Where Has All the Power Gone?

Apparently, wherever it is that the flowers, young girls, young men, soldiers, graveyards, and cowboys now reside, at least when it comes to the two biggest holes in the Yankees lineup.

Sure, the team as  whole is still on a pace to hit a record number of home runs. But the bottom has dropped out of the power numbers for Didi and Sanchez—something harder to fathom than the overall slumps they're mired in.

Some commentators at lesser sites have tried to tell us that Didi is back because he's hitting .275 over the last 14 days. But that's just so much folderol.

Over the last seven days, Sir Didi is hitting worse than ever:

.222/.300/.222/.522

As you can see, Didi's slugging percentage is identical to his batting average, indicating a COMPLETE lack of power.  And the figures over the last 28 days are even a little worse, overall:

.211/.250/.263/.513

During these last four weeks, Didi has hit 1 double, 1 home run, and driven in 5 runs. Total. It has literally been weeks since our beloved shortstop got an extra-base hit.

Sancho is in an even more compressed black hole.  Over the last 14 days, his slash line looks like this:

.081/.171/.108/.279

Ouch! And in those two weeks, he has hit 1 double, no homers, and driven in all of 2 runs.

The 28-day look back is not much better:

.159/.256/.304/.561

In the last month, Sancho has 4 doubles, 2 homers, and 5 ribbies.

Well, it happens, right? Even the best go into terrible, prolonged slumps.

Not THIS terrible or THIS prolonged, at least not that I remember—not for guys who were all-stars just last year. But maybe it's all just an anomaly.

What I don't get is the total power blackout on the part of both Didi and Sanchez. I mean, now that everyone has been thoroughly instructed in the ways of the "home run or nuthin'" school of hitting, there should be the OCCASIONAL ball hit over the wall, no? Even when they're not goin' good?

How can it be that these guys are up there trying for a home run every at-bat, and not hitting one at least, say, once a week, even when they're going bad?

The COMPLETE absence of power on both their parts implies there's more to the story. It barks injury, to some degree or another. A leg problem that keeps them from driving the ball. An eye problem that keeps them from seeing it.

I know what you're saying: 'The Yankees lie about an injury? Impossible!'

But I suspect they are. And I suspect that they're also lying to us about Judge's thumb now. It will be interesting to see when they 'fess up.










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