MESA, Ariz. -- It was the first pitch Nomar Garciaparra saw in the sixth inning, and, bam, he launched it out of HoHoKam Park.

That Garciaparra's second spring home run came so quickly in the count didn't surprise Chicago Cubs teammate Todd Walker at all. When Garciaparra goes to the plate, he's ready.

"The thing that's good about Nomar is that most people have to see some pitches before they're able to time it right," Walker said. "Nomar doesn't do that. He'll hit a lot of first pitches. He hits a lot of first and second pitches, and he hits them hard. That's a talent in itself because most people have to see a few pitches before they get the timing down. That could mean you dig yourself a hole.

"He's one of a kind," Walker said. "He's really good."

In this game, Garciaparra saw four pitches in his three at-bats -- and collected three hits.

"So much for the theory of going deep in the count and watching pitches," Cubs manager Dusty Baker said. "[Derrek Lee] said he doesn't know how Nomar does it. That was some good hitting. That was fine hitting."

Garciaparra, 31, knows how to hit. He won batting titles in 1999 and 2000 with the Boston Red Sox, batting .357 and a career-high .372, respectively. He flirted with .400 in 2000, and was batting .403 on July 20 that year. He has a career .322 average. He's had 21 career hitting streaks of 10 or more games, and four of at least 20 games, including a career-high 30-game streak his rookie season in 1997.

This will be Garciaparra's first full season in Chicago, and he's tuning up with a solid spring, going 10-for-22 so far. How did he win the batting titles?

"I like to say I tricked them," Garciaparra said, laughing.

OK, seriously now, how did you do it?

"I don't play for an average or do a lot of that stuff," Garciaparra said. "I'm not a big numbers guy, I'm not a stat guy. The stat that matters to me is wins and losses. Those years I won the batting titles, one year we made the playoffs and the next year we didn't."

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He didn't enjoy the 2000 season when the Red Sox didn't reach the postseason. Garciaparra likes the idea of baseball in October. He says he won't watch the World Series unless he's in the games, and that includes last season when the Red Sox won. But he humbly suggests that the only way he won those batting honors was because of his teammates.

"I think your numbers are indicative of the team around you," he said. "That's why numbers change every year. I always feel bad when you get on a guy and say, 'Well, he didn't perform the way he did last year' or 'He didn't hit the same way he did last year.' A lot of factors go into that. Maybe it's where he was hitting in the lineup."

Maybe winning the batting title isn't an individual thing, but a team thing.

"My greatest example was my rookie year," he said of the 1997 season when he hit .306 with 30 homers and 98 RBIs. "I led off the whole year and I had 98 RBIs, which at the time was a record for most RBIs as a leadoff hitter.

"I didn't hit 98 home runs, so it shows you," he said. "Why did I have that record? Because guys were getting on base and doing something unbelievable.

"I think some years you have high averages, some you have low averages, and if you look at other numbers, some go up, some go down, some adjust," he said. "I contribute a lot of that to my teammates and the team I'm on. When I won the batting titles I was thanking those guys an awful lot. When I won Rookie of the Year, I said, 'Thanks guys, you made me look good.' That's how I look at it."

Walker thinks Garciaparra is a little too humble.

"If you're in the No. 3, 4 hole, and No. 2 hole, too, you'll have guys around you who can hit," Walker said. "There are 2-, 3-, 4-hole hitters on every team, and there's only one batting champ.

"Nomar does a good job of keeping his head still and keeping everything still and he's strong enough like Moises Alou to just make contact and hit the ball hard," Walker said. "Some people have to get something going and that takes away from your strike zone a little bit. Nomar's really good at keeping his head still and being stable at that point in contact."

Nomar Garciaparra  /   SS
		Born: 07/23/73 Height: 6'0" Weight: 190 lbs Bats: R / Throws: R More info: Player page Stats | Splits Gallery Team Site | Shop

When Garciaparra was growing up, his father made him play every position in baseball. It helped him learn the game and also realize how important every position was. End result is a smart ballplayer and a good teammate.

"You need everybody out there," he said. "When a guy goes down, you don't stay with eight players."

The Cubs project Garciaparra to fill the No. 3 spot in the order. He's hit in all nine spots, but has primarily batted third where he has a career .320 average. He's a career .357 hitter batting fourth.

"One year [in 2000] I led the league in intentional walks," Garciaparra said. "What does that say? That's not because I'm a big guy. We had great guys hitting behind me but we were flip-flopping a lot of guys and platooning the guy behind me so that could've been a factor."

Ask Garciaparra whether he wants to be known as a good hitter or a good shortstop, and he chooses the defensive option. He, Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez -- when he played short -- were the shortstop poster boys and sparked the evolution from a "glove only" position.

Garciaparra really just wants to play. He admits he's being smart in the field this spring to protect the Achilles that knocked him out last season. He looks healthy. Scouts who haven't seen Garciaparra on a regular basis have been surprised by how strong his arm is. The shortstop made a dazzling 360-degree turn and throw last Friday against the Diamondbacks that didn't look as if he was favoring anything.

Back to hitting. Garciaparra admits he doesn't like to wait and will often swing at the first pitch. Get used to it, Cubs fans.

"If a pitch is a good pitch to hit, I'm going to hit it, whether it's the first one, second one, third one," he said. "If I'm swinging right, I'll hit the first one right. It doesn't matter whether I'm taking that one to hit the next one. My philosophy is focus on what I have to do and if it's there, hit it."

It certainly will help the pace of the game. Cubs outfielder Calvin Murray agrees that the rest of the lineup can help a hitter. But he says Garciaparra deserves all the credit.

"The thing with Nomar is he doesn't need anybody on base to concentrate," Murray said. "It's not like, 'OK, guys are on base and now he's really going to focus.' That guy shows up for every pitch. A lot of us will take a pitch, and we'll step out of the batter's box and say, 'Oh my God, how did I take that?' You don't see him do that.

"He can hit. He hits for fun," Murray said. "A lot of people play cards, or play golf for recreation. That guy picks up a bat and good stuff happens. He's just a natural hitter. He's unbelievable."