According to Chili Davis, don’t judge a slump by the numbers. Even if the math is horrific, the veteran designated hitter says only the batter knows when his troubles at the plate can be accurately described by the five-letter word every hitter loathes hearing.
“I don’t consider it a slump,” said Davis, who had one hit in 17 at-bats and was replaced in the DH spot by Shane Spencer last night against the Tigers. “A slump to me is when you feel like [bleep]. When you are swinging at a bunch of [bleep]. When you are going up there and you swing at the first pitch and ground out. I am taking pitches, sometimes they are called strikes and sometimes they are not.”
A career .275 hitter entering the season, Davis (along with Derek Jeter) carried the Yankees through the first two months of the season, ending April at .356 and May at .326.
But a .221 June (17-for-77) had Davis’ average at .293 going into last night.
This being Davis’ 18th season in the big leagues, he doesn’t harbor one ounce of concern.
“If I was swinging like [bleep] it would be one thing, but I am seeing the ball great and I feel comfortable,” Davis said. “I am not going to panic about nothing. Eventually somebody will throw pitches to me that I will make a minor adjustment on, move closer to the plate or something. All you can go on is feel and I feel great up there.”
Sitting Davis wasn’t the only move Torre made one day after the Yankees had a seven-game winning streak stopped via an 8-2 loss to the Tigers Wednesday afternoon. Despite going 2-for-5 Wednesday, Scott Brosius was lifted for Clay Bellinger at third. With Spencer moving into Davis’ DH spot, Ricky Ledee made his first start since being recalled from Columbus (Triple-A) last Thursday. He took over for Spencer in left.
“I wanted to give Chili a day off and Brosius looks like he is fighting it,” Torre explained. “He doesn’t agree with me but he looks like he is fighting himself at the plate.
Before Torre’s explanation, Brosius was asked if everything was in one piece.
“Nothing is physically wrong,” said Brosius, who had four hits in the previous 15 at-bats (.266) and is hitting .246 overall with seven homers and 30 RBIs.
Still, Torre decided a night off would keep Brosius away from an extended slide.
“He is tough to read because he will get a big hit for you,” Torre said of his third baseman who is batting .260 (13-for-50) and has 19 RBIs with runners in scoring position. “It becomes mechanical with him, that front [left] shoulder flies out of there and when that happens, your head follows and you swing at balls down the middle and miss them, which is what he did a couple of times yesterday.”
After collecting two singles in his first two at-bats Wednesday, Brosius fanned swinging in the next two at-bats.
As for Ledee, Torre didn’t insert him because he was itching to get a look him.
“It wasn’t as much to get [Ledee] in as it was Chili out,” Torre said. “But maybe you see something, I hope so.”
Because Ledee pressed far too much in his first stint with the Yankees this year, when he hit .200 in 17 games and was sent to Columbus, Torre was asked if he would seek out Ledee and tell him to relax.
“I don’t think I will make it a point,” Torre said. “I will basically tell him to go out and have fun and that’s what I hope he does.”
Since rain had canceled batting practice on the field, the Yankees were limited to hitting in the cage before last night’s game. As Davis slapped on a pair of batting gloves, he shared his attitude of the ups and downs of hitting.
“It’s part of the game,” Davis said of his first slide of the year. “That’s why I didn’t let myself get too excited when things were going good. I try to go from medium to medium.”
