Slumping Gaby Sanchez staying the course

DENVER -- Sometimes not changing anything is the best change a hitter can make.

Gaby Sanchez is going through one of those rough months, batting .098 through his first 12 games in August. The Marlins' All-Star first baseman is in a 4-for-41 spell.

As frustrating as the month has been, the Florida first baseman is upbeat and taking solace in the fact he has been hitting the ball hard of late without any luck. He estimates about eight line-drive outs during the Marlins' 1-9 homestand.

So his approach as the road trip begins is to stay the course.

"Last game, it got to the point where I was like, 'I don't know what else to do,'" said Sanchez, who is batting .269 with 16 homers and 62 RBIs on the season. "What you do is you stay right there. There is nothing you can do when you hit the ball at people. If you start to stress about it, and you start to go away from what you've been doing, then you go down further."

During the series with the Giants, Sanchez had a brief conversation with Cody Ross about his slump. Sanchez actually lined out to Ross in the ninth inning on Sunday.

"I am hitting the ball well," Sanchez said. "It's not like I'm going down there every AB and striking out or grounding the ball to the pitcher. I am hitting the ball well, but right at people. I was talking to Cody. He was like, 'Keep swinging.'"

Sanchez was arguably the Marlins' steadiest player in the first half. Right now, he is battling through a rough stretch.

"It's such a frustrating sport," he said. "You can do everything right and still not get anything out of it. It's frustrating. It stinks. It's just the way the game is. Nothing you can do about it but put your head down and go forward.

"I feel like it's on the verge of just going off again. You're going to have your peaks and valleys in seasons. You have to do the best you can to reduce the valley. You're always going to have it. You're not going to have a season where you are raking all year. Nobody does that. You have to understand that."



(flamarlins.com)