A Not-So-Gentle Snowfall : After a Fast Start, Angel Rookie Gets More Than Enough Advice as He Tries to Cope With Slump

Angel first baseman J.T. Snow’s eyes stare vacantly across the room. He searches for the right words, trying to make some sense out of all this, only to sigh in exasperation.

Three months have passed since the comparisons to Wally Joyner, the questions of whether the New York Yankees gave up the wrong first baseman and the concern that his Nov. 13 wedding plans might interfere with the announcement of the rookie-of-the-year award.

It was a time when Jack Thomas Snow Jr. was the biggest craze in the Southland since fish tacos. Everyone wanted a piece of him for their 11 o’clock newscasts, for their magazine covers, for their ribbon-cutting ceremonies.

“It seems like a long time ago,” Snow says, softly. “I knew I wasn’t going to keep hitting .400 or keep hitting all those homers, but I didn’t think this would happen, either.”

These days, Snow is batting .234, buried deep in the Angel lineup at the No. 7 spot and pleading to the heavens that his torment will soon be over.

“This has been the toughest, most difficult thing I’ve ever had to go through in my life,” Snow said. “I’ve never struggled like I have for such long stretches.

“I’m not saying everything’s always come easy to me, but nothing like this has ever happened.”

Snow, who spent the first three weeks of the season wondering if this could all be a dream, has been left at times these last three months pleading for this nightmare to end.

Could his heroics the first 15 games, batting .407 with six homers and 17 runs batted in, have been a fluke?

How can he look like Ted Williams in April and spend the next three months impersonating Buddy

Biancalana, batting .191 since April 24?

And why is he having so much difficulty driving in runs, producing only five RBIs since June 18?

“Everything has run through my mind at one time or another,” Snow said, “and the things that didn’t go through my mind, other people would bring up. For a while there, I was lost, completely and totally lost.”

Said Chili Davis: “It became a thing where we were all feeling for J.T. He’s so young, he didn’t know what to do.”

Said shortstop Gary DiSarcina: “The guy was in the big leagues for three weeks, and everybody was saying he was the next Wally Joyner. Then, he goes into a slump, and there’s no place for him to hide.

“How fair is that?”

Snow, who has prevented everyone but his fiancee, Stacie Peters, from seeing how his erratic season has eaten away at him, continues to maintain the same demeanor every day in the clubhouse. He remains as gracious and accommodating to reporters now as when he was the American League player of the week.

The biggest burden of this whole ordeal, Snow says, is that it’s occurring in his hometown. It’s painful enough for all of Southern California to be talking about his streaks, but quite another to be barraged by friends and relatives about it.

“Playing in your hometown has been a lot tougher than I thought it would be,” Snow said. “Everybody is always seeing me, whether it’s coming to the game at home or watching them on TV while we’re on the road. It’s almost like it gives everyone the right to give me advice or make suggestions.

“This last month has just been ridiculous with everyone telling me what I’m doing wrong. I mean, it’s gotten so bad that I got a message in my hotel room that said, ‘I’m so-and-so from L.A., I’m a hitting instructor and I know what you’re doing wrong. Give me a call and I’ll help.’

“That just blew me away, some stranger calling me like that. It’s like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me.’

“I threw the message away, but I’m sure I’ll be getting more.”

The problem in all of this, Snow realizes, is that he doesn’t have the type of personality to tell everyone to shut up. He knows they mean well, but he can’t stomach any more advice.

So he recently initiated a new policy. He listens to no one about hitting except for the man who won seven batting titles--hitting instructor Rod Carew.

Snow will continue appeasing his friends and relatives by pretending that he’s listening, feigning interest in their conversations. He’s too polite to tell them they’re wasting their breath.

There’s another edict that Snow intends to follow: no more reading the sports pages or looking at the scoreboard when he steps to the plate, preventing him from knowing his batting average.

“I’m starting to get the hang out of not looking at the scoreboard,” Snow said. “When you’re in the minors, most of those places don’t even have a scoreboard, so you don’t have to worry about looking at your average. But up here, man, there it is in big, bright lights.”

It will take time, Snow knows, for his average to climb to respectability. Ever so slowly, though, he’s starting to feel good about himself again, believing the worst is behind him.

Angel Manager Buck Rodgers, who has had several heart-to-heart talks with Snow and dropped him two months ago from third to seventh in the lineup, is convinced he will once again be an integral part of the offense. OK, perhaps it was not the true J.T. Snow the first three weeks of the season, hitting five homers in six games. But Rodgers knows it it wasn’t the real J.T. Snow who disappeared in May, either. He predicted in spring training that Snow should finish the year with a .270 batting average and 75 runs batted in, and nothing has changed his thinking.

“I think he realizes it’s just a matter of time,” Rodgers said, “and he knows we’re going to give him a chance to do it. I don’t think he’s out of it, but he’s got the right approach now.”

The Angels, who are in midst of an 11-game trip in the East, realize just how vital Snow is to their success. After all, they found themselves sitting in first place with a 2 1/2-game lead during Snow’s tear, but since are 28-41, struggling to keep from drifting out of the AL West race.

“He took the focus off everybody,” DiSarcina said, “and was as responsible as anyone for our start. I’m sure this isn’t easy for him because it’s the first time he’s ever had to go through something like this, but it’s unbelievable the way he’s been able to handle it.”

Said Snow: “I’ve come to the realization that if this is really the worst thing that ever happens in my life, I’ll have lived a pretty darn good life.

“I mean, the craziest thing about all of this is that I’ve always been a consistent player my whole career. I’m not kidding. I never went through streaks like this in my life.

“After everything I’ve been through this year, who would ever believe it?”