From a new Sports Illustrated article on San Diego's own, Adrian Gonzalez:A self-made first baseman, Gonzalez does everything right handed except hit and throw. His style is an elegant amalgamation of Southern and Baja California. The way he fields a ground ball, off to the side with one hand, is smooth and instinctive. "That's from Mexico," Gonzalez says. The way he approaches at bats, poring over scouting reports and game tapes, is obsessive. "That's from the United States," he says.
And the way he swings, his bat level through the zone, hands inside the ball? "That," he says, "is from Tony Gwynn."
I first came across this excerpt over at Gaslamp Ball before the SI article had even been published. It sounded like prose, beautifully written. Now it is sounding like more of a jinx. With featured pieces in both Sports Illustrated and USA Today, Adrian's offense continues to plummet as the only real threat in the line-up.....and what's worse? His defense is in shambles. Twice in the Arizona series his "elegant amalgamation of Southern and Baja California" style has led to a couple of really bad errors, none worse than this afternoon, when his miscue led to five runs being pushed across in the bottom of the eighth.
As the Padres' only true offensive threat it's difficult to rest him but Bud Black really should decide if the time has come for Adrian to get a day off?
The Padres are now in the cellar of the NL West and while they are indeed free falling (too obvious) we'll just say the Friars are falling away from me...
