News
Chipper not panicking about hitless streak
Attributing drought to bad luck, slugger struggles Sunday
By Pete Kerzel / Special to MLB.com
06/14/09 4:58 PM ET
BALTIMORE -- If an 0-for-21 drought over the past four games entering is weighing on Chipper Jones, he isn't showing it. The only way to get out of a slump is to hit, but Jones went 0-for-3 with a walk as the designated hitter in Sunday's 11-2 loss to the O's."When I feel [bad], I strike out," Jones said before the game. "Right now, it's a situation where my mind is telling my body to do one thing and my body is doing another."
Jones hadn't gone hitless in four straight games since May 2007, and the current dry spell is his longest since he was 0-for-18 from May 31-June 5 in '05.
"The last two games, I've been swinging the bat badly," Jones said. "The first two games, when I was 0-for-8, I lined out four times. It's just a byproduct of a little bad luck."
Bad luck would explain how Jones is one of the few sluggers not to prosper in hitter-friendly Camden Yards. Lifetime in Baltimore, Jones is 6-for-47 (.128). The only venues where he's had more problems are also American League parks -- Angel Stadium in Anaheim (0-for-7), Safeco Field in Seattle (0-for-6) and U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago (1-for-13).
"You get unlucky sometimes," Jones said.
Braves manager Bobby Cox isn't worried about the slump, either. As long as Jones is healthy, Cox will keep writing his name in the lineup on a daily basis. There's too much long-term success for Cox to ignore.
"He's squared them up and he's hit some line drives that have been caught," Cox said. "If [St. Louis' Albert] Pujols can go 0-for-16, so can Chipper Jones. That's the game. It happens. It happens to Babe Ruth, to Hank Aaron, to everybody else. That's baseball."
Even a reminder that he was approaching a dubious milestone -- Jones' career-long nosedive was an 0-for-23 streak of futility from Aug. 3-9, 2000 -- brought some self-deprecating humor from Jones, whose .310 career batting average ranks second to Hall of Famer Frankie Frisch on all-time list for switch-hitters.
Things haven't gotten to the point that Jones has called his father and confidant, Larry Jones, to discuss what's wrong and how to fix it.
"Maybe tomorrow," Jones deadpanned.
Back in 2000, when Jones endured the slump that lasted 23 hitless at-bats, things turned out OK. Jones hit .311 that season with 36 homers and 111 RBIs.
"Eventually, somebody will make a pitch and I'll center it," Jones said. "It'll happen."
Pete Kerzel is a contributor to MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
