Adrian Gonalez

Searching for reasons why San Diego hasn’t pulled away from the pack in the NL West yet this season? Well, consider Adrian Gonzalez the answer.

The big time power threat for the power-starved Padres has been in one enormous and encompassing slump since May 29, and we have the stats to back it up.

The first 199 at-bats of his season, from April until May 29, Adrian Gonzalez put up All-Star caliber numbers. He had 12 homers and 37 RBI to go along with his 60 hits and a solid .302 average. His 41 K’s were fairly decent as well. The first 2 months of the season was setting the stage for a great year, and a Padre NL West Championship, or so the Padres organization thought.

Since May 29, Adrian Gonzalez has gone in the tank. Since that fateful day in late-May, Gonzalez has put up miniscule numbers, hampering greatly the Padres chances at the NL West crown. Hard as it is to believe, Gonzalez has only stroked 2 homers and a meager 15 RBI in the stretch since late-May. He has 137 AB’s since May 29, while putting up 29 hits for a .212 average.

That's not what the Padres need from their clean-up hitter. He has also matched his strike out total from the first 2 months despite the fact that he has 62 less at-bats. 2 home runs just isn’t going to cut it for your run producer, and the recent acquisitions of Michael Barrett and Milton Bradley aren't going to fill the gaping void that Gonzalez's disappearance has caused.

The stat discrepancy is just so noticeable for Gonzalez and his success is in direct correlation with the Padres success. Its not just coincidence. Without Gonzalez hitting like he can for the Padres, they are in some serious trouble as their All-Star rotation can only do so much when they don't get the run production to back them up.

If any team needs some help in the middle of the lineup going into the second half of the season, its got to be the Padres of San Diego.