Good start for Gonzo

Solid pic of Dusty. But I digress.


Adrian Gonzalez made his Sox Spring Training debut about a week ahead of schedule, which can only be a good sign.

After several days of consecutively taking live BP Gonzo was given the green light to suit up against the Marlins. It didn't take long for him to show he'll be well worth the blockbuster move that brought him to Beantown.

Facing Josh Johnson, Gonzo pulled the trigger on the very first pitch he saw, carving a single into left field.

“Josh Johnson is a guy who has a great fastball so you can’t give him anything,” said Gonzalez. “My game-plan was just to go up there and look for a fastball that I could get on top of and I was able to execute that first pitch.”

Really this tune-up game went about as good as could be hoped for the slugger. He only saw fastballs and did a good job with them, getting credited with a sac fly in the second.

If he's feeling any lingering effects from the shoulder surgery he definitely is hiding it well.

“It feels good. [Batting practice] the first couple of days I made a conscious effort to let it go and swing hard to see how it would respond. You can’t take it easy and swing hard in the game and then you feel something. You’d rather swing hard in a more controlled environment in a sense,” said Gonzalez. “It responded well, so I went to more of a game mentality today and yesterday and made sure to put good swings on the ball.”

Gonzalez is scheduled to sit out Sundays game but should be back in the lineup Monday night against the Yankees. Why a Spring Training game needs to be nationally televised I do not know but this one is.

The past few years my fanhood has needed questioning. Actually, I feel uncomfortable phrasing it like that, because I should never be called a fair weather fan or anything like that. What I mean is I just haven't watched as many games as I should have. Last year I was all jacked up when they had Petey throw out the first pitch and they had that little kid do his Miracle speech. Somewhere along the line, I lost a little of that Sox giddiness.

Maybe I was spoiled by the nerve-wracking and sometimes heart breaking Sox-Yanks games of 04 and even earlier. Maybe I do feel a little bit like I'm rooting for laundry. There are only a few players on this years squad that I've developed a "relationship" with. Thats V-Tek, Wake, Lester, Dusty, Youk, Beckett, and maybe Bucholz. Ellsbury lost a bit of my respect with his shenanigans last year, calling out the team doctors and what not.

But the point is, I need to get comfortable with this team. I need to watch a lot more games. And when I do, I want to be able to feel that they want it. Maybe I just expect that after watching KG literally wear his hear on his sleeve night in and night out but still. I need a little more emotion out of stoic, alligator wrestling JD Drew. I need Big Papi to fist pump a few times after a go-ahead double. I want Lil Dusty talking trash constantly. Youk needs to start more fights. Beckett needs to go head hunting every now and then, preferably against the Yankees. And Papelbon needs to quit annoying me to the point where I wish he would just leave already. Quit blowing saves and talking about how you want to be the highest paid closer of all time. Starting to sound like that Lebron guy.

Anyways, this post is rambling on. Was I talking about Adrian Gonzalez? Whatever.