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TORONTO - With spring training just over a month away, many big-league baseball players are starting to get back into their workout routines in preparation for the 2015 season.For Blue Jays knuckleballer R.A. Dickey, the pre-season plan is a little different. The veteran right-hander has to give his nails extra attention since theyre critical for his unique pitch.I just kind of let them go in the winter, Dickey said Friday. And then when it comes time for like around late January, I start treating them with some product and making sure that theyre filed right, and the nail hardener is on there, things like that.Dickey was joined by teammates Jose Bautista, Aaron Loup, Todd Redmond and Dalton Pompey for a media availability at Rogers Centre to kick off the Blue Jays Winter Tour. The tour will include stops in Calgary, Banff and Vancouver next week. A chipped or broken nail can significantly hamper Dickeys ability to throw the unique pitch, which can float, dive and flutter en route to the plate. The over-the-counter hardener is used so the nails can withstand the rigours of a full season.Dickey tries to keep his nails at a consistent length and also has to be mindful of tasks that other players wouldnt be concerned about — like making sure a nail doesnt crack while hes doing up a zipper, for example.He doesnt go into nail salons unless theres an emergency.I do my own stuff, Dickey said in a recent interview at a different promotional event. Im probably the only major leaguer out there that could go on the disabled list for a broken nail.I dont trust many people with my nails. I do it all on my own.To throw the pitch, Dickey puts his index and middle fingers just behind the horseshoe-like seam on the ball. He digs his nails in on top and supports the bottom of the ball with his thumb on one side and fourth finger on the other.The thumb must stay off the seam to prevent the ball from spinning. Dickey then winds up and bends his wrist at an almost 90-degree angle before essentially pushing the ball out.With no spin, the ball floats toward the plate, often handcuffing batters with its slower speed and directional changes.Knuckleballers are quite rare as it can take a long time for a pitcher to master it. Dickey, 40, started out as a conventional pitcher but found the most success as a knuckler later in his career.So is it a fun pitch to throw?It can be. It can also be maddening, he said. When its going good, theres not anything better in the world. But when its going bad, it can be really ugly.Dickey won the National League Cy Young Award with the New York Mets in 2012 and joined the Blue Jays the following year. Hell be counted on to help anchor Torontos starting rotation again in 2015.Dickey reached the 200-inning plateau for the fourth straight season last year, finishing with a 14-13 mark and 3.71 earned-run average.Spring training begins next month and the Blue Jays will kick off the regular season April 6 in New York.———Follow @GregoryStrongCP on Twitter. http://www.atleticomadridpro.com/Kids-Lucas-Hernandez-Jersey/ . The 18-year-old centre was the Senators first-round pick (17th overall) in the 2013 NHL Entry Draft. The six-foot 196-pound native of Salmon Arm, B. http://www.atleticomadridpro.com/Kids-Antoine-Griezmann-Jersey/ . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. http://www.atleticomadridpro.com/Kids-Angel-Correa-Jersey/ . This should be celebrated because it will not always be this way. With the amount of money given to players by their clubs these days, it is a wonder that so many of those teams allow the sport to continue to take away many of their assets so they can play for a different team in the middle of their season. http://www.atleticomadridpro.com/Kids-Saul-Niguez-Jersey/ . -- Caris LeVert had 14 points and a career-high 11 rebounds for his first career double-double, and No. http://www.atleticomadridpro.com/Kids-Koke-Jersey/ . Thats when the eight-time champion revealed that a painful back is slowing his serves -- and, all in all, giving him more trouble than his opponents so far.TORONTO - Its been almost a full year since Raptors forward Landry Fields underwent surgery to correct a debilitating and somewhat enigmatic injury to his right elbow; an injury that nearly turned him against the game that he loves. For Fields, the road to recovery has been a long and arduous journey, one that continues to this day as the 25-year-old prepares for his fourth NBA season and second with the Raptors. This summer was a time of reflection, a time of change in his life, both personally and professionally. Returning to play in 46 games following ulnar nerve surgery early last season, Fields battled through the aftermath of his injury, a hitch in his shot and the resulting toll it took on his confidence. He had targeted the offseason as a time