Kurt Suzuki learned last season that he's not Johnny Bench. "I'm not going to hit 30 home runs anyway," Suzuki said, "so why try?" Oh, he tried. And tried. The more he tried, the more his batting average tumbled, down to a career-low .242 - 32 points lower than his 2009 average. Because the A's lacked genuine 3-4-5 hitters last year, that's where Suzuki hit each of the 128 times his name was in the lineup, and he attempted to act the part. Instead of acting like himself. "It's a mental thing," Suzuki said. "You feel like you have to hit home runs." He hit 13. Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/03/19/SPIT1IF3AR.DTL#ixzz1HBXaqm00
