Greg Miller faced five batters today, with all five reaching and all five scoring. He walked the first two, missing badly with some pitches. Given the horrendous control issues he dealt with last summer, resulting in his being demoted from Triple-A Las Vegas to Double-A Jacksonville midseason, you had to wonder if he is on the verge of a relapse. But Miller said that wasn't in the back of his mind as he went to the hill to start the fifth inning.
``It's a new year,'' he said. ``I have a whole bunch of new years in front of me, and you need to start with square one.''
Miller wasn't the only one whistling past the graveyard.
``Greg for me has made a lot of progress this spring, with a lot of positive things,'' pitching coach Rick Honeycutt said. ``But there is still another step of being able to take it into a game. We feel like this is a quality young man with a quality arm, and he just needs to get over that hump and be able to take that into a ballgame and make adjustments within an inning. We believe in this young man, and he just needs to keep believing that with time, he can get through this thing.''
Honeycutt and manager Joe Torre have vowed to remain patient with Miller.
``One thing we have to make sure we do is stay with him and continue to talk to him,'' Torre said. ``We just have to make sure he believes in himself and finds a way. The tough part of being a pitcher is that if you struggle, you have to wait a few days before you go back out there again. But we want to let him know we're still behind him.''