Dodgers’ Adrian Gonzalez is confident his back won’t affect him in NLDS

Adrian Gonzalez said his back won’t present any problems for him Friday night when he takes the field in the Dodgers’ postseason opener.

“It should be 100%,” Gonzalez said. “I don’t think it’s going to be an issue at all. If I don’t get a hit, it’s not because of my back.”

In the final weeks of the regular season, Gonzalez was slowed by a pinched nerve in his back, which he said weakened his left leg.

“It’s just being a little more hesitant, not being able to let it go, not being able to take a full swing and just having to be a little more mechanical than aggressive,” he said.

Asked for an update on his back, Gonzalez replied, “It’s hard to say because I haven’t had a game since. It’s not something you completely feel in a one-hour practice.”

Gonzalez insisted on remaining in the lineup even after the Dodgers secured their third consecutive division title, saying he wanted to fine-tune his swing in preparation for the postseason.

“It went well,” he said. “For the most part, my back didn’t allow me to do exactly what I wanted to do, but overall, I feel like I’ll be ready and everything will be where I want it to be.”

Gonzalez said his pregame work is far more intense in the postseason than in the regular season.

“These four days of preparation, getting ready, is different because you put so much more time and effort into the mental side, into the positioning side, into how they’re going to pitch you, how they’re going to attack you, what you think they’re going to do and what you want to do against them,” he said.

“A lot more video work than you would normally do. During the regular season, you might put in 10 to 15 minutes per pitcher. Right now, you put in 30 minutes per pitcher. You put in an hour for the starting pitcher. You just do a lot more preparation so when the game starts, you’re 100% physically and mentally ready.”

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