Carlos' Corner: 'It's so early'
Pena reflects on the first week of the season
MLB.com
Carlos Peņa, a 23-year-old rookie heralded as one of the top young
prospects in the game, was acquired by Oakland during the offseason
in a six-player trade with Texas. He's replacing Jason Giambi as the
A's first baseman and is providing MLB.com an exclusive daily diary
for the 2002 season.
Peņa, who is hitting .308, took over the American League lead with
his fourth homer of the season Sunday in Seattle before the A's flew
to Texas. Monday's off day gave Peņa time to reflect on his
performance over the first seven games of the season.
ARLINGTON, Tex. -- When someone told me last night that I led the
American League in home runs, I started laughing. That's funny to me.
First of all, it's so early in the season. It seems strange to me to
even think about who is leading the league in anything.
We've played seven games, with 155 to go, so let's settle down a
little bit about anyone's numbers. Well, maybe not Barry Bonds'
numbers. That's exciting. That man is crushing everything he sees --
again. But there's too much baseball to play for me to even consider
what my numbers are, and I've already said that statistics can be
unhealthy if you spend too much time thinking about them.
Another reason this talk about the home runs is funny is that I don't
really consider myself a home run hitter. Yes, I can hit home runs. I
hit 28 a couple of years ago in the minor leagues, and I'm not
surprised when I hit home runs because I know that I'm capable of
hitting it out of the park with a good swing. But I want to be a gap-
to-gap hitter, too -- someone who drives the ball all over the
ballpark.
That's not to say that I don't enjoy hitting home runs. I do. It's
fun. It's satisfying. But let's keep everything in perspective. It's
a long season. Very long.
More than anything, line drives and good-at-bats are what I'm looking
for. Good pitch selection and solid contact every time up. I'll take
2-for-3 with a hard single, a double in the gap and a walk over 1-for-
4 with a bomb any day of the week.
And really, the only home runs that matter are the ones that come in
victories. Two of mine have so far, and those are the only two that
mean anything. Individual accomplishments don't mean anything if they
don't come in the context of team success.
Carlos Peņa's diary appears as told to Mychael Urban, who covers the
Oakland A's for MLB.com.
