On career-best HR pace, Pierzynski says nothing's changed

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A.J. Pierzynski insists hes not doing much of anythingdifferent as his home run total continues to climb.The veteran White Sox catcher will enter the All-Star breakwith 16 home runs this season, two shy of his career high. But Pierzynski saidhe hasnt switched his approach nor has he done anything different in battingpractice.Pierzynski is hitting .286 with 16 homers and 49 RBIs in 72games.People think Im doing all this crazy stuff, Pierzynskisaid. Im really not. Its more of an effort-level kind of thing than anythingand thats really it. Were doing the same drills in the cage. Im taking thesame approach in (batting practice). Its just a different feel and a differenteffort-level basically.Last week in New York, Pierzynski said he has hit more ballswith backspin this season. In the past, Pierzynski hit the ball with topspin,which led to base hits, but not home runs. He said he and hitting coach Jeff Manto have continued tohold the same discussions Pierzynski had previously with former coach GregWalker, which led to a minor switch.But the change in results is significant. Pierzynski, 35, needs only two more homers to tie thecareer-high 18 he blasted in 2005. After he entered this season with a home runonce every 41.5 at-bats for his career, Pierzynski is homering once every 16.19at-bats this season.White Sox manager Robin Ventura said hes not surprised.He has a lot more power thanI think people give him credit for, Ventura said. You see the way he has hisapproach and everything, he's got power. It's there. Everybody goes throughphases of not swinging it well. But when he's swinging well he has just as muchpop as anybody else.Pierzynski attributes everything to a relaxed approach and agood plan of attack. Nothing else.Just trying to have a good planand stick with it, Pierzynski said. Not that I didnt before. I just thinkone thing Ive been able to do this season when in the past Ive beenstruggling is Ive been able to sneak some home runs in. In the past I wouldmiss it and get jammed and instead of a home run it would have been a bloopsingle. This year for some reason, I dont know. It has been fun and hopefullyit will continue.

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