Riding high in April, shot down in May... what do we make of Didi's wild ride?

Yankee hitters, last 30 days

Let's agree: It was just a dream, that's all... Sir Didi's disastrous month of May. It was not The End. It was not the puncturing of his balloon, the collapse of his testicle, or a Dark Horseman of Doom. Yeah, it was a deep hole, a full-scale nightmare, but - fingers crossed - it's over.

It was the worst month of Didi's career, (.149) which happened to follow the best month of his career (.330). It was a market correction... karma, a meta-mathematical sequence, a plate of bad clams - with pitchers dispatching him in the way that the waitress made short work of Sarah Huckabee Sanders' order of linguine with clams - and it had nothing to do with the delirious tribal reality that is the 2018 Yankees.

But think about it: One month, Didi is the best hitter in baseball. The next, he is damn near the worst. Then, over the last 30 days - as shown on the right - he is hitting a nice .313. Damn.

Overall, the numbers show Didi Gregorius hitting .259 with 15 HRs and 43 RBIs, which should miss the AL all-star team. (Manny Machado would start at SS, followed by Francisco Lindor.) He is third on the Yankees in RBIs, in part due to  his left-right sandwich between Judge and Stanton in the order. (As long as Greg Bird struggles, Didi will own that spot.) But seriously, folks, WTF happened in May? And can it, gulp, happen again? 

Some theories:

1. Actually, nothing happened. It was the law of averages. What comes up, must come down. He is not a .330 hitter, so the universe stepped in.

2. He got homer-happy. At one point, finding himself among the league leaders, he went full Grandyman and started swinging for the fences. It happens often on the Yankees - (see Tyler Austin and Gary Sanchez) - and especially to lefties who decide to pull everything east of the Hudson. (See Bird.)

3. The pitchers adjusted, and he didn't. Again, this happens all the time. If this is the culprit, Didi has readjusted, and another phase may soon come.

4. It was the Curse of Jeter. Remember Jeet's terrible slump, that spring when it seemed like he would never again get a base hit? Maybe it's just part of being the Yankee shortstop.

5. Didi became secretly flustered when he was moved up to third in the batting order. This is my theory: Once he assumed that mantle of the traditional marquee hitter, he subtly changed his style, thinking he needed to be somebody else. That messed him up.  

Whatever the reason, I don't think Didi will experience another dead month like May. (I say this, because slumps are surely out there, laying in wait for Gleyber and Andujar.) He's down to have a regular Didi season - 25-30 home runs, maybe hit .280. We'll take it. Because let me state this here, for everyone to read and contemplate:

Didi Gregorius is the pride of the New York fucking Yankees. 

No other player matters as much. Nobody. And May was just a dream.