Lopez dealing with lows now

[missionhockey21]

Lopez dealing with lows now

By John Fay
Enquirer staff writer

Felipe Lopez has handled success well all season.

The shortstop has had a breakthrough season. He made the All-Star team and set career highs in every offensive category before July was over.

But he's struggling mightily right now. The way he handles failure might define his season.

He extended his hitless streak to 19 at-bats by going 0-for-4 in Sunday's 2-0 loss to the Florida Marlins.

Lopez has only nine hits in his last 53 at-bats, dropping his average to .281 - the lowest it has been since he was hitting .267 on May 3.

"It's the first time he's played every day for this long at this level," Reds manager Jerry Narron said. "Felipe has had so many good things happen to him. He made the All-Star team. I can't imagine the high that must have been. But there are two months to go. You've got to grind it out."

Lopez realizes that.

"That's what you have to do," he said. "I feel fine at the plate. I need to have some balls drop."

Lopez has hit a lot of balls hard recently, but to the wrong places.

"I've told him, 'Five more feet on some balls and you'd have five more home runs,' " Narron said.

Narron plans to rest Lopez Tuesday in Chicago.

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[redsrbetter]

I think Felo will be alright. I hope teams have not figured him out somehow. Like the article stated, he has hit the ball hard, but it is just not falling in the right spots. I think he will be fine.

[Wally Mo Pena]

i think part of it might just be that this is really is first full major league season, and he's slowing down a little. A lot of the young guys slump toward the end of their first full year, that or get hurt. It's a lot harder to play like this than it is to play in the minors (i think).

I'm not worried about him. He's made some great strides defensively lately, and that's what i'd like to see him work on for the rest of the year. It's not like we're going to win anything this year, so if felo doesn't hit 25 HRs this year that's fine. Next year, hopefully he'll be ready to play the whole year strong, and be a better defender to boot.

[redsrbetter]

I agree. It would be nice just to get Felo the needed conditioning. We are still winning without him hitting so well. Not that winning is a necessity right now. But he needs to stay in the lineup to learn how to play an entire season.