Pirates' closer Mike Gonzalez is like Eric Gagne

Bucs' manager Jim Tracy says both pitchers are similar.
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Pittsburgh manager Jim Tracy once had a pitcher who reminds him of new Pirates closer Mike Gonzalez.
A 30th-round draft pick like Gonzalez, he also spent his minor league career starting rather than relieving before his manager decided he had the qualities needed to be an excellent late-innings pitcher.
Like Gonzalez, he has an electric fastball and a wired-up personality -- pumping his fists and screaming when he gets a key out. Before that pitcher could realize all of his abundant ability, Tracy had to work with him to tone done the histrionics and focus on the job at hand.
That pitcher turned out to be a good one, too -- Eric Gagne, baseball's most reliable closer since 2002. Gagne went nearly two years without blowing a save opportunity and had 152 saves -- an average of 50-plus a season -- from 2002-04 for the Dodgers before missing all but 14 games last season with an injured elbow.
Tracy isn't saying Gonzalez is going to be another Gagne, especially considering Gagne has 160 career saves and Gonzalez has all of four. Another difference is the 27-year-old Gonzalez is a left-hander in a profession where most of the late-game specialists are right-handed, including Gagne.
Can throw fast
But, like Gagne, Gonzalez's fastball reaches the mid 90s, and Gonzalez also lacks neither confidence nor bravura. Gonzalez is so convinced he will be a star closer, he almost recoils at any suggestion that he still must prove himself.
"You know what, when I'm on that mound I don't think anyone is better than I am, and I think that's what you need to have," Gonzalez said. "Once I'm up there, I feel like I'm the one who should be up there -- I'm the best one out there and you come get it."
Tracy said Gagne and Gonzalez share another characteristic, too: "The heart's not any different."
"I think that is a prerequisite in considering a guy [to pitch] late in the game," said Tracy, who had a 427-383 record as the Dodgers' manager from 2001-05. "Also, the ability to be able to bounce back after you've had a tough day, and realize you can't have too many bad days in a row because that's not good for a baseball team."
No problem
Gonzalez told the manager it won't be a problem.
"It's one of those things where if you get me today, there's no chance you get me tomorrow," Gonzalez said. "And if you do get me tomorrow, there's no-o-o-o chance you're getting me the third time. So, that mentality, that's what I'm going to keep and I'm going to be all right like that."
Still, Gonzalez, a former Texas high school and junior college pitcher, is the one question mark in what looks to be an unusually stable bullpen for a team coming off a 95-loss season. The Pirates have four reliable setup relievers in left-handers Damaso Marte and John Grabow and right-handers Roberto Hernandez and Salomon Torres.