Chipper Jones understands what Adrian Gonzalez has been facing.

The Braves third baseman lived the life of infielder-turned-outfielder (like Gonzalez has for the past month) and feels the Red Sox' slugger's uneasiness. Out of 2,335 major league games, Jones has manned the outfield just 364 times, but when that first call to switch positions came in 1995 he experienced many of the challenges the Red Sox' first baseman has found himself with.

"I would much rather know I was coming to the park playing one spot," said Jones prior to his team's game with the Red Sox Friday night. "We're creatures of habit. Yeah, a move here or there could be fun for a bit, but to go and forth is a bit of a distraction. You have to do it sometimes, but all in all you're talking about a great player and a great hitter and he's going to be great wherever he plays."

But what the Red Sox need now is that great player, and, more specifically, that great hitter.

After a 1-for-4 performance in the Sox' 4-1 loss to the Braves, Gonzalez finds himself with a season-low batting average of .256. He hasn't had an extra-base hit in two weeks, a span in which Gonzalez has gone just 6-for-40 (.150) over 12 games. During that stretch he has played the outfield in seven games, giving the former All-Star 18 appearances away from his natural position.

It has been three straight games, however, in which Gonzalez has been cemented at first base, with the Red Sox prioritizing finding some normalcy in their fielding alignments over making sure Will Middlebrooks, Kevin Youkilis and Gonzalez are all in the lineup.

It's a strategy isn't likely to be altered any time soon.

"We'll take it day by day, but I think if I had my druthers he'd stay at first," said Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine of Gonzalez. "But the reason he didn't I think was because of necessity."

While Gonzalez has been commended for his willingness to play right field, along with the relative aplomb he has played the position with, the emergence and health of outfielders Daniel Nava, Ryan Kalish and Cody Ross have made the likelihood of seeing the infielder in right less and less likely. He could certainly see a return to the outfield, but, along with the influx of regular outfielders, finding the old first baseman has to be a priority.

"Today I'm riding the hot hand," Valentine said in reference to sitting Youkilis for a second straight game. "Tomorrow might not be the case, and I always reserve the right to change my mind."

But while the consistency would be welcome for Gonzalez, he's not about to identify such a move as the be-all, end-all solution to his offensive downturn.

"They're different dimensions," he explained. "Me playing the outfield doesn't change anything I do at the plate, or how I work my swing. Would I rather play first base every day? Yeah. But the team needs me to play outfield, so I play outfield."

It is also interesting to note Gonzalez's explanation for the lack of a distraction, citing a cultural dynamic which comes into play.

"A lot of it I feel it's more of a Latin thing," he said. "I played my first 10 years in Mexico, you do all kind of different things and you just focus on the play at hand. In Latin America, things aren't mechanical. It's not mechanical, you just get it done. You talk about arm slots and here and that, but what is an arm slot? Just throw the ball. Things here are done more mechanical. You catch a ball a certain way and you throw the ball a certain way, but in Latin America you just throw it."

Still, ignoring the numbers are hard to do.

Since Gonzalez first started playing the outfield this season (May 19), he is hitting .235 with an OPS of .619, having struck out 23 times and drawing just six walks. The good news for the Red Sox is that they're 12-6 in games the 30-year-old has manned the outfield. But, still, when one of your lineup's building blocks is struggling so mightily, such a trend is difficult to turn your back on.

While Gonzalez might not buy into the theory that switching positions can alter offensive approach, Jones, for one, admitted there are unique challenges when making such a switch.

"I think it's a little bit different just because at third base you're so mentally into the game," said Jones of playing the outfield. "When you're playing the corner infield, you have to be mentally into the game or the next one could be down your throat. Left field you have tendency to go out there, scenery-watch, whistle to yourself, talk to yourself. Your not as mentally as in tune to what is going on was you would be at the corner infield spots. That's what I noticed. I couldn't wait to get back into the infield because it kept me in every situation in each and every at-bat.

"It was little more difficult (playing the outfield). It was just different. When you've been a left side of the infield guy for so long and you have somewhere to go every time a ball is hit to you, and then you go out there and you don't have anything to do, a ball is hit to right field and you've got nothing. You have a tendency to relax mentally sometimes. I like to mentally be into every pitch."

The hope for Gonzalez -- who does have a hit in each of his last three games -- is that the consistency will be a step in the right direction (no matter the player's flexibility, or ability to delineate between offense and defense).

"You hit, you think about hitting. You play defense, you think about playing defense," he said. "It doesn't cross over. I'm brought up that way. I don't let my offense carry into my defense. I don't let my defense carry into my offense. They are two different departments."