of reconciliation, a time to reconstruct the shooting mechanics that had been betraying him. It turned out to be more trying than he could have anticipated. "There was a point where I was so frustrated, my dark days basketball-wise," Fields told TSN.ca in an exclusive conversation Tuesday evening. "Even in the summer there was a lot of ups and downs," he admitted. "Its just a continual process really. In my mind I thought I [would have] surgery and boom, Id be back to normal, but clearly [that] isnt the case." First and foremost, as Fields pointed out, the nerve still needed to heal and strengthen. Trying to avoid that temptation to put the cart ahead of the horse was his biggest challenge, as he juggled on-court work with the natural healing process that had to occur first. In an attempt to work around the injury and play through it last year, Fields developed some bad habits including what he called a "weird motion" in his shot. He recalled the "down periods" this summer, when he would be in the gym working tirelessly to hone in on his mechanics as he would lose the strength in his shooting elbow. The injury has forced Fields to reinvent his shot and his game while calling a few unexpected audibles along the way. He even tried to do something that is mostly unheard of at the NBA level, change shooting hands mid-career. "At that point I was like, its early in the summertime what if I just start working with my left [hand for] a couple months and see how far I can go," he said of the short-lived experiment. "It didnt really work as I excepted it. Im right handed, so I got off of that and stayed faithful to the process and what the doctors were saying." Fields was a 39 per cent three-point shooter as a rookie with the Knicks back in 2010-11, a year in which he attempted 219 triples. Last year he made just two of 14 attempts from long range. "In my mind I just wasnt playing with a full deck of cards," Fields said of his first season in Toronto. "I want[ed] to shoot it but I understood that my strength and my sensation and the seensory skills in my right hand arent nearly what they need to be so I cant really feel when Im going up for a shot.dddddddddddd." "Its almost like Im shooting a ghost ball or something," he joked. "So when thats going on, yeah youre confidence kind of dwindles. Youre like, I cant shoot right now, not because I dont want to but I literally cant. Its physical." Still not 100 per cent, Fields says he can "finally see a light at the end of the tunnel" and is ready to get back to work. Most importantly, he insists the confidence issues that plagued him last year are forever in the past. "You can tell his confidence is at a much higher level," teammate Aaron Gray said of Fields after the first couple days of camp. "He had to deal with so much last year that I hope no player has to do. Just finding your rhythm and your balance between life and basketball, its huge." Finding serenity in his private life, with a marriage and the birth of his first child, has allowed him to find that balance and put basketball in perspective. Although Steve Novak and Austin Daye will compete with Fields for minutes behind Rudy Gay and DeMar DeRozan at the wing positions, the presence of accomplished shooters could take the pressure off the Stanford grad. "I told him, dont even worry about his shot," said Raptors coach Dwane Casey. "Hes been working his butt off on his shot, his shot has improved but Im not even concerned about that because he brings so many other things to the table." "I think the weight of the world is off his shoulder," he continued. "Hopefully him knowing that we dont need his shooting to give us a chance to win, that takes some [pressure off]." Instead, Fields will be asked to contribute in other areas of the game, areas he has excelled at in the past, making for what should be a natural transition into his new role. At 6-7 Fields is a skilled defender that Casey has used in man coverage on the likes of LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. He can handle the ball, move without it and rebound as well as anyone at his position. This will be an important season for Fields as he continues to work his way back from an injury that, at least temporarily, changed the way he approached his job. "Im just trying to go out there and really try to have fun again," he said with a smile on his face. "I think last year with the injury it took away that fun aspect for me of basketball and you never want to go to work and not have fun." "I would still work hard but [when] you dont see the kind of results that youre putting the time in to get, it really starts to play with you. So this year Im not [going] to worry about any of that, just [going to] try to go out there and play for my teammates, play for the city and really have fun with it all." 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