21.   He was released by doctors Tuesday to start hitting off a tee and soft toss and expects to see some machine-pitch work as early as next week.

22.   He will start hitting off a tee soon, and then report to Baltimore in the middle of the month to start serious conditioning.

23.   He tried to backhand it, and it hit off his glove, as bad a play as seen in many weeks.

24.   He spends most of his afternoons tinkering with his swing, hitting off a tee, or roaming the clubhouse, looking for good wood.

25.   He threw a belt-high fastball to Lewis, who turned on it and hit it off the facing of the upper deck in left field.

26.   Hit off the tee, he said.

27.   Hitters can hit off one timing.

28.   I can pick up a bat and swing a bat, but anything I miss or anything I hit off the end kills me.

29.   I was part of the Sammy Sosa team and the Mark McGwire home run when he hit it off the Cubs.

30.   It does not matter that Puckett can hit off a tee, which he did this week before and after undergoing laser surgery Wednesday and Thursday.