The last time Geoff Jenkins met with reporters in the Brewers' clubhouse, things were a little different.

Make that a lot different.

The veteran leftfielder was coming off a difficult season -- his ninth with the team -- in which he struggled to get out of a deep funk and was benched by manager Ned Yost, who wanted to evaluate the growing crop of young prospects.

A rash of injuries brought Jenkins into the lineup for the final month of the season. He finally snapped out his slump, hitting .409 with seven home runs and 12 runs batted over the final month to finish the year with a .271 average, 17 home runs and 70 RBI. It was his worst power production since an injury-shortened 2002 campaign.

The longest-tenured member of the Brewers heard his fair share of boos from the stands during the final homestand. Following the home finale, a visibly emotional Jenkins pondered the uncertainty of his future.

"If it's my last game, it's going to be tough," Jenkins said at the time as he tried to hold back tears. "We'll see what happens."

Jenkins, like most Brewers fans, spent much of the winter wondering what would happen. Would he, or one of the glut of outfielders on the roster, be sent packing? Would he keep his starting job or form part of a platoon? Jenkins cleared the air with Yost and general manager Doug Melvin, but still wondered about his future.

"It was obviously a different offseason, just going through the talks of what might happen -- this or that," Jenkins said. "I've seen my buddies go through it; not many guys stay with a team as long as I have."

There were no answers when camp opened, but Jenkins made his feelings known early. Early in spring training, Jenkins told reporters that he had no desire to split playing time. He'd been a starter his whole career, and suggested the Brewers consider moving him if they didn't plan on playing him.

All of that, Jenkins insists is in the past. He's moved on and wants to think about 2007, not 2006. The trade rumors, the benching, the disappointment ... it's water, he says, under the bridge.

"We've spoke on that plenty. I'm done with that," Jenkins says. "Now it's all about being focused on winning ballgames."

Helping to change his focus is the newest member of Jenkins' family; he and his wife, Jennifer, had their first child over the offseason, a baby daughter named Logan. He fine-tuned his mechanics -- not eliminating the infamous "leg kick" that has frustrated many a batting coach, but tinkering with it -- under the tutelage of new batting coach Jim Skaalen, and returned to Milwaukee with a sense of optimism that had been absent for most of his big league career.

"I looked at things over the off-season," he said. "You judge yourself; what's going good and bad. I looked at swings to see what I could do to make adjustments, be successful, and get back to what I was doing."

Jenkins hit .389 in Cactus League play with a home run and 15 RBI. He earned the Opening Day start in left field -- a position he manned until Carlos Lee arrived in 2005 -- largely on his spring performance, but a platoon still isn't out of the question.

The fact remains, Jenkins hit an abysmal .133 against left-handers last year. Kevin Mench, who also expressed plenty of displeasure with a possible platoon, has had significant success against southpaws (.303 career average) and struggled against right-handers (.259).

Yost hasn't tipped his hand much. While refusing to call for a straight platoon, he's talked at length about doing what's best for the team; playing the hot hand and letting competition sort things out.

Neither player is a big fan of the setup, but Jenkins knows that the team is much more talented than it has been in previous seasons. In the end, it's success that drives the 32-year-old; after years of hope and wonder, he thinks that this is the year the Brewers finally have the pieces together for a serious run.

"It's the reason I signed back here," Jenkins said. "I wanted to be a part of a winner and I wanted to win here. Obviously if you lose ballgames it's not fun, and at some point you want to turn the tide."

"We feel like this is the year we can get over the hump and make some things happen in the [National League] Central. For me, that's rewarding. Now we just have to go on the field and let things happen."