Adrian Gonzalez's tenure in Boston was an odd one, no doubt. Now that the slugger has moved on to Los Angeles, he's already reflecting on his crazy stop in one of baseball's most passionate markets.
Gonzalez looked happy and refreshed to be out of Boston, and he didn't waste much time showing it, blasting a three-run home run in his first at-bat with the Dodgers. It could be the beginning of a very productive relationship in Southern California.
As for Gonzalez's time in Boston, he revealed that while he didn't want to necessarily leave, there were some contentious aspects of playing there. More specifically, he said the media helped twist his image some.
"They didn't like that I was a calm person," Gonzalez said, according to the Los Angeles Times. "I won't throw my helmet, I won't scream, I won't use bad words if I strike out. That's what they want over there.
"You can't control what others say," he added. "I was the same person in San Diego. They took me over there and I didn't change. My intensity, how I prepared, everything was the same. When they took me over there, they took me over there to drive in runs. And I did that."
One of the biggest problems fans and media had with Gonzalez in his short time in Boston was the lack of power the slugger displayed. After hitting 32 home runs per season while playing at spacious Petco Park in San Diego, Gonzalez only hit 42 home runs in his almost two seasons with the Red Sox.
The reason for that power outage, according to Gonzalez? The Green Monster.
"What took my power away was the Green Monster," he said of the 37-foot wall at Boston's Fenway Park, also according to the Times. "I used to hit line drives and they would be doubles. That took away five home runs from me last year. So I would have 32."
Gonzalez had 15 home runs at the time of the trade. He thinks he would have had more than 20 if not for the fabled wall.
"My power hasn't left me," he said. "In San Diego, a lot of my home runs used to be to left field."
Gonzalez infamously stated earlier this season that he was "just trying to hit singles," and he backed that up in a way this weekend.
"What's most important is to drive in runs, not hit home runs," he said. "A home run is a run."
Gonzalez is a .334 lifetime hitter at Fenway with 18 home runs and 99 RBIs in 146 games.
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