Hip don't lie: Cardinals' Bourjos getting in as many at-bats as possible
JUPITER, Fla. -- Peter Bourjos is entering his sixth season in the big leagues, but he certainly isn't approaching spring training like one of those veterans who takes a couple of at-bats and heads for the showers.
Bourjos not only played all nine innings in the Cardinals' 6-3 exhibition loss to the Miami Marlins on Friday afternoon, he served as the DH in a B game in the morning. For the day, he batted seven times and got his first two hits of the spring, though his double in the B game will not count.
At the end of the long, hot day, the first thing Bourjos did upon entering the clubhouse was check on injured outfielder Tommy Pham. Then Bourjos declared he was ready for more.
"I'll take as many at-bats as they're going to give me," he said. "If I can go down there (to the minors camp) and get 'em or come off the bench up there, if I can get some at-bats, that's all I care about."
And this is coming from someone who underwent offseason left hip surgery that might have others easing their way into action. Bourjos, however, says he feels great and hasn't felt any issues. Now that he can rise in the morning without pain, he's ready to go hard all day.
"When I got out of bed, I was in trouble. I'd go to the bathroom, it was already aching," he said. "Now I get up in the middle of the night and my first step, I'm kind of hesitant. Then I'm like, 'Oh, it feels good.'"
But he says his healed hip, believe it or not, also was the main reason behind his 0-for-12 start to the spring.
With a healed hip, Bourjos has a different swing than in the past few seasons. When his hip was hurting, he was not able to open up at the plate or get much from his backside. Now that he's feeling better, he can open up and see the ball longer. He says he's swinging with more freedom than he has since 2010.
"I had so much time (then), I was driving he ball the other way and I was hitting balls up the middle like I did today," he said. "As the years have gone on and this got worse, I'd gotten away from that because I really couldn't rotate on it."
With the swing he's using in spring training, he has more time to see the ball, adjust and react.
"It's the way I should be hitting," he said.
Slugging a double over the right-fielder's head in the B game -- on a pitch over the plate and into a wind blowing in at about 20 mph -- gave him the kind of hit he hasn't produced in recent seasons.
"In the past couple of years, I really haven't been able to hit a ball that way," he said. "If I did, it was kind of a slap. That one I really drove."
Manager Mike Matheny sees a change, too.
"Watching some things that he's doing in batting practice, he just physically couldn't do before," Matheny said. "When you're doing things you may not have been able to do before, there's a different feel at game speed. He just needs to see some success and have some more live timing. He's making progress."
Of course, you can't tell that from his .067 spring batting average. See that and you wonder if the 27-year-old will be able to hold onto the fourth outfielder's job. But Bourjos believes once he finds his timing, the hits will come.
All he needs are more at-bats. He's shown he's willing to get them any way he can.
THREE STRIKES
• Lynn says he's ready. The way Lance Lynn views the mild flexor strain in his left hip, he never got off track. After leaving his first start in the second inning, he just went easy a couple of days to make sure there would be no lingering issues.
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"It wasn't hurt," he pointed out. "It was tight."
However you look at it, he says he is back on schedule. Though he didn't start Friday -- which would have been his turn -- he threw an amped-up side session during which he took a break to allow the hip to cool down and then revved up again.
"Everything felt good like we figured it would," he said. "We're excited and we'll be moving forward. I don't know when that is, but I know it will happen sometime next week."
Lynn said he will take his regular between-starts bullpen session and then be ready to face hitters. He would be on turn to start Wednesday, but since the Cardinals are off, the earliest he figures to start is Thursday. If he starts anytime next week, he still would have time to make two more starts before the team heads north.
"My guess is I will be throwing off the mound to hitters for multiple innings before next weekend," Lynn said. "Everything's full go from here on. There were just two days of making sure everything was not bad and now everything is normal."
• Pham frustrated. With the bases loaded and substitute starter Zach Petrick struggling in the second inning of Friday's game, left fielder Tommy Pham sprinted toward the left-field line to catch a drive by Reid Brignac. But Pham not only missed the diving catch, he strained his left quad when he was running. He got up and returned the ball, but not before the bases had cleared. Pham then left the game, the latest in a string of injuries in his career.
"It would have been a diving play because it was right on the line," Pham said. "I probably would have caught it if I had not strained my quad."
Pham, 27, came into camp under the radar but had made a strong early impression by starting 6 for 11 with a homer. He also was coming off his best season, which included a .324 batting average at Memphis and his first call-up to the big leagues. Admittedly frustrated to be sidelined, Pham said he hoped to be out for only a "couple of days."
"I know what it feels like to really be hurt, so I know I wasn't really hurt," Pham said. "That sensation was different."
• Rough results for Rosenthal. Trevor Rosenthal gave up a run on three hits and nicked a batter in his first outing since serving a two-run, game-deciding homer on Tuesday. But if Matheny is seeing something he doesn't like from his closer, he didn't say.
"Rosie is throwing the ball very well," Matheny said. "I told him not to get discouraged by the results. He's locating, very close misses all day. Changeup was a good speed, and I like the cutter. He's in a good spot."
You can follow Stan McNeal on Twitter at @StanMcNeal or email him at stanmcneal@gmail.com.
