"When Adrian Gonzalez agreed to compete in the Home Run Derby, he shrugged off the notion that his swing might be adversely affected.

But he has only one homer since the All-Star break.

Coincidence?

"No, I completely buy that," Red Sox hitting coach Dave Magadan said before Gonzalez was 0-for-4 in last night's 5-2 loss to the Twins. "He's a guy, when he takes batting practice, he doesn't hit too many balls to the pull side (right field). To go in there in the Home Run Derby and take 120 swings or however many they take, and everything's pull, pull, pull, now it's kind of hard to back the ball up and go the other way again."

Of course, Gonzalez continues to get plenty of hits. He leads the majors in batting average (.348), RBI (92) and hits (163) and is tied with Tampa Bay's Ben Zobrist and Kansas City's Alex Gordon for the most doubles (35). And he recently had a 14-game hitting streak during which he batted .483.

So, although it's nitpicking to focus on Gonzalez' recent homer drought, it also is obvious. On July 7, he was on pace to finish with 35 homers. Since then, he has gone deep only once in 117 at-bats. His 18 homers are third-most on the Red Sox, trailing David Ortiz (23) and Jacoby Ellsbury (19).

Gonzalez repeatedly has denied that the Home Run Derby had any impact. In fact, he has been satisfied with his swing, noting that he simply has been hitting hard liners for singles or doubles rather than long drives over the fence.

"I think the All-Star break — it wasn't a break for him, but the four days of the All-Star Game — really wore him out a little bit," Magadan said. "When you get a little bit tired, you start getting a little too much body in your swing. You start cheating, you start chasing pitches you don't normally chase."