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On a lonely night in a hotel room in Baltimore in April, Royals DH Mike Sweeney, a career .300 hitter, paced the floor wondering when he was going to find his swing.

"I was laying in bed at 3:30 in the morning worrying about hitting," he said. "It was pretty bad."

It has been that kind of season for many good hitters and pitchers. Just over a month into the season, the Yankees' Mariano Rivera, the greatest closer in history, had fewer saves than Joakim Soria. Cubs left fielder Alfonso Soriano, who some predicted would become the first player ever to hit 40 home runs and steal 40 bases in consecutive seasons, has only one more home run (two) than pitcher Kip Wells, only two more RBIs (four) than pitcher Micah Owings and only one more stolen base (two) than pitcher Clay Hensley. Soriano wasn't alone.

The Mets' David Wright didn't hit his first home run until Tuesday. Pat Burrell, Todd Helton, Mike Piazza and Carlos Delgado have just one apiece this season. The Mariners' Richie Sexson didn't hit his first single until April 29. He is on the Sub-.200 Team, which includes Pittsburgh's Adam LaRoche, San Diego's Mike Cameron, Oakland's Jason Kendall and, until recently, included Delgado, Detroit's Gary Sheffield, the White Sox's Paul Konerko, Boston's Manny Ramirez and Texas' Michael Young.

"On TV, the game looks easy," Kendall said. "It isn't."

Cold weather has something to do with so many slow starts. It's harder to hit in cold weather "because the pitcher is the warmest guy on the field," said Orioles general manager Mike Flanagan, a former pitcher. But these slumps and slow starts are what make the game so great. It's the hardest game in the world to play, and a 0-for-20 slump can turn a good, confident hitter into an insecure mess.

Frank Robinson, one of the most confident hitters ever, said a 0-for-24 slump in his second season (which followed one of the best rookie seasons in history) made him wonder, "Am I ever going to get another hit?"

Toward the end of Dante Bichette's productive seven-year run with the Rockies, he said, "Every day I come to the ballpark I wonder, 'Is this the last day I'll be able to hit in the major leagues?'"

That's what the game can do to you.

"And the guys who care and try the most are the ones who have the most trouble getting out of a slump," Reds first baseman/outfielder Jeff Conine said. "Sometimes it's better to not analyze -- just go up there and swing."

A number of rookies and second-year players are off to difficult starts also. Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, supposedly the next George Brett, was hitting .170 through Wednesday. Brett knew exactly what the kid was going through. In 1973, as a 20-year-old playing his first season in the major leagues, Brett went 5-for-40 with no RBIs and no walks.

"I would get to the ballpark, look at the lineup card, and when my name wasn't in it, I was thankful," Brett said. "And if the game got close late, and [manager] Jack McKeon would walk down the bench looking for a hitter, I would try to hide. I didn't want to play. The more I was exposed, the worse it would be."

Padres third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff is considered a candidate for Rookie of the Year. He was traded in the offseason from Cleveland to San Diego for second baseman Josh Barfield. Through Wednesday, Kouzmanoff was hitting .122; Barfield was hitting .181.

Hall of Famer Ryne Sandberg knows what they're going through. Sandberg was hitless in his first 20 at-bats with the Cubs in 1982, his first full season. He had one hit in his first 32 at-bats.

"I thought I was way over my head," he said. "I didn't sleep at night. As soon as I got up in the morning, I wanted to go to the park so I could get a hit and get out of the slump. When I finally got a hit, [Cardinals first baseman] Keith Hernandez, who had a ton of hits, told me, 'Hey kid, that's the first of many.' And I thought, 'Yeah, right.' I was thinking if I'd [ever] get my second hit."

The Mariners' Jeff Weaver is off to one of the worst starts of any pitcher in history. He left the Cardinals, for whom he helped win a world championship, and gained a measure of comfort he has never experienced in the big leagues, to sign with the Mariners. Why leave the safety of the NL Central and go to a stacked American League where the pitchers don't hit, but David Ortiz does? No starting pitcher in the history of the Mariners has ever had four starts to open a season worse than Weaver's: 11 1/3 innings, 31 hits and 23 earned runs.

Weaver will pitch much better than this, for that is the beauty of the game. Guys go from good to bad, and bad to good, faster in this sport than any other -- and often without explanation. There's no way Gordon or Kouzmanoff or Barfield is going to hit under .200 all season.

Ramirez might have only two home runs, but he's going to finish with 35 because he always does. Sheffield is going to start hitting, and so are LaRoche and Konerko. Rivera had as many saves (one) through Wednesday as Washington's Saul Rivera, but he's going to have 30 when the season is over, because he's great, and so is the game.

As for Sweeney, well, he's sleeping better. His average is up to .263.

Tim Kurkjian is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. His new book "Is This a Great Game, Or What?" has been published by St. Martin's Press and just became available in bookstores Tuesday. Click here to order a copy. In addition, click here to subscribe to The Magazine.