Struggling Lau has Eyes Examined

Slumping slugger rehabs with Class AAA affiliate 'Sandlot Crew'. Calls out reporters during news conference.
ESPN.com News Services
June 9, 2009

LOS ANGELES, CA. — Dominic Lau's vision has checked out very well as the MAPP Marauders try to help him out of his early-season slump.

The designated hitter received drops for dry eyes Monday, team spokesperson Candace House said. 'Big Papi', as he's referred to by teammates and fans, has no homers and no RBIs with a .197 batting average to start the year.

He has dropped from the third spot in the lineup all the way to the Glendale Leagues, where he has had some promising rehab starts. Lau has a six-game hitting streak with the Sandlot Crew (Class AAA) going 7 of 25 with 4 RBI and 1 HR.

Lau says no one should be writing him off but he acknowledged in an interview that his struggles have been literally keeping him up at night.

"My body is resting every night," Lau said this weekend, "but my mind is spinning with all of this stuff. It's hard to sleep. I've never been through something like this. But when you have a bad start, you never know what can happen. A lot of times, they don't let you come back."

Lau doesn't believe his slump has anything to do with his eyes, and Marauders manager Neil Teixeira said recently that the team just wants to put the issue "to rest."

"There's a lot of talk out there about Dom's struggles at the plate on Mondays," the skipper said. "But I've seen him play on Sundays [in class AAA] and let me tell you, he's crushing the ball."

Fans of Big Papi have been restlessly waiting to see their slugger break out in a big way. Social media sites like YouTube have been lit afire with creative discussions and parodies centering on Big Papi's perpetual slump.

Lau indicated that he hasn't seen any of those fan videos (one sample is provided below), but pointed out that he didn't quite care for some of what the press had to say about his offensive drought.

"You people keep writing and saying all this stuff," he told reporters. "You say I can't hit no more. That I'm done. What, I have one arm now? I'm not 45. I never struggled like this, but I'll be back. Then what are you going to say?"

Despite Lau's struggles, the Marauders are at .500 and sit only 1 game behind the Annenberg All-Stars. Lau said it's a credit partly to the man who hits in front of him, first baseman Mike Andrelczyk, who leads the team in extra-base hits, batting (.1000) and slugging (1.667) percentages.

"If he's not doing what he's doing right now, we'd be losing more games," Lau told the Voice. "And when we lose, you know where the blame goes. It goes on me. But this guy [Andrelczyk], he's got no fear. He might be the biggest reason we haven't fallen apart."