Here's a little something on Doug Mirabelli, who made some alterations to both his swing and his conditioning routine this off-season with differing results: Dougie was unstoppable in April,  but has been abysmal in May thus far...unfortunately it doesn't take a very long slump to permanently effect Mirabelli's seasonal numbers. This appeared in today's GameDay Metro at the ballpark.

The voices whispering that Doug Mirabelli couldn’t quite do the job at the plate anymore were certainly loud enough that the 36-year-old couldn’t simply ignore them.

They reached a crescendo last season when the backup backstop hit .193 in 161 at bats for the Sox after he was traded back from the San Diego Padres – after hitting a punchless .182 in 14 games for them – and at times his bat looked slower than it had during his first go-round with the Red Stockings from 2001-2005.

“I knew it wasn’t that I couldn’t [hit] anymore, and that it was just a mechanical issue,” said Mirabelli. “I didn’t feel like my career was coming to an end.”

Changes had to be made this off-season: adjustments were implemented at the plate and fine-tuning affixed to a swing that had allowed him to average a home run every 25.2 at bats throughout his 10-year career.

“I’ve had some good at bats and I feel like my bat path is a little better than it was last year, which allows the bat to stay in the hitting zone a little bit longer,” said Mirabelli. “I worked hard on a better swing this off-season, and the thing is I still want to drive the ball and hit home runs. But I also need to just get a few more hits here and there.

“When you only get 150 or so at bats, those extra six or seven hits can make all the difference in the world,” added Mirabelli. “I just wanted to be successful at the plate and I had to do things a little different in order to have a bit more success at the plate.”

The alterations allowed Mirabelli to start out the season like gangbusters, and saw him pile up a .421 batting average and a pair of home runs over the month of April. Unfortunately for Mirabelli and the Sox, the month of May hasn’t been quite as kind to Tim Wakefield’s favorite catcher.

Mirabelli is mired in a 1-for-21 slump that has seen his average plummet from .280 to his current .190 batting average, but Sox Manager Terry Francona sees a big difference in this year’s edition of the Kingman, Arizona native.

“He’s a little shorter to the ball [than last season] and he looks more like he did in 2004,” said Francona. “Sometimes you get to a point in your career where you have to work harder just to maintain where you are, and that’s something that you hope players will understand. It looks like he did.

“It’s a good thing to see because it allows him to be a pretty good leader on this team…he’s got a good voice [in the clubhouse],” added Francona. “He sees the game very well and always has. He doesn’t have a real glamorous job most days, but he does everything we ask of him.”


I'll be posting about misadventures of some Red Sox players on the basketball court shortly, in honor of the crowning of King James in last night's Pistons/Cavaliers game...