Nina's Sports Bad Boys Blog World: Gonzalez fine-tunes swing in Minors game

Adrian fine-tunes swing in Minors game

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FORT MYERS, Fla. -- How did Adrian Gonzalez spend his team's only off-day of Spring Training? By fine-tuning his swing with the idea of making sure it is in perfect working order by Opening Day, which will be on April 1 at Texas.

Gonzalez went to the Red Sox player development complex for a Minor League game on Wednesday and hit the ball hard in every at-bat, going 3-for-6 with a run scored and an RBI. He served as the DH, and the order was rigged so he could bat in six straight innings.

In a typical spring, Gonzalez would have enjoyed the off-day, along with the rest of his teammates. But he has been playing catch-up this year, rehabbing all the way back from right shoulder surgery.

After playing for the Red Sox on Monday night, this marked the first time Gonzalez had played on back-to-back days since first participating in games on March 12.

"It went well," Gonzalez said. "The shoulder's been feeling really good. For [trainer] Mike [Reinold], it was playing back-to-back, but for me it was more to get my timing down."

Gonzalez is one of those hitters that makes it look like he could roll out of bed and belt a hit onto an open patch of grass. He did not dispel that notion, when, on his first pitch of Grapefruit League action this spring, he smashed a single to left against Marlins ace Josh Johnson.

In truth, however, even Gonzalez needs preparation time to be ready to produce on a consistent basis. That's what made Wednesday so beneficial.

"First couple days, I was just hitting, looking for a fastball," Gonzalez said. "The last couple days, I've been trying to actually have at-bats. It hasn't gone too well. So it was good to be able to go out there, try to have some at-bats, mix it up, be aggressive, all that. It felt good."

In his first at-bat, Gonzalez grounded out to third. Next time up, he ripped one toward the middle, but it resulted in a 4-6-4 double play. In his third at-bat, he smoked a single up the middle. Then there was a lineout to center.

His fifth at-bat produced the best hit of the day, a drive to left that probably would have scraped the Green Monster at Fenway. In this case, it bounced a few feet in front of the chain-link fence and Gonzalez settled for a long single. His day finished with another hard shot up the middle, which went off the second baseman's glove and into center.

The one advantage of playing in a Minor League game is the ability to manipulate the batting order so that Gonzalez could stack his at-bats together.

"It makes you feel a lot more comfortable, to get that timing down, get a little more repetition so you can start to feel better," Gonzalez said.

He is 2-for-14 thus far in Grapefruit League action, though nobody is worried even a little bit about that.

"I've been seeing the ball great, as far as seeing it out of the hand, seeing it ball-strike, but when it comes to actually seeing a pitch I want to swing at and swinging, it just wasn't clicking," Gonzalez said. "I really don't care about results. Results don't matter in Spring Training. But as far as being able to see a strike and take a good swing at a strike with the right timing and all that, it hasn't been quite there. Today, I felt a lot better out there."

Gonzalez will take Thursday off, then start for the Red Sox on Friday and Saturday night. He will have another down day on Sunday and then start the final two games in Florida on Monday and Tuesday.

The Red Sox play an exhibition on Wednesday at Houston, and then have a workout the next day before everything starts for real in Arlington against the defending American League champions.

"We have less than 10 days or something like that," Gonzalez said. "You start planning forward and thinking about when you want to lift so you can be ready for Opening Day and all those little things that you have to plan out."

His transition from the Padres to the Red Sox has been smooth to this point.

"It's been great," Gonzalez said. "I think it's been a great time. Guys are unbelievable. Teammates are great and everybody around here has been awesome."

After years of being the focal point of San Diego's offense, Gonzalez will be just one of several top hitters in Boston, joining Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Carl Crawford and David Ortiz in what could be a summer to remember at Fenway.

"Yeah, well I mean the potential is unbelievable," Gonzalez said. "We have a very strong 1-9, and guys that are going to be platooning are still guys that would start on most teams. It's great to be in a lineup like that because you know you're going to have those days when you hit six times. That can only be good for you offensively."