Marlins.mlb.com

"I had hitting all figured out five or six years ago. Now I'm learning how to hit." -- Shawn Green

PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. -- The swings, noticeably quicker than those Shawn Green took 60 minutes earlier, imparted greater energy and more carry to the baseball. The contact produced crisper sounds and line drives that skipped rather than bounced in the outfield grass. The difference was as encouraging to the man responsible for it, as it was undeniable to those who witnessed it.

Uplifted as he was, Green could have skipped, too. An extended morning session in the batting cage had made Green's Wednesday "my most productive day of the spring" and sent him home happy.

Chances are that he will arrive at the Mets' complex a tad earlier than usual and with some sense of urgency on Thursday morning. Green also left camp with a sense of anticipation on Wednesday, expecting more good things to come.

"See," Julio Franco said, pointing to his own forehead. "Hitting is all mental."

Well, not all mental. That was clear on Wednesday, when, at Franco's urging, Green altered his batting stance, which in turn energized his swing, which in turn jogged the memories of those who had seen him overwhelm pitchers from 1998-2002.

One revised swing produced a hot line drive to left-center field that moved as catcher Mike Piazza's opposite-field gappers once moved. The next one sent a ball to the base of the right-field wall.