It was an indelible image from last year's World Series, Joc Pederson soaring around the bases after his Game 6 home run, screaming and pounding both fists on his chest, the Dodgers outfielder so euphoric he said he almost blacked out circling the bases.
"It was unforgettable," Pederson recalled this week, "but the memory seems a little distant right now."
Pederson, 26, has to strain his eyes to see that summit from the valley in which he now stands. A near hero in the World Series with three homers against the Houston Astros, Pederson has been reduced to a bench player scrambling for at-bats.