Gonzalez: Green Monster Took Away HRs
BOSTON (CBS) - Former Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez told the LA Times he couldn't be himself during his year-and-a-half in Boston, and a certain wall in Fenway Park led to his lower home run totals.
Gonzalez, now a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers after being part of a blockbuster nine-player deal over the weekend, said the Boston media never took to him because of his calm demeanor.
"They didn't like that I was a calm person," he told the 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 continued. "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."
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Gonzalez, who averaged 33 homers a season in his five years in San Diego, experienced a bit of a power-outage in Boston. He clubbed 27 home runs his first year with the Red Sox, and had just 15 in 123 games in 2012.
He easily summed that up to the giant wall in left field at Fenway Park.
"What took my power away was the Green Monster," said Gonzalez. "I used to hit line drives that way and they would be doubles. That took away five home runs from me last year. So I would have had 32."
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"My power hasn't left me," he said. "In San Diego, a lot of my home runs used to be to left field."
Fittingly, Gonzalez homered in his first at-bat with the Dodgers.
