From ESPNBoston.com:

http://espn.go.com/blog/boston/red-sox/post/_/id/14970/gonzalez-i-wasnt-complaining-about-schedule

BOSTON--Red Sox first baseman Adrian Gonzalez appeared on 1090 XX Sports Radio in San Diego Thursday and addressed his published comments regarding the Red Sox schedule, which has been widely portrayed in Boston media as Gonzalez making excuses for the team's collapse in September.

"I never brought up anything on my own and said anything out of a way to complain or say that it was the reason we lost or anything like that,'' Gonzalez told radio host Darren Smith. "I answered a question that was presented to me. I know I am taking a little bit of heat for the scheduling part, but that wasn’t something I did on my own. The writer came up to me and said ‘Has the schedule been tough on you this year?’ I said we played a lot of getaway night games. I said it has been the most grueling season physically for me. That was my answer to the question and the question was prior to the collapse, so I answered the question I was asked.

"It was written after the last game when we didn’t make the playoffs and it was mentioned in a way as I was complaining of the schedule. I wasn’t. I was just answering the question of how hard it was on me. It was tough and it was really hard on my body....I’ve learned that you don’t try to go out and try to justify your comments. You just let them be because you are never going to win the battle of trying to justify yourself.”


Gonzalez said he read the story in Wednesday's Boston Globe detailing reasons for the team's collapse.

“It’s a piece to get people interested and talking about it,'' he said. "Again not everything in that story is true and a lot of it is personal opinion rather than actual fact.”

Asked by Smith if there were elements in the story that were true, Gonzalez replied: “I would have to have the piece in front of me to be able to comment on that.”

Gonzalez would not comment when asked specifically about the conduct of the team's starting pitchers, and was not asked about manager Terry Francona.

Smith asked Gonzalez if the team choked in September.

"It’s hard to say,'' he said. "We didn’t play the baseball that we could. We didn’t do it in every aspect of the game. We didn’t hit when we needed to hit. We didn’t play defense when we needed to play defense and we didn’t get the outs we needed to down the stretch, so yeah, we really didn’t play good baseball and we lost in the playoffs because of it.”

AGON should just shut up and realize that Boston isn't San Diego, people aren't dumb and uneducated.  He said it.  He meant it the way it sounded, he was making excuses for an unexcusable situation.  Apologize, to the fans, shut up and produce.

Very typical Boston media. ask the loaded question, get an answer, twist context and bury the person who answered your question.

One thing that will come from the "witch hunt" post collapse will be more cliche answers and no comments than come out of Foxboro IMHO.

"But the foie gras was a bit dry."

...now he's complaining about the media...

I wanted General Tao Chicken with vegetable fried rice but they gave me white rice.  I want to complain too.   lol

Man its obvious who the players with the real attitude problems are, Beckett-Youk-Lackey. If we are gonna climb all over AGon than we may as well turn in our hats.

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":
He's in good company. From TS Williams to Pedro Martinez there aren't a lot of players who have liked the Boston media for over 60 years now. Heck if you look into it, the media was running a fat,drunken Babe Ruth out of town in 1919 because the RS had a disappointing season coming off of the 1918 WS win.

The Boston media is a major pain in the tail.

"I didn't care about the schedule.
But I was pissed that Fatso Beckett was eating all the Popeye's.

I would say like Youk all these years before you cannot have AGON as your only big homerun threat. Once Ortiz goes they must have another 30+ homer bat in the line-up.

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":

We do. Jacoby Ellsbury. Dude should probably be in the three hole with Gonzalez batting clean-up.

Elles hitting 30 is just icing on the cake... probably he will hit 20 to 25 next year. We need a bona fide slugger, either Ortiz or an outsider to bat behind AGon.

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":

Heidi Watney was on WEEI the other day saying this exact same thing about the issue of Ortiz "disrespecting" management by saying that Aceves should be starting.

The way the media presented that to us, it made it sound like Ortiz went out of his way to hold a special press conference to say that publicly.  And yeah, that might've been disrespectful if he'd done that.

But like Adrian, he was asked a very specific question by a reporter.  Something along the lines of, "Aceves is really pitching well.  Do you think he'd be good as a starter?"  And Ortiz answered it, honestly, and gave the same answer that a lot of people here would've given.  If you're asked a specific question (especially one that at the time doesn't exactly sound like the most controversial topic in the world), what else is he supposed to do?  Say, "No comment?"  Is he supposed to lie?

If a reporter asks Adrian or Ortiz during the year what they think of the new brand of post-game deli meat that the clubhouse is buying this year, and Ortiz gives the honest opinion that he thought last year's brand was better, they could easily twist that too.  Just sit on the information until the end of the failed year, and then present the info as if Ortiz/Adrian elected to announce out of the blue how they don't care for the food they're given.  Suddenly an innocuous answer turns into whining royalty who thinks that their favorite deli-meat is more important than a failed season.

These are just examples of what happens in today's media.  They never look for the good stories - just want the dirt and of course when you are on top - there is usually some to be had.  Every reporter wants to topple the guy at the top and they all write from the Monday morning quarterback perspective so that their stories show 20-20 vision.

Anybody who has ever been interviewed by the media (speaking from experience) and asked a series of questions, understands how the story that comes out portrays something that does not represent you at all.....but rather a story that the writer wants to tell.

Like I say, now he's blaming the media.

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":


When a reporter uses quotes out of context and does so in a an attempt to paint a negetive picture, it doesn't serve anyones best interest...That's why pro athletes as rule tend to be guarded when doing interviews...In effect all they're doing is playing to the inquiring minds want to know crowd. Which makes every reporters job much tougher and the players more guarded about what they'll say on and off the record...

Funny, you hear reporters complaining that all they get from players is cliche answers to thier questions and how much they enjoy guys that are more candid. Then they do a pretty poor job of policingthemselves and rarely do you ever see a reporter call out one of his peers...Trust me this spring when the team shows up to camp. I expect some pretty nasty exchanges between the players and some of the local scribes...

You reap, what you sow and both of the local papers have for years been foremost in creating what is percieved as a hostile relantionship and it doesn't appear that it's going to change anytime soon...If I were John Henry I would take a page out of Belicheck book and control the presses access to the players and coaches...

This is just the state of news these days - if it isn't there, make it up.  The MacMullen piece is the only reason anybody thinks Youk was a problem - and Youk says she was in the club-house 3 times all year!

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":

In Response to Re: Adrian Gonzalez:"I wasn't complaining about the schedule":

Sure roy, we should expect he might even hit 40+ once in awhile ... for me I think his averages will be 30-35 over his time here.

jeez  nothing wrong with over 30 homers...juice days are ovah