TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) -- The way Luis Gonzalez is swinging the bat, baseball's quintessential late bloomer could be ready for another big season.
Gonzalez doubled and hit his eighth home run, most of anyone in spring training, in Arizona's 7-1 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Monday. After starting the spring 2-for-18, Gonzalez is batting .379 with 20 RBIs.
``There's always room to get better every year,'' he said. ``That's what I want to do. I want to continue going on an upward scale. You don't want to sit on last year's numbers. I'm in the middle of a great batting order and I want to keep producing. I don't know about the home runs, but I don't see why I can't drive in a lot of runs again.''
He homered in five consecutive games last week, and going into Tuesday's action had gone 14-for-23 (.609) in his last eight games with six homers, three doubles and 14 RBIs.
*runs away*