Russell Martin on his hitting slump
Said he has been hitting off a tee a lot, with the focus on shortening his stride because he has been jumping at the ball a little bit. He also said that he feels like he has been having some decent at-bats, even though he admitted he has been fighting through them, and he did find a positive in the fact that he has been seeing a lot of pitches and working opposing pitchers. The night off couldn't have hurt, either.
Also asked the O-Dog about his current hitting tear -- he has a 10-game hitting streak, but more importantly, he is hitting .382 overall and .475 (19 for 40) during the streak -- but he didn't want to talk about it.
``I don't talk about numbers,'' he said. ``I'm not being a (jerk), but I don't talk about numbers. You guys can see it.''
I think the only remedy for Martin is that he just has to keep playing and I'd suggest that he forget about the fact that he's in a slump and just concentrate on what he has to do at the plate.
Too early to begin worrying about Martin. He got off to an extremely slow start last year, and then caught fire. If he can avoid wearing out in the second half this year (and it looks like Ausmus will be spelling him on a regular basis), and he quits swinging wildly for the fences, and begins to use the whole field (which he has in recent games), I have little doubt that he will be productive.
Good for O-Dog. That's the kind of maturity our young club needs!
Nice opposite field single to drive in two runs.
A two run single up the middle. What slump?