More on Hardy; a couple camp notes

I had plenty of leftovers from reporting the J.J. Hardy story that appeared in Sunday's paper and on the website today. Met with his father for an hour at his favorite slushee place in Tuscon, Ariz. and quoted him once in the story. Had a long and fascinating talk with his brother, Logan. In our business, being 50 inches over budget is better than being 5 inches short.

I also spoke with Mike Hanson, Hardy's baseball coach at Sabino High, who was pretty funny. He pretty much outed Hardy for trying to sneak off school grounds with his buddy, J.C. Field, when they were office aides for him..

``They would try to get off campus and try to get away from the campus monitor," Hanson said. ``It was like a secret agent thing. They they would hide behind cars and sometimes (the monitor) would catch them and send them back to my room."

I then called Hardy's buddy, Field, for confirmation.

``We tried to dodge the monitors and tried to get out for an early lunch," Field said. ``For some reason, we were always caught."

I was unable to quote Field in the story either. It just so happens that Field currently is an assistant baseball coach at North Dakota. He played little league baseball with Hardy while as they grew up and still speaks with Hardy regularly. He even tried to talk him through his struggles at the plate last year with the Brewers.

``We talked about the mental side of it and just trying to enjoy the little things about the game." Field said.

``He was always the guy who was team-oriented," Field said. ``Always the guy who never thought he was better than everybody else, although he was. We wasn't a cocky player but had a quiet confidence, which really propelled the teams we were on."

Working out

The gym Hardy works out at is located in the back of Southwest Spine and Sports in Tempe, Ariz. and is run by a former major league strength and conditioning coordinator.

The day I was there, so was the Angels' Howie Kendrick and Jason Buldger, the Mariners' David Aardsma, former Brewers teammate Geoff Jenkins and Horacio Ramirez, who was about to sign with the Giants.

Hardy was all smiles as he moved from station to station (he's strengthening his wrists in a bucket of rice on the right, both photos courtesy of Brad Armstrong). He had just agreed to a one-year deal to avoid arbitration with the Twins and was fired up about joining the team.

It was his idea to hit Dilly's Deli for lunch. We drove through ASU's campus on the way there.

He's a real easy-going fellow. I can see why he's good friends with Mauer.

Hardy's father is a tennis instructor. His mother was an excellent college golfer. Hardy joked about the time he asked for the U.S. Open tennis finals tournament be turned on in the visitors clubhouse in Cincinnati - during an NFL weekend- and his teammates went nuts..

``They wore me out over that," Hardy said.

He said football was never on in their house while he grew up, so they weren't fans. Only recently has Hardy taken an interest in the sport.

Camp Update

The equipment trucks have dropped off all the Twins gear as the club prepares for the first pitchers and catchers workout on Monday. A few players already have arrived for informal workouts. The only major leaguer I saw today was Brendan Harris.

Although some major leaguers are in town, they might use these final few days to relax before the daily grind begins.

Several minor leaguers worked out on Wednesday. I watched Trevor Plouffe and Joe Benson take batting practice. Had never met Benson before, so I introduced myself.

``Hopefully, I won't have any injuries this year," said Benson. a multi-tooled prospect who missed a chunk of the season for Class A Fort Myers when he punched a wall and broke his hand.

He then explained that he meant to hit a fence and didn't know there was something else behind it.

I also met Max Kepler, the German prospect (his mother is from Texas) who signed for nearly $800,000 last year. He just turned 17, has his GED after attending some high school in Fort Myers and was excited about getting his permit to drive a car.