In baseball, like almost every facet of life, things don’t always turn out as they portend. The prophecies of April often are just idle chatter by the time teams arrive at September, but this season has been off kilter even from the end of June until now as only four regular-season weeks remain.
For example, Cardinals infielder Jedd Gyorko had seven homers at the All-Star break on July 9. With less than half the season remaining, he seemed on track for 12 or 13 for the season, about what the Cardinals expected from an extra man when they acquired him from San Diego for Jon Jay, who still is injured.