Adrian Gonzalez blasts umpires, guarantees a home run on Thursday

By normal standards, Adrian Gonzalez is off to a decent start at the plate in 2012. He’s batting .279 with two homers and 20 RBIs, so things could obviously be worse. Based on his reputation and the amount of money the Red Sox are paying him, Gonzalez is underachieving. Part of the reason, he says, is that the umpires are making horrible calls against him.

“I do have a question,” Gonzalez said after his 0-for-4 night against the Rays Wednesday according to ESPNBoston.com. “How are you supposed to have a professional at-bat with these umpires nowadays? Gosh. The first pitch in my last at-bat wasn’t even close. You’re up there, trying to have a professional at-bat and look for a pitch to hit and that’s called? …

“(Tuesday) there were a couple of pitches that weren’t close and they were called strikes. It put me behind two strikes and then you’ve got to protect. It’s unfortunate because you wish you could keep them on the plate and force them to come in, but that doesn’t happen anymore.”

Gonzalez is clearly frustrated, but it’s usually not a good idea to blast the umpires like that publicly and then expect to get calls. Bad calls are made against hitters on a regular basis, but Adrian is making himself sound like the guys in blue are targeting him. Chances are, there has been a combination of borderline calls and his inability to see pitches at the moment for whatever reason. However, the Red Sox slugger quickly shot down a reporter’s assertion that his power numbers are down because he’s frustrated.

“No,” he said. “I’ll start hitting home runs. I’ll hit a homer tomorrow.”

You heard the man. Boston takes on Tampa Bay Thursday night once again. Matt Moore is scheduled to start for the Rays, and if Gonzo puts his money where his mouth is, he’ll either be taking him or some other Tampa pitcher into the outfield bleachers. Stay tuned.

Photo credit: Greg M. Cooper-US PRESSWIRE