ON MAY 17 in Denver, the Diamondbacks and Rockies are tied 7-7 in the top of the ninth when Upton walks to the plate with a runner on third. Upton is batting .218 with 10 RBIs. He's still stuck on three homers. Even worse, he has only three hits in 27 at-bats with runners in scoring position. With the count 1 and 2 and the home crowd cheering for a strikeout, Rockies reliever Rafael Betancourt fires a fastball over the outside part of the plate. Upton spears it. The ball flies high to rightfield; Upton follows the ball's arc with his bat head. It clears the fence, several seats up. The crowd hushes. Upton runs the bases, touches home and disappears into his dugout among a sea of high-fives. 5月17日在丹佛，九局上，蛇蛇跟洛矶打到7平，Upton在三垒有人时上场打击，当时他 打击率0.218，只有10分打点，全垒打数依然卡在3，更惨的是，得点圈打击27支3。两 好一坏，地主球迷欢呼准备迎接三振，洛矶投手Rafael Betancourt丢了一颗外角直球， Upton扫中，球往右外野飞去，他用球棒为球画出了一道弧，球出了墙，上到墙後的几 排观众席。球迷们鸦雀无声，Upton绕过垒包，踏上本垒板，回到休息室，然後消失在 队友们的击掌中。 Upton has been working with Baylor nearly every day, but his titanic power -- especially to leftfield -- has evaporated. A few weeks later, entering June, he has only five home runs, fewer than half the number he'd belted at the same time a year earlier. His injured thumb makes it difficult to grip his bat, and it pains him to twist his left hand when he swings in the cage. Upton has taken to using a small rectangular pad on his thumb to protect it when he hits, but it's no use. During games, his rhythm has been thrown off. He is now worried that mechanical flaws are becoming ingrained in his carefully constructed swing. He's lost confidence and seems indecisive. Before long, he's leading the majors in strikeouts looking. Upton每天与Baylor一起练习，但是他那巨大的长打力─尤其是往左拉的力量，像是蒸发 了。几个礼拜後的六月初，他仍只有5发全垒打，比去年同期的一半还少。受伤的拇指使 他连握棒都很难，打击练习时左手痛到整个扭曲。球队让他戴上四方形的护具作为挥击 时的保护，但没有效。比赛中，他的打击节奏完全走调。他担心打击机制的缺陷影响精 心设计的挥击动作，他完全失去信心，犹豫不决。不久後，他在倒K领先全联盟。 The Diamondbacks are 23-29, and Upton is hitting .249 entering their game against the Padres on June 2, when manager Kirk Gibson benches rightfielder. Gibson does it again three days later, before a 10-0 win against the Rockies. The decision agitates Upton, who always imagines he is one big game from righting himself. "So I'm supposed to get better by not playing?" he grumbles. Gibson makes it clear later that keeping Upton out of the lineup isn't a punishment. "Justin was never benched," the manager says. "I sat him down for a couple days so he could get a breath." 蛇蛇23胜29负，Upton在6/2教士战前打击率0.249，教头Kirk Gibson决定把他放上板凳， 三天後对洛矶又一次，那天他们10-0赢球。这个调度打乱了Upton，他总认为自己只差一 步就回来了。「所以我靠冥想来调整就对了？」Upton抱怨道。Gibson澄清这不是惩罚性 调度：「我不会让Justin坐冷板凳，我让他休息几天好让他喘口气。」 Gibson, who was named the Diamondbacks' manager midway through the 2010 season and is most famous for his game-winning homer in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series as a Dodger, is in a unique position to handle talented young players. A former first-round pick himself, he arrived in the majors in 1979 as a 22-year-old with the Tigers. He battled through countless slumps during a 17-year career, most notably in 1983, when he was booed mercilessly by Detroit fans. He lashed out at the media and lost his temper in public and in private. After that season, he enrolled at the corporate mind-building Pacific Institute in Seattle, where he learned to think positively through visualizing himself in successful situations. "I had to do that stuff because I was a lunatic," Gibson says. "Justin is not. He's further along than I was. But we're a lot alike. We're competitive. I just want him to trust in his abilities." 10年才上任总教练，生涯最有名的球是88年世界大赛第一场，为道奇打出致胜全垒打的 Gibson，现在处於非常特殊的立场来协助他的年轻有天分的球员们成长。身为第一轮选 秀球员，22岁那年就登上大联盟，他走过无数的低潮，最有名的是83年，球迷们无情的 嘘他。那年季後，他跑去西雅图专门做心理建设的Pacific Institute，学会了用自己 成功的一面来乐观处事。「我一定要这样做因为我那时已经疯了。」Gibson说：「Justin 则不是，他状况比我更糟，但我们很像，我们都很努力，我只想要他相信自己的能力。」 The night he sits out against Colorado, Upton spots a gaggle of reporters waiting outside his locker. He thinks they'll ask about not playing. Instead, they want to know whether he had heard the comments Diamondbacks managing partner Ken Kendrick made during a radio interview that day. In the interview, Kendrick called Upton an enigma and added: "He's certainly not the Justin Upton he has been in the past and we would expect of him. He's 24 years old. It's time for him to be a consistent performer, and he's not been that." 那晚他整场都没上，Upton看到一群记者在他的衣柜前等着，他以为他们要问今晚怎麽没 上，但记者们更想知道他对大老板Ken Kendrick在广播上谈话的想法。Kendrick在节目上 直指Upton根本是个谜团，还说：「他现在显然不是过去的那个Justin Upton，也不是我 们期待的他。他已经24岁了，是要稳定表现的时候，但他没做到。」 Upton feels blindsided. "It was one of the more frustrating days of my life," he says a few days later while downing an Italian stuffed sandwich at a Scottsdale restaurant. "I know I haven't played well, but being called out? Keep that stuff in-house." He ends up talking to Young about it. "What bothered him wasn't the fact that his numbers weren't where he felt they should be," Young says. "It was that his work ethic got questioned. His head got questioned. His priorities got questioned. But in the clubhouse, we know he's doing 100% of what's in his control to get his game right." Upton混乱不已。「这是我一生中最难过的日子之一。」几天後他在一间义大利餐厅吃饭 时说道。「我知道我打得不好，但公开批评？至少关起门说吧。」後来他跟好麻吉Young 讨论这件事。「让他难过的不是数据没有以前好。」Young说：「而是他的工作态度被质 疑，他的想法被质疑，他的用心被质疑。但在队上，每个人都知道，他已尽了他所能做的 100%，去把球赛打好。」 (待续...) --

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