When Adrian G was still with the Padres and earning the title of “most coveted player in Boston history,” all we’d hear about was how his “swing” was “made” for “Fenway” and the bat-induced hysteria the guy would raise if we signed him.
So we did. And then he got here. And through some bizarre cocktail of heightened expectations, media pressure and whatever else he could think up, we ended up with the third best home run hitter on the team. Or, to put it in perspective, six more home runs than we got out of Pedroia in AGon’s first season with us. Yeah, he won a Silver Slugger. But with all the build-up, I was expecting the heavens to open and thunder claps to accentuate his every at-bat. Even when I’m sober. Which isn’t often.
Anyway, fast forward to last season. Jen Royle talks up Mike Napoli on the SG podcast. We end up signing the guy. Then he falls off the radar. Then we hear about the hips. So we resign ourselves to getting whatever we can out of the guy, and start silently praying for a contingency plan.
In other words, it was almost the exact opposite of the A-Gon signing. Low expectations. Uncertainty. No early printing of World Series tickets. But the guy has been raking since he got here, already logging 22 hits, 4 home runs and a league-leading 25 RBIs–four of them coming on a dramatic grand slam that helped seal up yesterday’s win.
How long he can keep up this pace is unknown. But for now, he’s doing a pretty f#$king sweet job of playing the slugger we thought we’d be getting in A-Gon.
