It is impossible to deny that Dodgers first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is mired in a horrible slump – perhaps the worst of his 13-year MLB career. Over the past two weeks and prior to Tuesday night’s game against the New York Mets, Gonzales was 9 for 50 (.180) with zero extra base hits, zero RBIs and struck out 13 times. That’s the good news. The bad news is that the guy who Hall of Fame broadcaster Vin Scully calls the Dodgers “Butter and eggs man” is hitting an absolutely atrocious .133 at (4 for 30) at Dodger Stadium over the last two homestands.

Things have gotten so bad with AGon that on Tuesday night Mets manager Terry Collins opted to intentionally walk Dodgers third baseman Justin Turner just to get to the struggling five-time All Star – something that would have been absolutely unheard of as recently as three weeks ago.

Like I said, a horrible slump.

But on Tuesday night the extremely popular unofficial Dodgers captain showed positive signs that his slump might… might be coming to an end. Although the 34-year-old (this past Sunday) San Diego, California native had an RBI sacrifice fly and missed a home run by mere inches (literally), he went 2 for 3 – both singles – but hey, you’ve got to start somewhere, right? And then on Wednesday night, Gonzalez went 2 for 3 with a double to bump his season batting average up to .288 from a season low of .281.

Gonzalez squared up two pitches exceptionally well on Tuesday night. One was a sacrifice fly to drive in a run and the other missed leaving Dodger Stadium by mere inches. This suggests that he is seeing the ball better and that an end to his painful slump may be near.
(Photo credit – Ron Cervenka)

Although there is not official statistic for it, it has long been accepted that hitting is contagious. So when the team’s best hitter slumps, it’s not uncommon for the rest of the team to struggle as well. Needless to say, this is happening with the Dodgers right now and it’s hard to argue that AGon’s slump isn’t a big part of it. In fact, the Dodgers are hitting a collective .240 on the season – fifth worst in the National League and 10th worst in the MLB. And their batting average with runners in scoring position over their last 14 games is even worse at .172.

Because Gonzalez started the season somewhat strong, his batting average is still at a very respectable .288 with an on-base percentage of .364 and a slugging percentage of .400 for an OPS of .764. And though most major leaguers would absolutely kill for these numbers, they are below AGon’s career slash-line of .290 / .363 / .496 / .858. He also had nine home runs by May 12, 2015, (including three in one game), whereas he has been stalled at only three since April 22.

If Gonzalez is indeed beginning to come out of his slump as his last three games suggest, chances are that the rest (or at least several) of the other slumping Dodgers may soon follow suit. And with the Dodgers still sparring for first place in the NL West with the Giants and Diamondbacks, AGon’s timing couldn’t be better; because it’s a well established fact that: so goes Adrian Gonzales, so go the Dodgers.

Butter and eggs, man.