Dan Uggla is showing signs he's regaining his form.
He had a two-RBI game on July 30. There was another on Aug. 4.
And then there was his two-hit game Monday.
Uggla, to borrow an unflattering nickname from online commentators, is still “Struggla,” but he might be coming around.
For Atlanta Braves fans, there is hope the second baseman is emerging from another one of his funks and will add another potent bat for the stretch drive. He’s beginning to display the hitting ability that proves he’s more than an overpriced No. 7 hitter.
Uggla has eight hits in his past nine games, including a double and a single in the Braves’ 6-1 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday. It was only his second two-hit game since his four-hit, two-homer game on June 5 and provides some evidence he might be climbing out of a slump deeper than the Grand Canyon.
Uggla is one of the most important pieces of the Braves lineup.
He’s their main source of right-handed power, and they need him to help maintain order to their batting order.
Even though the Braves’ young left-handed hitters are proving they are improving against lefty pitchers, Uggla provides the right-handed counterbalance, especially on those days when Chipper Jones needs to rest.
What’s going on with Uggla?
His struggles the past two months are familiar to what happened during his first-half drought in 2011.
Let’s compare those slumps:
2012
Uggla was hitting .276 with 10 home runs and 37 RBI on June 5 and appeared to have put last year’s troubles in the past, but he went just 8-for-69 (.116) the rest of the month.
It got worse.
He followed that by going 9-for-78 (.115) in July and entered August at .208 with 12 home runs and 49 RBI.
2011
The start of Uggla’s first season with the Braves didn’t start well. He hit .202 in April, .160 in May and .179 in June and was at .173 for the season when he went on his epic 33-game hitting streak, the second longest in franchise history.
Uggla finished with power numbers typical of his time in the majors. He had 36 home runs, the most of his career, and 82 RBI, but his epic streak could lift his average only to a career-worst .233.
Uggla was acquired to be productive, but there have been times in the past two years when his presence in the lineup has been counterproductive.
To his credit, Uggla never wants to sit, even when his stroke is MIA and he’s got nothing but questions filling his brain.
He wants to swing his way out of whatever is affecting him. He says he’s just got to keep hacking, keep working, keep searching for the solution.
Uggla missed only one game last year, even through the morass of last year’s start.
And he has sat out only three times this season, and one of those came a day after he was beaned in the head.
His hitting has never affected his fielding, and Uggla has made several spectacular plays of late.
He’s also leading the National League with 66 walks — by the way, he’s second with 124 strikeouts — but he’s still doing the little things, like hustling from first to third, extending rallies, keeping a good attitude, whatever he can to help the Braves win.
Uggla is showing some signs that he can still salvage this season.
He’s 6-for-22 (.273) this month and he already has five RBI in six August games. (He had six the entire month of July.)
It’s not all happiness, though.
Uggla hasn’t homered in nearly a month — since July 8 — and doesn’t appear to have a shot at extending his streak of 30-home run seasons to six.
Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez has faced a lot of flak by sticking with Uggla through his struggles, but it was the right move.
He’s beginning to hit again. Which is a good thing, because the Braves will need him down the stretch.
