Posted by Zach Sanders on Friday, June 19, 2009 at 3:23 pm

When playing the San Diego Padres, there is only one player you need to worry about: Adrian Gonzalez. Gonzo is the only Padre with double digit homers (Hairston and Kouzmanoff have 8 each), and has the highest slugging percentage of any full time Friar.

If you are playing the Padres, why do you even let Gonzalez hurt you? He’s not at the skill level that Barry Bonds was at, but you should treat them the same. Make sure the ball stays away, and off the plate, and hope he takes the bait. If not, oh well. The next guy won’t hurt you.

The reason I bring this up is because of what Gonzo did to the Mariners last night:

Awful. Just awful. When you let the only dangerous hitter on a team go 4-for-4, you deserve to lose like the Mariners did.

Be smart! Don’t take the risk if you don’t have to. When there are 2 outs in the bottom of the 10th inning, should you be letting Gonzalez double? No! He should be walked. Gonzo ended up scoring on a Kouzmanoff single, and he wouldn’t have if he was on first.

Stupid decisions will lead to losses. Simple as that.