MIAMI (AP) -Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who has struggled since signing a contract extension, was held out of the starting lineup Wednesday night for the first time this season.
Ramirez is 1-for-15 with 10 strikeouts in the past four games. He signed a $70 million, six-year deal Saturday.
“Sometimes you can give them a little mental break, and that usually jump-starts them the next day,” manager Fredi Gonzalez said. “Sometimes just giving him a little breath of fresh air is a good thing.”
The break spared Ramirez from facing Arizona ace Brandon Webb. Gonzalez said Ramirez would return the lineup Thursday for the NL East-leading Marlins.
“Right now everything is going bad for me,” Ramirez said. “But we’re winning, and I’m happy for that.”
Since news about the contract surfaced, Ramirez is 6-for-34 (.176). That dropped his season average to .304 with nine homers and 23 RBIs, and he was on pace to finish with 144 strikeouts, which would be a career high.
Ramirez was batting .268 since being dropped from first to third in the order in early May. His slugging percentage was .591 batting leadoff and .357 batting third, and Gonzalez said Ramirez may return to the top of the order Thursday.
“We’ll see,” Gonzalez said. “I’m 50-50 right now. He’ll be in the lineup. I’m 100 percent sure of that.”
Ramirez was the only Florida player this season to start the first 44 games.
Last year he finished in the top three in the NL in average (.332), hits (212) and doubles (48) and hit 29 home runs. He was NL rookie of the year in 2006.
“You want to keep him in there because you know any time he can put three hits together,” Gonzalez said. “But I thought it was good timing.”
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