"Cardinals outfielder Allen Craig spent the winter refining his swing in anticipation of how he expected pitchers would approach him this spring. It's no longer an educated guess. At the end of last season, Craig and hitting coach Mark McGwire discussed how opposing pitchers had begun testing the young hitter with some success on the inside strip of the plate. Craig figured that strategy would go viral through the league, and he worked with McGwire this winter to get ahead of it. "It felt like when I started to do well then they started to pound me inside," Craig said. "That was one of my goals this offseason - to get better with the inside pitch and better at pulling the ball. I've done a little bit better job this spring." He's had opportunities to show it the past two games. Craig had two hits and two RBIs in the Cardinals' 10-2 victory against Houston on Friday. Twice he drove in Colby Rasmus, who had three hits and a stolen base in the rout. Nine of the Cardinals' 10 runs came with two outs, including Craig's RBI single in the fourth, an inside pitch that he lashed to left field. On Thursday, Craig turned on an inside pitch for a double down the left-field line, and he pulled a line drive off the left-field wall. He has four hits in his last seven at-bats, and three have been stung to left field. That's a result he said, of weeks spent working with McGwire in person this winter. Their drills were designed to clear Craig's hips as he swings and give his swing a path to the inside pitch." Read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...cle_b221ac0b-c640-5d78-94f0-c8a4249eefeb.html
