SF Giants keep Aubrey Huff out of lineup

(06-01) 04:00 PDT St. Louis -- - Aubrey Huff is a shell of the hitter he was last season. With one-third of the season gone, nobody can say "it's early" anymore.

"He's searching," said manager Bruce Bochy, who sat Huff on Tuesday night and said he might keep Huff on the bench another day. "When you get this far into it, guys do look at their numbers and put pressure on themselves.

"With Buster (Posey) not here and Pablo (Sandoval) not here, he wants to be the guy, and it's not happening for him."

The numbers are stark.

After 54 team games last year, Huff was batting .297 with an .862 OPS, seven homers and 25 RBIs. After a soft lineout as a pinch-hitter Tuesday, Huff is hitting .218 with a .611 OPS, four homers and 23 RBIs.

Huff took early batting practice to attempt some mechanical fixes but welcomed the mental break.

Asked if he was overthinking on the field, he said, "Oh, Christ, of course. When you're hot, you don't think about anything. You just go up, see the ball and hit it hard.

"Right now, it feels like whenever I get in there, I'm worrying if my foot is down, where my hands are, what pitch is coming."

Huff's walks are down, too, not because he is seeing better pitches. He is attacking too many bad ones.

"I'm swinging at the rosin bag when I go up there," he said.

Huff said he would view the change of month today as the Opening Day for the rest of the season, putting the first two months behind him.



(sfgate.com)