C-Grand Slump Comes At The Worst Time (For Everybody)

(Courtesy of the AP)

As bad as the weekend series against Boston went for the Yankees, there's something to be said for them putting up 29 runs in the 4 games.  It wasn't for lack of offense that they lost 3 of the 4 games, and guys like Robbie Cano, Brett Gardner, Alfonso Soriano, Lyle Overbay, and even Ichiro all had various levels of productive weekends at the dish.

One guy who didn't was Curtis Granderson, who's seen his production slow since first coming off the DL last month.  Joe sat him for Friday night's game and didn't even use him in a late pinch hitting role, and in the 3 games he did play C-Grand went 1-13 at the plate with a double and 5 strikeouts.
Curtis continued to slump last night with an 0-4 effort against Baltimore as part of a punchless 3-4-5 in the batting order.  In his last 10 games, Granderson is just 5-34 (.147 BA) with 9 K, 2 BB, and 2 RBI.  He hasn't hit a home run since August 22nd and since my post discussing what his comeback has meant to this year's team and next year's offseason plans his OPS has dropped 134 points.

Curtis' 26.9% LD rate in the last 2 weeks suggests there might be a chunk of bad luck to blame for this downturn in production and the .241 BABIP that's fueled it.  The uptick in strikeouts combined with the decrease in walks suggests it might be something fundamentally wrong with his swing and/or approach.  And it's fair to wonder if Joe playing Curtis inconsistently - he's been out of the starting lineup in 3 of the last 9 games and is still getting moved all around the outfield - is a contributing factor given how much time Curtis has missed this season.  Hell, maybe there's something physically wrong with him.

Whatever the cause, Curtis can't afford to continue slumping for much longer.  The Yankees' postseason chances have dipped back into the single digit percentages after this 1-4 stretch and his upcoming free agent situation becomes even cloudier with every bad game.  A quick turnaround from this slump and a strong last 3 weeks of the season would be in everybody's best interests.