SARASOTA, Fla. - J.J. Hardy remembers his first spring batting practice session with the Baltimore Orioles last February, when he stepped into the batter's box and started spraying line drives to the opposite field.
"What are you doing?" Orioles hitting coach Jim Presley asked the Sabino High School grad.
Hardy, 29, told him he was doing what the Twins asked him to do in his lone season in Minnesota in 2010.
"That was my approach for the Twins," Hardy said Monday. "And then Presley's approach was 'I want you to drive the ball. I want you to hit homers. I want you to do what you did in '07 and '08 with Milwaukee.'"
Once Hardy was given the green light, all he did was drive. The shortstop slugged a career-high 30 homers for the Orioles last season and matched a career high with 80 RBIs in just 129 games, a banner season that earned him a three-year, $22.25 million contract extension.
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Hardy hit 26 homers in 2007 and 24 in 2008 for the Brewers but had only six with the Twins in 2010, limited partly by a wrist injury.
Now, the Tucson native is occupying a field at Camden Yards that Cal Ripken Jr. once called home.
"I feel like it's a big position for the Orioles with their past shortstops," Hardy said.
Francona calls ban 'PR'
FORT MYERS, Fla. - Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine denied his clubhouse alcohol ban was a public relations move, and pitcher Josh Beckett blamed "snitches" for leaking the story about players drinking beer during games while Boston was in a September collapse.
Former Red Sox manager Terry Francona, a former Arizona Wildcat and now an ESPN analyst, called Valentine's ban a "PR move" earlier Monday on ESPN Radio.
A's 3B Sizemore out
OAKLAND, Calif. - Athletics third baseman Scott Sizemore will miss the entire 2012 season after tearing a ligament in his left knee last weekend during his first full workout in Phoenix.
The A's say Adam Rosales and Eric Sogard and prospect Josh Donaldson will have a chance to play third.
Inside pitch
• Seven groups of bidders for the Dodgers, including Magic Johnson, will interview with baseball's ownership committee in the next step toward selling the bankrupt team by the end of April.
• Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard is in Baltimore to have his surgically repaired left Achilles examined.
• Lefty Sean Marshall, the Reds' closer of the future, agreed to a new contract that adds $16.5 million over three seasons through 2015.
• Royals catcher Salvador Perez, 21, agreed to a five-year, $7 million deal.
• Texas pitcher Yu Darvish of Japan will start March 7 against San Diego and likely will go two innings in Peoria.
