Braun hits the road, shrugs off slow start

Ryan Braun isn’t about to start counting outs, or hecklers. He stuck to the script Saturday, saying this is just another Spring Training and just another baseball season.

Braun played his first spring road game against the Angels at Tempe Diablo Stadium, going 0-for-2 with a walk and a slick sliding catch in foul ground. He’s 1-for-15 so far this spring with a home run and three walks.

“There’s never a quantity of at-bats in Spring Training that would concern me, ever,” Braun said. “Spring Training has never been result-oriented. It’s always process-oriented. The process is certainly a little different this year. It’s an adjustment I’ll have to make.”

Braun will gradually begin to play more regularly next week. He said he plans to start back-to-back games for the first time on Monday and Tuesday — both road games, including a Monday match-up with Yu Darvish and the Rangers in Surprise, Ariz.

It’s part of his process.

“If I go 0-for-50 in Spring Training, I’m 100 percent confident I’ll have success in the season. I’m serious,” Braun said. “It’s just a different intensity, different focus, energy, enthusiasm when you play regular season games. It just is.

“Of course, I want to have success. You always want to have success. But it’s different.”

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