring training,” Washington said. “And he’s ready.”
Still, when Blalock first got back on the field in Arizona, it took a couple of innings to get reacclimatized to being at third base with a batter at the plate.
“My timing was a little bit off. On a couple of pitches when the guy fouled it back, I was a little late,” Blalock said. “But after I got a couple of plays hit to me, I fell right back into the groove.”
Only Buddy Bell, Steve Buechele and Dean Palmer have played more games at third base for the Rangers than the 27-year-old Blalock (665), who was limited to 39 games in the field last season.
Blalock was an All-Star his first two full seasons and hit a winning, pinch-hit, two-run homer off Eric Gagne in his first All-Star at-bat in 2003.
From 2003-05, Blalock averaged 29 homers and 97 RBIs each season. He slipped to 16 homers (with 89 RBIs) in 2006, and had shoulder surgery right after the season. He played only 58 games last year when he was diagnosed with Thoracic Outlet Syndrome and had the rib removed.
Even after returning home to San Diego this winter, Blalock kept rehabilitating, though Rangers doctors said it wasn’t necessary. He wanted to stay out of the training room this spring, a goal he has mostly achieved.
“I see the same things I always have. He’s healthy and he’s ready to go play,” shortstop Michael Young said. “It’s always nice to have somebody with a lot of ability who feels like they want to prove themselves again. And I think that’s the way Hank is this year.”
Notes: RHP Kevin Millwood (hamstring) will throw 30-40 pitches in a simulated game Wednesday against five different hitters. Among the hitters will be John Mayberry, the team’s first-round pick in 2005. … The nameplates on the lockers for alumni players have been switched from Rusty Greer and Mark McLemore, who were in camp over the weekend, to Pete O’Brien and Buechele.
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