It has been a tale of two seasons for Jose Bautista, the Toronto Blue Jays slugger.
The first half of 2011 was a phenomenal success story with seemingly every hit a ripped line drive as the 30-year-old rose to the top of the leaderboard in almost every significant offensive category.
Since the all-star break the downturn has been substantial and Bautista has displayed signs of frustration as the hits, especially the home run bombs that have become his stock-in-trade, have dried up.
Bautista led the majors with 31 home runs heading into the July all-star break.
Since then, the right-fielder has hit just seven heading into Tuesday's game against the Baltimore Orioles. Bautista is now tied atop the home run-hitting leaderboard along with Curtis Granderson of the New York Yankees, each with 38.
Earlier this month Bautista and the Blue Jays had to deal with an ESPN story that alleged the Blue Jays have been stealing pitching signals that allowed them to pad their batting totals at Rogers Centre.
Bautista called the accusations "bogus."
More recently, in Friday's game against the Tampa Bay Rays, after vocalizing his displeasure at the generous strike zone of home plate umpire Bill Welke, Bautista was ejected and he didn't go quietly.
Bautista slammed his bat into the dugout wall and then fired his bat, helmet and other paraphernalia onto the field at Rogers Centre before his departure.
Toronto batting coach Dwayne Murphy said such public tantrums won't help Bautista as he struggles to get back on track.
"Sometimes the antics you do and stuff like that can upset the umpires," Murphy said. "Some of those could be his [Bautista's] fault."
Murphy said he doesn't see anything drastically wrong with Bautista's swing.
"I think there's some frustration there," Murphy said. "They don't pitch to him very much. And all of a sudden he gets a good pitch to hit and he's not ready for it. They nibble a lot with him and he gets frustrated with the umpires sometimes."
Normally a mild-mannered type, Bautista admitted it has been tougher to control his emotions, especially when it comes to what he believes has been questionable umpiring.
"It's always frustrating for a number of different reasons," he said. "And then you factor in stuff that you can't control and it can get even more frustrating.
"You've got to take it day by day and sometimes it blows over. For the most part I feel like I've done a good job of handling it, except for that one day."
Bautista told Rogers Sportsnet following Monday's 7-3 win over the Rays, a game in which he stroked his 38th home run, that the hitters had a meeting before the game, where presumably the players discussed toning down the rhetoric with the umpires.
"We had a little talk, the offence got together and we talked some things that were going on and I think that put a little spark in our at-bats," he said.
After having never hit more than 16 home runs in a single season before, Bautista exploded onto the scene last year when he stroked 54 to lead the major leagues.
The was the main impetus behind Bautista being rewarded with the five-year, $64-million (U.S.) contract that he signed in February.
Hoping to become the first player to lead the majors outright in home runs in back-to-back seasons since Mark McGwire smacked 70 in 1998 and 65 in 1999, Bautista's season got off to a red-hot start.
Heading into the All-Star Game on July 12, Bautista was atop the home run leaderboard with 31, averaging a round-tripper every 9.6 at-bats.
Since then the power has diminished. Bautista's strikeout rate has climbed as he chases more pitches out of the strike zone and his walks have decreased as a result.
"I'm just not being as patient, I'm chasing bad pitches, I'm chasing pitchers' pitches," Bautista said. "And I'm not getting into those good hitter's counts consistently and hitting that pitch over the plate when it arrives.
"My strikeouts are up and my walks are down. I just got to remain patient, wait for the success to come naturally."
Bautista still leads the majors in bases on balls (107), on-base percentage (.453), slugging (.645) and on-base percentage plus slugging (1.098). And his overall average of .312 is almost 60 points higher than his career average.
So Bautista has not exactly wasted away during the season's second half.
"It's a long season and we're not done yet," Bautista said. "We've got a month, about 30 games, to go. I think decent analysis is better done after the season is over."