Gio Gonzalez steers Oakland Athletics to a win after help from Ron Romanick and Dallas Braden
Things are not easy to deal with when a pitcher heads into a Major League game with consecutive losses in the last two games. For Gio Gonzalez, the situation was no different. The Oakland Athletics were going up against the Texas Rangers for the third game
of the series and they needed their maestro to strike well with the ball. After some help from his club staff, Gonzalez went on to pitch the A’s to victory.
After a 2 – 11 loss to the Rangers on Saturday, Gonzalez was sent in to the third outing in a bid to regain the lead in the series with a crucial win. The ball thrower was 2 – 0 after his first three outings in the new Major League Baseball season. Then
after games with the Boston Red Sox and the Los Angeles Angels, the striker went 2 – 2.
Helping him cope with the poor form was none other than pitching Coach Ron Romanick. The senior staff member helped the pitcher turn things around. Dallas Braden was also back from rehabilitation on his injured throwing arm. Both seniors helped Gonzalez
through as the hurler threw 6.2 innings, earning two runs off five hits and seven walks.
"He was definitely talking about more of a mental approach than it was mechanical for me," Gonzalez said of Romanick. "We did sit down and watch a little bit of video of my last couple starts then watched last year's video and put them together. We figured
out what was going on. Again, it was more like staying back and slowing down the mechanics. My last two starts was more rushing.
"I did blame my last two starts on Dallas Braden, so he's getting credit for those," Gonzalez joked. "Today, having him on my side, it's always great to have the corner guy in the ring."
The hurler went on to say that it was fun, going out and attacking the hitters in the strike zone. It built confidence against a team that is known to hit hard against the best of pitchers. A mistake would in Gonzalez’s opinion, would have gone for the stands
and extensive damage.
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