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LANSING, Mich. – In his two years of work with the Blue Jays, Tim Raines has probably said it 1,000 times, maybe more. When you bunt, dammit, keep the bat away from your body.

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Sometimes he says it with a scowl. Sometimes he breaks into a big grin and hoots and howls and mimics the gangly 20-year-old in the batter’s box who sticks the bat out, and brings it back, and then, too late, sticks it out again and awkwardly pops the bunt back to the screen. Usually, the kid smiles, and tries again, and little by little, he might learn from the taunts of Tim Raines.

“All the things they weren’t taught in high school or college, we have to teach them here,” Raines said after a session designed to teach Lansing Lugnuts players how to bunt for a base hit. “Some guys catch on faster than others and that makes my job a lot easier. But I think a lot more guys don’t know what the heck they’re doing.”