"In the middle of his arduous rehab this winter from operations on both ankles, third baseman David Freese found himself recalling his first at-bat in a Cardinals uniform, way back during a brief visit to big-league spring training in 2008. Against the New York Mets, Freese ripped a triple and wheeled comfortably at full speed around the bases. Two seasons and 87 big-league games have passed since those words "comfortably" and "full speed" appeared together in any description of his running. But it wasn't the result that Freese remembered wistfully; it was who witnessed it: Freese realized that was the only time Cardinals manager Tony La Russa has seen him healthy. "Tony hasn't seen me run full speed and how I can run since," Freese said Thursday after a 30-swing turn in the batting cage at All-Star Performance baseball and softball training center in West County. "It's been awhile. I feel when I get down to spring training this season, if I progress how I should, I think they'll see a different ballplayer. I think they'll be excited with what they see. I want it to be like they're getting a new third baseman."" read more: http://www.stltoday.com/sports/base...cle_86ee38e2-29fd-55ea-b14e-bc947a20e6a0.html
