Packers cornerback Al Harris said Wednesday he will be back on the field with Green Bay this year after major knee injury abruptly ended last season.

In his first comments in the Packers locker room since the injury, Harris said he never thought about calling it quits.

“There’s no doubt in my mind. If there were, then I wouldn’t be here, standing here now,” the 13-year veteran said after the second of four public organized team activities this offseason.

Harris tore a ligament in his left knee on Nov. 22 against the 49ers while defending San Francisco wide receiver Michael Crabtree. He needed season-ending surgery and there had been questions whether the veteran would return.

Harris said it was tough to watch Green Bay lose to the Arizona Cardinals in the first round of the playoffs in January.

“That was hard, the bits and pieces that I did watch,” he said. “It’s still hard to watch, even watching practice. But that’s a part of it, and that fuels you, to watch the guys go out there and work, to watch your friends play cohesive as a group.

Click here to read the full article – By Associated Press of ESPN.com

An hourlong rain delay was just what Jaime Garcia needed to refocus.

The St. Louis Cardinals knocked out Bronson Arroyo in the fifth inning and their rookie left-hander overcame a shaky start in a 12-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Monday, forging a first-place tie in the NL Central.

“I think in the first inning, sometimes it’s kind of like a shaky one for me because I’m learning,” Garcia said. “After the delay I was able to stay focused, stay in the game mentally and physically.”

Albert Pujols extended his streak of reaching base to nine straight plate appearances with two intentional walks and a single in his first three at-bats. He finally made an out in the fifth inning, hitting into a double play. Pujols added an RBI single in a five-run sixth, one day after hitting three homers at Chicago.

Click here to read the full article – By R.B. Fallstrom of Associated Press