More photos » by Denis Poroy - AP

4 months ago: Fans look on as San Diego Padres Edgar Gonzalez, center, is taken from the field after Gonzalez was hit in head with a pitch during the sixth inning of a baseball game against the Colorado Rockies Saturday, July 18, 2009 in San Diego. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)

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Mark Neely and Mark Grant mentioned today that Edgar Gonzalez wasn't wearing the new protective batting helmet.  I hadn't noticed, but apparently he stopped wearing the bigger helmet after it popped off when he tried to avoid a pitch from Dan Haren earlier in the week.

I was so quick to judge Edgar before knowing the whole story.  I thought vanity had reared it's ugly pretty head again, but as usual I was wrong.  Edgar threw insults at the ill fitting helmet on Sign on San Diego:

It wasn't Haren's pitch that bothered the Padres.

It was what happened when Gonzalez jumped back. His new helmet, the one designed to give him more protection, flew off his head. Replays showed the helmet was coming off Gonzalez's head as Haren's fastball sailed by.

"That can't be good," Gonzalez said. "The problem is that it doesn't fit and it sits too high. My hat size is 7 1/8 and the helmet says for sizes 7¼ to 7 3/8. What kind of protective helmet fits several sizes?"

Padres trainer Todd Hutcheson made some changes to the helmet overnight.

"Once it fits properly, Edgar will have more protection," Hutcheson said. "But it rides too far up on his head. It needs to be seated lower and better. It's not his size."

It still strikes me as odd that a Major League Baseball team can't get a helmet that fits the player correctly.  They only got one helmet?  They didn't order it in his size?  They couldn't just put a chin strap on that sucker and get it back in action?

I still think every Padres player should be wearing these new helmets.