Necessary but borrring

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz.

All across Arizona and Florida, the most talented baseball players in the world are practicing things a 10-year-old could do.

Baseball, perhaps more so than any other team sport, is about performing routine tasks flawlessly hundreds of times in a row.

Do it right 99 times out of 100, and you'll hear plenty about the 100th time.

That's why major-leaguers who are paid millions for their off-the-chart physical skills spend six weeks working on such mundane stuff as how to run to first base, how to catch a popup and how to pick up a bunt.

"How many games do you see screwed up by that?" asks Giants pitcher Tyler Walker. "Games are won and lost in the sixth through the ninth, and how many times does a bunt play get screwed up or you don't get that extra out at second when you could have? It's especially important for us, because this year we're going to really have to execute all the small things."

This year's Giants camp has been a little different. Instead of simply telling players what drill to do and letting them do it, coaches are spending more time explaining the nuances.

"Being a young club, we are going to spend more time on the teaching side, probably a little more than normal," manager Bruce Bochy said. "We talked about the type of ball we're going to have to play and the type of execution we're going to need. We're probably going to have a little longer days out here, doing a little more teaching than what's been done in the past."

Pitchers and catchers generally report for spring training in the middle of February, and the exhibition games don't start until the first week of March, so that leaves a couple of weeks for nothing but mind-numbing drills and batting practice.

"I hate the first 10 days of it, because basically it's just straight repetition, same thing every day, boring," Rich Aurilia said. "It gets a little better once the games start. But after about three weeks of the games, you are kind of like, it's time to get out of here. You know it's something that you have to go through, but I don't think anybody really likes it that much."

In that case, the Giants are at the peak of their boredom right now. The full squad has been working out since Tuesday, but the first game is not until Thursday.

To get an idea of what happens during a typical workout day in Arizona, here is what happened on Friday at Giants camp:

7:30 a.m.: Players start to show up at the ballpark, usually young guys. The young players have to show up early if they want to get on the equipment in the gym, because the veterans get dibs later in the day.

Down in the clubhouse, players slowly file in. Some are in the dining room, where they have breakfast. It's pretty standard fare in here: cereal, toast, bagels, fruit. No chef making omelets.

8:15 a.m.: The weather looks dicey outside -- cool and cloudy.

Bench coach Ron Wotus, who is in charge of organizing the workouts in spring training, said the coaches are debating whether to use an abbreviated schedule to beat the rain, but they opt against it.

"We'll take our chances and do our normal day," he says.

9 a.m.: The work day officially begins. The team holds a short meeting in the clubhouse, mostly to go over the schedule for the day. A few minutes later, the players head out to the field for conditioning, wearing shorts, T-shirts and sweat shirts.

The pitchers head back to Field 2, which is just beyond the right-field fence. Up until 2006, the Giants were the only team in Arizona without a second field adjacent to the big-league ballpark. They had to bring players about a mile up the road to the minor-league facility to use multiple fields. It's a much more efficient setup now.

For 45 minutes, the players will run, do sit-ups, run some more and do a variety of flexibility exercises before heading into the clubhouse to change.

10 a.m.: Players emerge wearing baseball pants and batting-practice tops. They spread throughout right field and loosen their arms. Pitchers play catch with pitchers, infielders with infielders, and outfielders with outfielders.

10:10 a.m.: The players are split into five groups for defensive drills. Some of the pitchers and middle infielders go to an infield-only field behind the bullpen. Another group of pitchers and middle infielders goes to Field 2. They are all working on pickoff plays at second. They go over the signals and how to get the timing right. The first baseman is always on the bag to take a pickoff throw, but it's a little complicated to coordinate a throw to an unoccupied base.

The rest of the infielders are in the stadium. The third basemen are fielding sharp grounders and throwing them to second. The first basemen are taking one-hop "throws" from a pitching machine positioned at shortstop.

The catchers are in right field practicing popups. Each squats behind a pitching machine, which fires the ball into the air. Bullpen catcher Bill Hayes, who is the catching instructor, makes it a challenge by shooting multiple balls into the air at once.

