Jay Bruce likes baseball, and he plays baseball professionally for the Cincinnati Reds. But he has a problem: he can't hit a single. On June 16th, he went 1-4. And that hit was a home run.
The very next day Jay went out and thought to himself "Single. Single. Single," but the results were the same: 1-4 with a home run.
Then things changed for Jay Bruce. On June 18th, he said, "No home runs today!" and went 0-4.
No home runs was progress, but what Jay wanted was a single. All the other kids hit singles. Brandon Phillips hit singles. Joey Votto hit singles. On June 19th Jay screwed up again. He tried for a single but hit the ball too far and it ended up being a home run.
And then he did the same thing on June 20th.
And again on the 21st.
This streak of single-less games made Jay angry. Unfortunately, he took that anger out on the ball and hit TWO home runs on June 22nd.
With seven home runs in his last seven hits, Jay became upset. "I just want a single," he cried from the dugout. "Then don't hit the ball so hard," replied his teammates. "That's it!" exclaimed Jay, "I won't hit the ball as hard as I can."
And so Jay hit the ball not-so-very-hard.
But that didn't work and on June 23rd he ended up with two doubles.
And so it's been eight games and 34 at bats since Jay's last single, with some believing he'll never hit a single ever again. Keep trying out there, Jay. We're all rooting for you.