Calm, poised Gonzalez turning into "a different guy on the mound"

KANSAS CITY - There were moments during tonight's game that looked all too familiar to Gio Gonzalez, moments when the left-hander could have been on the brink of disaster and too often in the past succumbed to the pressure.

A 28-pitch first inning that featured tough at-bat after tough at-bat from the Royals. A two-on, two-out jam in the third with the heart of the lineup at the plate. A two-on, one-out jam in the sixth as his pitch count approached and then topped the century mark.

Each time, though, Gonzalez found the nerve to pitch his way out of trouble. And when he departed for good after that potentially troublesome sixth inning, he looked up at the scoreboard and saw nothing but zeroes in the Kansas City column. And a 1.15 ERA under his own name.

"I feel what he's doing right now is great," said Jose Lobaton, who has become Gonzalez's personal catcher over the last year-plus. "He's been like a different guy on the mound."

Gonzalez's latest effort earned him his second win of the season, though three scoreless innings from the Nationals bullpen still were needed to secure a 2-0 victory in the opener of this tough interleague series against the defending World Series champs.

Five starts into his season, Gonzalez has recorded five quality starts. He has allowed zero or one earned run four times. He has completed at least six innings all five times.

All of which left the veteran lefty a bit emboldened after this game, willing to make a not-so-veiled reference to the difference between former manager Matt Williams and new skipper Dusty Baker.

"It's crazy how it is when a manager lets you pitch more than three innings," Gonzalez said. "When your manager believes in you so much. I'm just happy to see he has all the confidence in the world to let me pitch. I've been doing this for quite a while. I'm just grateful that he believes in me every inning and he lets me go out there and become the pitcher I am. I'm glad he's giving me a little more rope."

Truth be told, Gonzalez hadn't always given his managers good reason to give him a lot of rope. All too often, he would get into a jam in the fourth or fifth inning and let the walls cave in on him.

That hasn't been the case at all this season, though, thanks in part to a concerted effort Gonzalez has made on improving his mental approach. With help from pitching coach Mike Maddux and recently hired mental skills coordinator Mark Campbell, he has figured out how to keep his emotions in check no matter the situation.

"That's what it is, just working on certain techniques and slowing the game down to get yourself out of big situations," he said.

Gonzalez even managed to take that approach a step too far tonight. At one point early on, Lobaton had to go to the mound and ask his pitcher - for perhaps the first time ever - to be more energetic.

Lobaton would much rather have to offer a reminder about that, though, than the alternative.

"That was something we talked about last year," the catcher said. "Every time he had runners in scoring position he was, maybe, overdoing stuff, overthrowing. And he decided to get some help. And I think he's been much better. Every time he's on the mound, you don't see that frustration for any hit, for any walk."

Gonzalez's transformation hasn't been lost on teammates old and new.

"I think he's been unbelievable out there," said second baseman Daniel Murphy, who faced Gonzalez plenty of times over the years while playing for the Mets. "I think Gio has really been able to kind of slow his heart rate down when those high-leverage situations come up. The fun part now is, he's not allowing a lot of them, he's throwing the ball so well."

Indeed, Gonzalez didn't really face that many dicey situations tonight. And even when he did, he pitched through them with a poise not always seen in the past.

"He was great," Baker said. "And he made some pitches when he had to. When he was in trouble, he dug deep."