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Last week, I visited with the former USC pitcher, Matt Chico. He told me he got some good advice from pitching coach Steve McCatty. "My bullpen session went well. I tried to work on some things. McCatty helped me out with trying to stay back toward the end of my session and it helped. I threw all of my pitches: Fastball, changeup, curveball and slider. McCatty says I was jumping out, kind of rushing my lower half. My whole body was going but arm was staying back. During the middle of the workout, we fixed that a little bit and I started getting the results I wanted."

So what was wrong? "My pitches were flat. If I was going in on a righty, it would be there but it would be one of the loopy ones. I didn't get that sharp break until the end."

So how have the rehabilitation stints been going? "I think the rehab stints helped. The only thing is in a way it wasn't great competition down there. Harrisburg will kind of give me that little test as far as where I am at right now. The biggest thing is just trying to keep the ball down."

Is a September call up possible? "I'd like to get back as soon as possible. Realistically, that's about right. It all depends on how I throw."

This make work out for you with the young arms getting to their limit at the end of August, this may be your chance to get a few starts in before 2010: "The guys up here right now have been throwing the ball real well. If they end up getting cut off inning wise, then I hope I am one of those guys that get to fill it."

You excited to be back, but do you also want to be temper that a little and take it slow? "Yes, especially coming off surgery, I am not a year out yet, so I try to take it day by day. I am trying not to get ahead of myself. Just kind of let it happen on its one."

Are you amazed by Doctor James Andrews who performed the Tommy John surgery? "It still blows my mind what they can do. They took the graph out of my hamstring. So having something foreign in my elbow that shouldn't be there is mind boggling. We will see what happens and how you can come back from something like that."

You are bionic now: "Yeah, I am!" Chico said laughing. Good to see Matt again and look forward to (hopefully) seeing him in September!