Once a Blue Jay, Derek Bell knows all about Bronx baseball fans. He knows he will hear all about his hitting slump and he can’t wait.
“Hey Bell, you couldn’t hit water if you fell out of your boat. Ya bum!”
“Hey Bell, you’re no Albert.”
They can try, but they won’t rattle Bell. If the 3-for-42 slump that resulted in Bell being benched Sunday couldn’t rattle him, Stadium hecklers aren’t going to get to him, either.
After a troublesome season in Houston, one in which he at times felt like a fourth outfielder, Bell has decided he is going to remain upbeat throughout the 2000 baseball season, his first and he hopes not his last, in New York. He anticipates the weekend series against the Yankees will be a highlight.
“I heard a lot about that Subway Series,” Bell said. “I heard it’s the bomb.”
And that’s not all Bell heard about the Subway Series.
“I played in the World Series in Toronto,” Bell said. “That was great. It was a great atmosphere. I heard it’s bigger than that. Some of the players here told me the atmosphere is better than the World Series.”
It would not be hyperbolic to suggest this is the Series of the Century. Keep in mind, the century is young. Name a bigger baseball series played in the 21st century. See, can’t.
“Just watching playoff games in New York on TV, you could tell it was amazing,” Bell said. “I think the atmosphere is awesome here for regular season games. The crowd is always into the game, always on their feet rooting for you. A lot of people around town know me, stop me and say hello. More people know me in New York already than in Houston. I’m having a lot of fun playing here.”
So much so that Bell, 31, hasn’t let the recent slump eat at him.
“The good thing is I was hitting .360, so that gave me a cushion,” Bell said. “Three-sixty, that’s not me, that’s Piazza and Alfonzo territory. I’m more a .300 or .320 hitter. When it’s all said and done, everybody is going to be where they are supposed to be and that’s about where I’ll be.”
It’s not as if Bell hasn’t endured similar slumps. Even in 1998, when he had a career year, batted .314, scored 111 runs and drove in 108, Bell slumped in May, batting .208 for the month and going 0-for-4 in five consecutive games.
A career .282 hitter, Bell was hitting .360 as recently as May 21. He’s been around long enough to know there is only one way to get out of a slump.
“You have to let it run its cycle,” Bell said. “Superstition isn’t going to get you out of it. You can try stepping on the line or not stepping on it. You can try putting your right sock on first, then your left sock. And if that doesn’t work, you can try putting your left sock on first, then your right sock. You can try all that, but if it hasn’t run its cycle, none of that is going to do any good.”
The key, Bell said, is to “focus on making sure you keep playing good defense. You can’t let it take over your mind, take over your soul, because if you do that, then it takes over your physical attributes. You have to keep enjoying yourself and I do. I have a lot of fun playing this game.”
Especially in New York. And, as Bell is about to discover, especially in the Subway Series.
