Hitting Bottom.

This article discusses hitting slumps in baseball, with specific focus of the one that New York Yankees shortstop, Derek Jeter, is experiencing right now. A batting slump is baseball's version of the common cold. Derek Jeter of the New York Yankees came down with a whopper of a case in April--he was 0 for 32 at its head-throbbing worst--that was so bad that he couldn't leave his Manhattan apartment without being reminded of it.Career .300 hitters Jeter, Chipper Jones of the Atlanta Braves and Jose Vidro of the Montreal Expos--who ranked seventh, 12th and 18th, respectively, in career batting average among active players entering this season--all were hitting worse than. That an accomplished hitter such as Jeter could look like Bergen is testament to the humbling nature of baseball. Rather than waiting for a pitch to get to him, especially an outside pitch, Jeter would lean forward in his haste to hit it, jerking his head instead of keeping it steady. INSETS: GRAND FUNKS 2004;GRAND STARTS 2004;HITTING THE SKIDS: SERIOUS SLUMPS.