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Did the All-Star Game put Odubel Herrera into a funk?

PITTSBURGH - Odubel Herrera sparked the Phillies for the season's first two months, but is now caught in a funk that coincides with the timing of him being named to the All-Star Game.

Herrera entered Friday's game against the Pirates batting .143 with a .192 on-base percentage in his 13 games since being told on July 5 that he would represent the Phillies in San Diego.

His season batting average has dropped 25 points since July 1 as he entered Friday batting .281, its lowest mark since April 22. Herrera's plate discipline is almost non-existent as he has struck out 14 times and worked just three walks in his last 52 plate appearances.

Did the All-Star Game get to Herrera's head? Did all the excitement and travel distract him?

"No," Herrera said.

But, manager Pete Mackanin wonders whether it did.

"You never know how a player's going to react," Mackanin said. "Maybe after making the All-Star team, you take a deep breath and think you have it made now. You relax and figure it's going to happen instead of focusing. I don't know if that's the reason he's hitting now. There's a number of things you think about. Is it mechanics? Is it the way they're pitching him?"

Mackanin pointed out that Herrera entered last July with a .251 average but finished the season batting .297 after batting .335 over the season's final three months. The manager said he thinks Herrera can have a similar rebound and joked that he is going through a "dead bat period" similar to the "dead arms" faced before the All-Star break by Vince Velasquez and Aaron Nola.

"I think it's just part of baseball," Herrera said through an interpreter. "You have to be mentally strong and physically strong to get out of this funk. It's just like last year. I went through a rough time, but then I was able to get out of it. I believe this year is going to be the same thing."