NEW YORK – Adrian Gonzalez favors the quick fix to the five-year plan. He wants to believe the Padres' problems are temporary and that the solutions are in sight.
But the All-Star first baseman readily admits that he doesn't know enough to know what to expect.
“I don't know what kind of talent there is in the minor leagues,” Gonzalez said during an All-Star interview session. “If I knew what kind of talent there is in the minor leagues, I'd be able to answer that.
“But personally, and I know with the guys in the clubhouse, you don't want it to be 'We're building for the next three years.' You want it to be 'We're building for the next year. We're building for this year.' ”
The ballplayer's career being brief, his timetable tends to be weighted toward today. Yet with the Padres 10 games from first place and 21 games below .500, tomorrow may be the more pleasant topic.
“I think the guys that are going to come up are good,” Gonzalez said. “I think Chase (Headley) is going to be a great hitter, so I think he's going to be a big factor. Kouz (third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff) continuing to improve will be a big factor. Khalil (Greene) had a rough first half, but I think he's definitely shown that he's been a better hitter in the second half every year. I think those three guys are big keys in our lineup.”
All of them suffer from the same affliction, though: the need to pick up slack on what seems a perpetual basis.
No major league club scored fewer runs than the Padres preceding the All-Star break. Only the Seattle Mariners have reached base on so irregular a basis.
“The big key for us is coming up with that big hit in the late innings,” Gonzalez said. “This year, we haven't done that.
“We try. I think every single guy in the clubhouse tries to be the guy to come up with that big hit or come up with whatever we need to win. (But) the harder you try to make it happen, the harder it gets.”
Presumably, this stress is compounded by 81 games at pitcher-friendly Petco Park. Because the ballpark plays so big, Gonzalez says, some of the Padres' 1-0 home games might end 9-8 in other parks.
“You always see the one or the zero (on the scoreboard) and you think you've got to do better,” Gonzalez said. “You get out of your comfort zone.”
The quick fix would be to reconfigure the ballpark. The five-year plan is better ballplayers.
Quentin not overawed
Carlos Quentin is a stickler about overstatement. The Chicago White Sox outfielder admits neither amazement nor awe about his first All-Star Game.
“I don't like to use those terms,” said Quentin, a product of University of San Diego High School. “I know that it's special, but I've always believed that this could happen.”
Quentin's faith was tested during his apprenticeship with the Arizona Diamondbacks. Though he had been highly touted, a series of injuries and long patches of ineffective play made Quentin a fringe figure in an outfield picture dominated by Eric Byrnes, Chris Young and Justin Upton.
A change of scene has brought dramatic change to his fortunes. Barely a year since the Diamondbacks demoted him to Triple-A, Quentin stands second in the American League in home runs (22) and RBI (70) and has supplanted Jim Thome as the third-place hitter for the first-place White Sox.
“I have a really good opportunity here,” Quentin said. “I knew the D-Backs, they had great young players and they wanted to have them play. . . . There really wasn't a spot for me. I was happy I was given the opportunity to further my career.”
Tim Sullivan: (619) 293-1033; tim.sullivan@uniontrib.com
