The Dodgers offense decided to take the night off in the series finale with the Padres, and one player in particular seems to be taking June off, along with much of the season.
I've said that I am a huge Russell Martin fan a number of times, but his 2009 campaign is ridiculous. He's 3-for-24 in June, with two of the hits coming Tuesday night. On top of batting .125 for the month, he still hasn't hit a home run.
After hitting just .205 in April, he turned it around a bit in May by hitting .330. Even with the high average, he hit for no power, collecting just five extra base hits.
He is currently hitting just .255 with 20 RBI. Considering the Dodgers offense and how many men get on, he has to be a league-leader in runners left on. I am also sure he leads the league in ground balls to the shortstop.
So, what is wrong with our All-Star catcher? In his previous three seasons he hit 42 home runs, with a high of 19 in 2007. How could his power just disappear?
His .301 slugging percentage ranks 30th among the 34 catchers with 100 or more plate appearances. He finds himself Gregg Zaun, Dioner Navarro, Rob Johnson and Jason Kendall.
Among all 296 players with enough at-bats to qualify for the batting title, Martin ranks 274th. He fins himself below guys like Willy Tavares, Anderson Hernandez, Chris Getz, Augie Ojeda and Luis Castillo.
Martin needs to bat eighth until he works his way out of this slump.
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I wanted to talk about a few things regarding Wednesday night's game against San Diego. For starters, why wasn't Rafael Furcal bunting with men on first and second and nobody out? Down two with a struggling hitter at the plate, you gotta move those guys into scoring position. Instead, Furcal strikes out.
It's very hard to watch Matt Kemp strike out so much, especially on a 3-2 ball way out of the zone, with the tying runs in motion. What a tough game it was to watch.
It appears to be mental more than anything, and J.Martin is the last person I want up with a double play possibility due to his groundballs to third or short...get the broad out of your head Crash! Although if his new lady was the one sitting next to his dad last night then damn she was a beauty! But he needs more time off and Ausmus get a few more ABs cause J.Martin is lost at the plate.
All I know for sure is that Martin is far from the exciting player he was a couple of years ago. It makes me wonder if he was juicing?
I know the bunt was Torre's call, but to me it seems that when the Dodgers just need a hit Furcal swings for the fences, when they need a flyball he grounds out. When Furcal is on, he is on, but man he sucks when he is not. Still take him at short over just about anybody though.
I too wonder about the juice...have to question everyone these days
Doesn't it suck that we have to wonder that about everyone?
I supported Palmiero, never had doubts on Clemens or Petitte prior to Mitchell Report, and then AROD and ManRam, my late teen dodger favorite Loduca, I seriously doubt Piazza was clean...until someone comes clean before they get outed/busted then I have doubts on everyone who is older than 36 and putting up numbers
I dont think Ibanez is juicing but he has to understand why people would/can question him.
Piazza wasn't clean, unfortunately. SI did a thing about the top 15 home run hitters from 1993-2004 and listed 10 that have been connected to PED's and five that weren't. Piazza's name was on the list of the players that were.
Figures
Nice Game last night J.Martin!! Nice groundball that the 3B threw in the dirt...nice fly ball that you swung as hard as you could in the ninth that went to shallow left! Please keep in mind J.Martin if your going to act like a big shot mlb player then you need to continue to hit like one!!!! Thank god your finally batting eighth and all but seriously find your head and pull it out of your ass J.Martin! You were my favorite player but the attitude, your defense sucks and you cant hit a lick is getting embarrassing and cant support you playing over Ausmus much longer....Ausmus can block the ball in the dirt, throw runners out and still not hit a lick if need be.