Houston Astros outfielder and b5media colleague Hunter Pence is answering reader questions over at Inside the Ballpark. In the first installment, he details his game day routine:
After I’m happy with my swing, I will watch the last start of the pitcher we are facing until batting practice begins. After batting practice, I eat a banana, one grilled chicken breast and down a lot of water to get hydrated. By 6:00 pm (one hour before game time) I’ll go through one more short hitting routine that generally ends at 6:15. Then I just try to relax for fifteen minutes and mentally …read more

Houston Astros outfielder and fellow b5 blogger Hunter Pence wants to answer your question. You do have a question, don’t you? Get over there and ask.

Just a few items of note for you this afternoon:

Philadelphia Phillies first baseman Ryan Howard won his arbitration case and has been awarded $10 million for 2008. This is the largest amount ever received by a victorious player.
You may be aware that my colleague, Hunter Pence, was injured in a freak accident earlier this week. He’s got the details up at his blog. Here’s wishing Hunter a speedy recovery.
Another colleague, Albert Bianchi at Dejuiced, informs us that New York Mets shortstop Jose Reyes will be giving up a celebratory handshake thing he used to do. I can’t speak to that …read more

Rich Lederer at Baseball Analysts is running a three-part series on the best young players in baseball today. The first installment discusses 24- and 25-year-olds, while the second covers 22- and 23-year-olds. No huge surprises here, but I have to give a special shout-out to fellow b5 blogger Hunter Pence for showing up at #12 among 25-year-olds, right between Jered Weaver and Casey Kotchman.

Hunter Pence’s latest entry is up at Inside the Ballpark. In it, he talks about his off-season hitting regimen, including an insane eye-training drill that I’d heard about in the past:
The other thing I’m doing this year is working off a machine that shoots tennis balls up to 120mph with numbers on them. The numbers are either red or black. The point of the drill is to read the color first and as you get better, start seeing the numbers. It’s amazing how much better you get from day to day.
That is just nuts…