After a brief surge of hope at the end of the regular season, Alex Bregman’s search for repeatably perfect swings continues as the Astros prepare for the American League Division Series opener against the A’s.
Bregman had four hits in two days to begin the Astros’ late September series against the Rangers but has cooled once more. He was hitless in his final two games against the Rangers and in the wild card opener against the Twins before a ninth-inning single in the wild card clincher.
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Astros hitters, however, have been focused on hitting drills since eliminating the Twins last Wednesday. Manager Dusty Baker said hitters worked for a couple of days against Astros relief pitchers in Minnesota after the series ended and in Los Angeles against taxi squad pitchers after arriving on the West Coast.
Bregman hit .242 with six homers and 22 RBIs in 153 regular-season at-bats during the shortened season and said he has been struggling to hone his swing mechanics to a point that he can repeat at-bat after at-bat.
“I thought for a few days in Texas I felt good mechanically and got some good swings, and hopefully it carries over,” he said.
The Astros had one more late afternoon workout before Monday afternoon’s ALDS Game 1, and Bregman said he would focus on becoming familiar once more with the sight lines at Dodger Stadium, which is hosting the series.
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Because of a hamstring injury, Bregman was limited to playing six of the Astros’ 10 games against the A’s this year and managed just two hits in 21 at-bats, his worst performance against any of the nine teams the Astros played in 2020.
His only extra-base hit against the A’s was an RBI double in Houston’s 13-inning loss on Aug. 7, a couple of weeks before he suffered the hamstring strain in Denver that sidelined him for 17 games.
“I wasn’t there for the games we played well (against the A’s) this season,” he said. “I was there for the ones where we didn’t play well.
“It comes down to execution, putting good at-bats together, swinging at strikes, being selectively aggressive. We need to play good baseball They have a good team. So do we.”
Bregman is 4-for-14 with a double and two RBIs against Chris Bassitt, the A’s Game 1 starter, and 6-for-23 with three home runs against Game 2 starter Sean Manaea.
Rather than the cavernous Oakland Coliseum or the more compact Minute Maid Park, however, this series will be played at Dodger Stadium, with all games starting in the daytime.
Monday’s game-time temperatures should be in the high 80s to the low 90s with humidity in the low 20s, and players and managers on both sides expect the ballpark to play smaller than its dimensions — 330 feet down both lines, 385 feet in the power alleys and 395 feet to center field — would indicate.
“It definitely plays smaller during day games, from playing here all these years,” said Baker, who as a player spent eight seasons with the Dodgers. “It’s usually tougher to see during day games with the smog and the brightness and all the white shirts and light colors to combat the sun. But it won’t be quite as bright because they won’t have people.”
Baker said the ballpark also requires sight-line adjustments because of the profile of the outfield bleachers, which have a more gradual slope away from the field than the more vertical rise of most ballparks.
He also said the ball seems to travel better to right field for righthanded hitters than it did during his days playing for the Dodgers.
A’s manager Bob Melvin noted that the A’s and Dodgers combined for 11 home runs during a three-game series in late September — three for Oakland and eight for the Dodgers — and that Monday’s expected warm afternoon could lead to more long balls.
“Day games are usually where the ball carries a little more, so I think it will play closer to what we experienced (in September),” he said.
Baker, however, is more concerned about combating the Athletics’ ability to capitalize on walks to trigger big innings.
“They rely on walks prior to the homers,” he said. “The key is that we have to control the strike zone and limit walks. When they don’t walk, their record is lopsided, and when they do, it’s lopsided the other way.”
As for the up-and-down nature of the Astros’ lineup this year, Baker is confident their best at-bats are still to come.
“We’ve got a lot of guys who are still under 200 at-bats,” he said. “It says a lot for our determination and our championship nature that some of the guys who haven’t been playing that well are still in position to do so.
“They rise to the occasion through concentration and focus and sheer determination.”
david.barron@chron.com
twitter.com/dfbarron
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