Yonder Alonso has hit better in the last month or so than he hit to start the year. This prompted a Susan Slusser comparison to Mark Kotsay, who came over from the Padres in a trade over a decade ago and started slow.

The note is just about hitting, so this isn't a criticism of Slusser, but I think it's important to note that Kotsay was at the time a good defensive center fielder and thus didn't even need to hit all that well to deserve his spot in the starting lineup. Alonso is also a slick defender, but it's at first base, a position where teams also play Mike Piazza and Danny Valencia when they're out of other ideas.