“Conditioning!”

“You keep using that word. I don’t think it means what you think it means.”

It was right after they had Steinbrenner in there to talk about fiscal austerity. 

And Dusty Baker had some words about the importance of using pitch counts to protect young pitchers’ sometimes fragile arms.

Then Jeff Francoeur inexplicably came on to talk about working the count and taking pitches. 

Then Ryan Howard dropped by to talk about putting the importance of putting the ball in play.

And…and…

I lived in downtown Baltimore in the nineties and was a runner. I remember running down by the harbor when I came across two obese men “running” next to each other, though they were going slower than I walk. What struck me was the ugliest tattoo I had seen at that point in my life. It was a nearly life sized portrait of the face of a baby in a greenish-gray ink on a flabby arm. Who was this flabby connected to? None other than David Wells. The other portly man? Rocky Coppinger. Instant motivation to pick up my pace.