It's been a while since Pablo Sandoval hit a home run -- 31 games to be exact -- and it's possible that his weight is still an issue. Actually, it's definitely an issue, since Bruce Bochy called it just that over the weekend.
Bochy, via John Shey of the San Francisco Chronicle, lamented the fact that Sandoval is constantly "battling" keeping his weight down.
“It’s an ongoing issue, obviously, something that he’s been battling,” Bochy said. “He showed last year that he’s a different player when his weight is down.”
As for the home run drought (Panda last left the yard on July 8), Bochy didn't necessarily pin the blame on his weight.
“A couple of the setbacks he’s had with the DL has affected him. He’s streaky with that, too,” Bochy said. “His timing was off a little bit. Wasn’t staying behind the ball as he normally does.”
Perhaps his homer drought isn't related to weight issues, and the timing of a) him having some weight problems and b) him not hitting home runs is just totally a coincidence.
Or perhaps not. Either way Bochy isn't going to call out Panda for failing to hit home runs because he's a fatty. That wouldn't be cool.
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What would be cool, however, is if Panda can drop a few LBs, start hitting homers and keep the Giants in first place. As we've seen over and over during Sandoval's struggles to stay slim(m-ish), when he's thinner he plays baseball better and generally hits the ball further and more frequently.
