Adrian Gonzlaez may be enjoying his time in Australia a little too much. The Los Angeles Dodgers first baseman left Thursday’s exhibition game against Team Australia with tightness in his back. He thinks the injury stems from walking around Sydney and sightseeing.
“I need to rest, get off my feet,” Gonzalez said, per MLB.com’s Ken Gurnick. “I’ve done a lot of walking around the city. I’ll be good [for Saturday night]. I’m positive I’ll feel better tomorrow.”
The Dodgers open up the MLB regular season with a series against the Arizona Diamondbacks in Australia this weekend. Gonzalez is confident he will be ready to go by then. He was removed from Thursday’s game in the fourth inning after an at-bat where he appeared uncomfortable and grabbed at his lower back.
“It actually got tighter,” he said. “I swung at a pitch in the second at-bat, and it didn’t feel good. I finished the at-bat because I didn’t want to take myself out of the game in the middle of the at-bat.”
As for the type of sightseeing the All-Star slugger has been doing, the Dodgers gave us an example of that earlier this week.
When in Bondi, @AdrianTitan23! pic.twitter.com/gRnvMrxbvw
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) March 18, 2014
After seeing that photo, I can’t help but think it was worth it for Gonzo to suffer a minor back injury. The weird injuries are piling up at an unbelievable rate this offseason anyway. At least he got to hang out with a group of guys wearing grape-smugglers.
