HR ups and downs

Mark Teixeira (he of the weirdly pronounced last name) has had a feast or famine year in HR's. After hitting 38 and 43 out the last two years, he struggled to hit HR's (although not 2B's) the first half of the year. In April, hit hit only 3 HR (but 9 doubles); In May, only 3 again (with 6 2B's); in June, only 2 (but an incredible 12 2B's). At this point, he was on pace to hit just 16 or 17 HR (but 55 or so doubles!) The homer drought continued through the first week of July. Then, on July 9, the last game before All-Star break, he hit one out for the first time in 13 games (and only the 9th time in 88 games. Then, on the first game after the break, July 13, he smacked 3 over the wall. He ended with a decent 7 total in July (but only 4 doubles); he really poured in on in August, with 9 HR (and 7 doubles). Almost 3/4's into September, he has 5 HR and 5 2B for the mo. His totals now stand at 29 HR and a career-high 43 2B. He had 9 HR in 353 AB before the All-Star game (just over 1 every 40 AB), 20 in 245 AB since then (about 1 every 12 AB).

This is the opposite, of course, of Bobby Abreu's experience in 2005. That year, he won the All-Star Home Run Derby with a record performance, and hasn't been able to hit them out since! (He has 12 HR in 516 AB this year)

Another guy whose HR swing has gone south, inexplicably (I'd hate to think it was due to steroid testing being implemented) is Brian Giles. Since becoming a full-time starter in 1999, his home run totals, in yearly order, were: 39, 35, 37, and 38. At this point, after 2002, he had established himself as one of the best consistent sluggers in the game (a lot of great home-run hitters never string together 4 straight 35+ HR seasons). His total dropped to 20 in 2003, only slightly due to missing about 20 games injured. Then, with no injuries, he hit only 23 in 2004, dropping even further to 15 last year, a total he may or may not reach this year (13 in 573 AB so far). Who knows if he'll ever regain that home-run swing? He's now age 35. We'll see.