11.   Dean Palmer hit against breaking balls and changeups from pitching coach Dick Bosman, and then took regular batting practice with the rest of the team yesterday.

12.   Even if it loaded the bases, even if it guaranteed that Wade Boggs would hit against Avery, that was OK.

13.   Even if our heads are hit against asphalt.

14.   Hank Aaron has thought about how he, the home-run king, might hit against Greg Maddux.

15.   Hardest ball ever hit against me in my life.

16.   He also worked with a therapist on visualization, a mental-confidence tool that asks the player envision hitting against someone like Roger Clemens.

17.   He could send lefthanded-hitting chattel Midre Cummings up to hit against Randy Johnson and Midre would deliver an opposite-field double.

18.   He has not hit against live pitching, only off pitching machines in a cage, but does not anticipate any problems as the spring progresses.

19.   He worked with him all the time, and to test his own game, he would go to the Kmart in Fairborn and hit against the wall.

20.   He will hit against Darren Hall today, for the second time, in the midst of his regular work.