I Guess There IS an "I" in "Team!"

In baseball, I've always thought that one guy does not one team make.  If one player is struggling, it is up to the other players on the team to step up and play their best regardless of whether one guy stinks or not.  That is why I have always been perplexed when sportscasters and analysts say things like "Once so-and-so breaks out of his slump, the other guys will follow" and "So-and-so is not hitting well in the third spot because he's not gettingany support from the first two batters."  Shouldn't So-and-so's teammates still perform well even if So-and-so sucks?  It was pretty cut-and-dry to me two weeks ago, but now I'm not so sure.

If you're a regular reader of this blog or if you follow me on www.prosportsblogging.com or www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/blogs/ (scroll down to Nationals Inquirer), you've surely read my rants about how the Washington Nationals had not been producing offensively, especially for the 3rd, 4th, and 5th batters.  I've also written about third baseman Ryan Zimmerman's nagging shoulder injury, and the debate whether to place him back on the Disabled List or give him a cortisone shot and let him rest during the All-Star break.  Well, apparently they went ahead and gave him the cortisone shot last Sunday, and ever since then, he has been hitting very well.  His average went up from a lousy .218 to an improved .235 in the past week, which includes 2 home runs hit in Colorado (OK, I know that even I could hit a home run at Coors Field, but still...).

Well guess what?  As soon as Ryan Zimmerman started hitting, the rest of the Nationals' bats woke up as well!  Adam LaRoche and Tyler Moore also had 2 home runs apiece, and the team had 49 hits in their last 3 games.  So what's that all about?  I don't know - I was a Sports Management major, not a Sports Psychology one so I don't have an answer.  But it seems like it is indeed true - when a normally good batter is in a slump, the rest of the team seems to struggle too.  Let's just hope that's not the case for the Phillies, who just got second baseman Chase Utley back from the Disabled List.  He had been there all season due to chondromalacia in his knee (Don't we all have some degree of grinding in our knees?  I think Chase is just a wimp!).  But anyway, Utley hit a home run in his first at-bat since his return, and first baseman Ryan Howard is starting his rehab after rupturing his Achilles tendon in the last game of the playoffs last year.  So if Utley starts out well and Howard makes a comeback, will that spark the Phillies' bats?  Gosh, I hope not!