Outfielders actually have it the easiest during the defensive drills. There is only so much an outfielder can do. On Field 2, outfield instructor Roberto Kelly is hitting balls off the fence and the outfielders are going back, picking them up and throwing them in to a cutoff man.

At first glance, this looks so simple it's barely worth practicing. Later, Randy Winn explains that there is a technique to it. You have to get your body centered over the ball so you reach straight down to pick it up, not to the side.

"If you don't do it right, that's how you give up an extra base," Winn says. "It's really monotonous, simple stuff, but it's the basics you do every game."

10:30 a.m.: All the infielders and pitchers gather on the stadium infield for practice with rundowns. Nothing is more embarrassing for a big-league team than botching a rundown, but Bochy laments that the Giants did it more than once last season.

With baserunners imported from minor-league camp, the Giants work on rundowns after pickoff throws to first, and then to second. Then they work on rundowns between third and home after a ground ball with the infield in.

So far it's all pretty routine stuff. With only one baserunner, even if you don't execute it perfectly, you can still usually get the guy.

Next they put runners at first and third. The runner leaves early from first and draws a pickoff throw. Now they have to chase down that runner without allowing the runner from third to score. Even in the controlled environment of spring training, this can be a circus, so it's certainly not something to be taken for granted.

First baseman Dan Ortmeier, who is still learning the nuances of his new position, twice is indecisive enough that they don't get either of the runners.

10:50 a.m.: The field is set up for live batting practice. "Live" refers to the fact that pitchers will be throwing at game speed from the mound, rather than coaches lobbing balls over the middle of the plate.

Although it's called batting practice, it's not about hitting. This is for the pitchers. At this point in spring training, batters are not ready to be hitting 93 mph fastballs or 90 mph sliders. Many of them don't swing at all for the first few days of live BP.

"You are really overmatched," Dave Roberts says. "We position players try to give our pitchers confidence, and it works. We make them feel good about themselves. As a hitter, you are not really getting a whole lot out of it."

There are three groups of hitters during live BP on each field. While one group is hitting, another will be in the field taking ground balls or fly balls, and the third will be taking cuts down in the covered batting cage.

A few starting pitchers are hitting down in the cage.

Starters hit regularly in spring training, but the relievers just do a little bunting.

"If I have to hit," reliever Tyler Walker says, "we are in trouble."

12:05 p.m.: The pitchers are finished. Some of them head for the trainers' room for ice or to the gym to work out.

All of the hitters will go through one more cycle of batting practice, this time against coaches. Now there are actually some hard-hit balls.

Although batting practice now looks the same as you'd see before a regular-season game, players are likely to be working on more specific things, like hitting the ball the other way.

During the season, pregame batting practice is mostly just an exercise to get loose.

12:15 p.m.: It's starting to rain, but not hard enough to stop the workout.

1 p.m.: The scheduled part of the work day is over, but most of the players aren't done. They'll come in and get treatment for injuries or go to the gym to lift weights.

There is a catered lunch served in the kitchen. Today they are having turkey, stuffing and green beans. Yes, Thanksgiving in February.

Within 90 minutes or so from the end of the workout, most of the players are gone. Now is a popular time for them to hit the golf course. Once the games start, they'll have a similar routine, but with a game at 1 p.m., they won't leave the ballpark until at least 3, and some as late as 5.

There are 30 spring-training camps, but there aren't that many variations.

"Some camps might be a little more intense with the conditioning, but for the most part it's all pretty similar," Roberts said.

The best part, Roberts said, is simply getting back on the field and being around your teammates in a relatively relaxed environment.

"I think you look forward to spring training every year, then you start getting going and you get to a peak, and you realize there are two weeks left and you hit a lull for a little bit," he said. "It does get monotonous, but it's a fun time."

You can reach Staff Writer Jeff Fletcher at 521-5489 or jeff.fletcher@pressdemocrat.com."I hate the first 10 days of it, because basically

it's just straight repetition, same thing every day, boring."

RICH AURILIA, Giants infielder on spring training