1. Listen as your teacher reads the first paragraph. List the reasons the narrator gives for his slump and why he rejects those reasons.
2. Keep reading on your own. Keep taking notes about the causes of the narrator's slump, how it has changed him, and what he's done to get out of it.
As you read, you will find words and phrases that are specific to baseball. Like most words, you can try to use context clues to determine meaning. If you cannot figure out the meaning from the context, use a dictionary or ask a friend who knows more about baseball than you do. Write the word and its meaning in your notebook.