Good as Gold

Friar John had the chance to listen in on Adrian Gonzalez's conference call Wednesday after he was included on the 2009 National League Gold Glove squad.

Again, congratulations to Adrian on his second consecutive Rawlings Gold Glove Award.

After scouring the news coverage to put together today's Hot Links blog entry, FJ must say the mainstream media did a thorough job of covering what Gonzalez had to say. If you read the stories from padres.com, the San Diego Union-Tribune, the North County Times, the Boston Glove and cbssports.com (scroll down a bit on that one), you'll be fairly well-versed in all things Gonzalez.

That leaves little for FJ to add.

There two additional observations made by Gonzalez that FJ found worth sharing.

Noting that teams adjust the year after a player makes his defensive reputation, Gonzalez said he had fewer opportunities to make plays in 2009 because teams would not bunt in his direction. (Base coaches also were careful to remind runners that Gonzalez likes to sling the ball around the infield to get the lead runner in virtually any situation.)

So teams started testing third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff.

"He proved they can't bunt his way, either," Gonzalez said.

True that. Although Kouz had proven himself a reliable fielder, he took his defensive game to a new level in 2009 by showing that he can charge bunts, bare-hand balls when necessary and throw on the run.

Asked about an airtight infield that includes Everth Cabrera at shortstop and David Eckstein at second base, Gonzalez said, "Success is laid in defense, especially in our ballpark."

Again, FJ agrees with Gonzo. That's Golden Rule No. 2: Defense paves the way for success at PETCO Park.

FJ

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(Photo of Adrian Gonzalez taken by Padres team photographer Chris Hardy.)