In two of the last three seasons, Gonzalez was the best player on a team that was essentially eliminated from playoff contention by late August. The San Diego Padres won 75 games in 2009 and 63 games to finish in last place in 2008.
Being 2 1/2 games up for the American League Wild Card with five games left in this season, by comparison, doesn't seem so bad.
"The odds are in our favor," Gonzalez said after Saturday's loss in New York.
The Red Sox are not panicking, Gonzalez insists. He insisted the same when the team opened the season 2-10, and he turned out to be right. As he pointed out Saturday, if the Red Sox sweep Sunday's doubleheader, the conversation will change quickly.
"All these things can turn in a matter of 12, 15 hours," Gonzalez said.
There's a misconception that San Diego is a baseball backwater where 100-loss seasons were the norm. Nothing could be farther from the truth. The Padres have won at least 87 games in a season four times since 2004, qualified for the postseason twice and held first place in the NL West with a little more than a month remaining in the 2010 season, finishing with 90 wins. (Gonzalez became a regular in 2006, when San Diego took the division crown.)
The Friars will never be confused with the Yankees, but they're a model small-market club and have seen a few pennant races. This ain't Gonzo's first rodeo.
Still, it is different in Boston. In his first year manning first base at Fenway Park, it sounds like Gonzalez is still learning that, judging by his comments. A player who understood the depths of the passion for the home team in Boston wouldn't sound as surprised as Gonzalez does that the fan base is panicking in the midst of this 5-17 September.
If the postseason started today, the Red Sox would be in, though they wouldn't be the favorite.
"We're going to go in being the underdog, especially with the way we've been playing this month," Gonzalez said. "We've got nothing to lose now."
Boston, a city that embraces the underdog? Perhaps Gonzalez gets it after all.
