"A ballplayer will sometimes take any help he can get when prohibited by baseball rules from working out with his team.

In the case of Milton Bradley, who spent 15 days on baseball's restricted list before rejoining the Mariners last week, it took a member of the Safeco Field grounds crew to help keep his bat sharp enough during his prolonged absence. Kevin Dvorak, a former college baseball player in his fourth season with the grounds crew, wound up throwing batting practice to Bradley on a handful of occasions during the final stages of the player's preparation to return.

Bradley had been doing indoor hitting work with the team's mental performance coach Steve Hecht, a former professional ballplayer. But when Hecht tried throwing outdoor batting practice to Bradley, it became clear to Dvorak, 26, who was doing on-field maintenance work at the time, that the pair needed help.

"He wasn't throwing a lot of strikes," Dvorak said of Hecht. "And when it comes to batting practice, that's kind of important."

Very important when it comes to Bradley, a selective hitter known to be discerning about any pitch he swings at, even when it's only a practice session. So, if Bradley wasn't going to go for Hecht's offerings, it was going to be tough to get the timing of his swing down pat for his return to action.

Dvorak, a Seattle native and former first baseman at Oklahoma City University, knows a little about throwing batting practice. He'd done it for years as an assistant coach at Lake Stevens High School as well as on an occasional volunteer basis at Bellevue Community College."