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03-26-2002, 06:56 PM
News
3/26/2002 6:00 pm ET
Fernando Vina's spring training diary
On roster moves, Pujols in left and Opening Day
By Fernando Vina
Special to MLB.com
Millar, Dempster too much for Cards
Cardinals MLBeat report
Full MLB scoreboard, complete with box scores
Cardinals second baseman Fernando Vina, the team's regular leadoff man and a Gold Glove winner in 2001, is checking in weekly during Spring Training to discuss his experiences at camp in Jupiter. Since the last installment of his diary, Vina has returned to the Cardinals' lineup after being out a week with a slight right hamstring pull. In this edition of his Spring Training diary, Vina discusses returning back to action, news around Cardinals camp concerning left field, seeing teammates cut from the roster, making his first big-league team and the excitement of Opening Day in St. Louis.
I started at second on Friday, and it felt good to just go out there and start playing again. You're a little tentative at first because your hamstring was bothering you. But right off the bat, I said, "Oh, man. Here we you go already." Right away I had to make a couple of plays. I went to my right pretty good and my left real deep. Then I ran from first to home on a base hit and really had to push it pretty good. It's good to be make sure things are all right.
In terms of offense, I try to be consistent and do what I did last year and keep improving on the numbers of last year but I don't set any actual numbers. I just say ,"Hey. I'm going to work hard in the spring and prepare myself for the season and things will come out the way they should." You take pride in every at-bat you get. You don't want to give up anything easy because you work so hard to get where you're at. So you go to the plate with that mentality, get fired up and go for it.
This week it was decided Albert Pujols will be our Opening Day starter in left and Placido Polanco will be at third base. Poley is a great third baseman, and Pujols is a good third baseman also. But to make the team better, I think the better move is Pujols in left and to leave Polanco at third because Pujols has played left before and Polanco hasn't. I think it helps make us an overall better defensive team than what we already have.
One of the tough things about this game is seeing teammates in spring training get cut from the big-league roster. It's a tough game. I mean one minute you're the next minute you could be somewhere else. It's a humbling job because anything can happen. But you wish those guys well.
When I first made my first big league club out of spring training with the Mariners in 1993, it was a dream come true. I thank God so much for that opportunity. I came out of Class A ball the year before so you can imagine how I felt going from Class A to making the big league team the following year with Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson and Tino Martinez on the team. It was amazing to play with guys like that. One day you're watching them on TV, the next day you're on the same team with them. It was something really special and a memory I will never forget.
Opening Day is very exciting, especially in St. Louis because its the best baseball town in the world. You get excited in the final week of Spring Training because you know you're going to be coming up there. Just the hype and the butterflies you get on Opening Day. Seeing a packed house of supportive fans dressed in red and white -- it really fires you up as a player. As Opening Day gets closer the blood flow and the butterflies get even bigger. Opening Day is a special feeling. The only thing we can hope now is that we can get some good weather.
3/26/2002 6:00 pm ET
Fernando Vina's spring training diary
On roster moves, Pujols in left and Opening Day
By Fernando Vina
Special to MLB.com
Millar, Dempster too much for Cards
Cardinals MLBeat report
Full MLB scoreboard, complete with box scores
Cardinals second baseman Fernando Vina, the team's regular leadoff man and a Gold Glove winner in 2001, is checking in weekly during Spring Training to discuss his experiences at camp in Jupiter. Since the last installment of his diary, Vina has returned to the Cardinals' lineup after being out a week with a slight right hamstring pull. In this edition of his Spring Training diary, Vina discusses returning back to action, news around Cardinals camp concerning left field, seeing teammates cut from the roster, making his first big-league team and the excitement of Opening Day in St. Louis.
I started at second on Friday, and it felt good to just go out there and start playing again. You're a little tentative at first because your hamstring was bothering you. But right off the bat, I said, "Oh, man. Here we you go already." Right away I had to make a couple of plays. I went to my right pretty good and my left real deep. Then I ran from first to home on a base hit and really had to push it pretty good. It's good to be make sure things are all right.
In terms of offense, I try to be consistent and do what I did last year and keep improving on the numbers of last year but I don't set any actual numbers. I just say ,"Hey. I'm going to work hard in the spring and prepare myself for the season and things will come out the way they should." You take pride in every at-bat you get. You don't want to give up anything easy because you work so hard to get where you're at. So you go to the plate with that mentality, get fired up and go for it.
This week it was decided Albert Pujols will be our Opening Day starter in left and Placido Polanco will be at third base. Poley is a great third baseman, and Pujols is a good third baseman also. But to make the team better, I think the better move is Pujols in left and to leave Polanco at third because Pujols has played left before and Polanco hasn't. I think it helps make us an overall better defensive team than what we already have.
One of the tough things about this game is seeing teammates in spring training get cut from the big-league roster. It's a tough game. I mean one minute you're the next minute you could be somewhere else. It's a humbling job because anything can happen. But you wish those guys well.
When I first made my first big league club out of spring training with the Mariners in 1993, it was a dream come true. I thank God so much for that opportunity. I came out of Class A ball the year before so you can imagine how I felt going from Class A to making the big league team the following year with Ken Griffey Jr., Randy Johnson and Tino Martinez on the team. It was amazing to play with guys like that. One day you're watching them on TV, the next day you're on the same team with them. It was something really special and a memory I will never forget.
Opening Day is very exciting, especially in St. Louis because its the best baseball town in the world. You get excited in the final week of Spring Training because you know you're going to be coming up there. Just the hype and the butterflies you get on Opening Day. Seeing a packed house of supportive fans dressed in red and white -- it really fires you up as a player. As Opening Day gets closer the blood flow and the butterflies get even bigger. Opening Day is a special feeling. The only thing we can hope now is that we can get some good weather.