CHICAGO -- The heat map for Rockies second baseman DJ LeMahieu is either a work of art, astronomy or both. It looks as if a mass of golden gas drifts from center field toward right. In right, there is a thin reddish panhandle.
But within the panhandle, it turns maroon, like an imperfect representation of Mars, the Red Planet. Call it Planet LeMahieu, with a geographical pull that takes over baseballs when he hits them in the air.
LeMahieu, the defending National League batting champ and holder of a .278 batting average and .369 on-base percentage entering Sunday after a slow start, is a right-handed hitter who has forged a career hitting the opposite way, but with considerable gap-to-gap damage.