According to this story on ESPN, Barry Bonds wants to play this year and has his agent looking for a team interested in his services.

If MLB wants me to give a shit about baseball 2009, I suggest they stop with the BS collusion and and have a team sign the greatest hitter of all time to a contract.

If Alex Rodriguez is playing in 2009, why can't Barry Bonds? Why is he being singled out like he's the only dude that did steroids? It's ridiculous. It's clear that *most* current major league players have used steroids. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the number was close to 75%. Hell that may be an underestimate.

If I thought no one was going to sign him simply because he's too old, then I could understand that. And he is 44 this year (turning 45 this summer.) But the last time he suited up (in 2007) he was still among the most effective hitters in the league (he lead the majors in OBP) so I think he clearly deserves the chance to show he can still hit.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Since the scapegoating of Barry Bonds first began it has become increasingly obvious that steroids during the 1990s & early 2000s wasn't some rare thing in MLB that only a few home run sluggers like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire were using but instead so prevalent that the question is more "Who was *NOT* taking steroids?" rather than who was.

Because of the obvious prevalence of steroid use among almost all major league baseball players the witch hunt of Barry Bonds has become absolutely absurd to anyone with more than a couple of brain cells to rub together. And yes, to any silly people out there still trying to scapegoat Barry Bonds: Your favorite player did steroids too. Get over it. They still were not as good as Bonds and they never will be. Deal with it.

The ridiculous waste of tax payer money that is the witch hunt of Barry Bonds has now been put on indefinite hold as it's clear that the federal government has greatly overstepped the law in their single minded pursuit of Bonds.

If the federal government wants to go after someone in regards to steroids in baseball they should go after major league baseball itself and the owners of the teams who ignored the issue for years instead of trying to scapegoat Barry Bonds.

Also to the idiot sportswriter (Rick Reilly) at ESPN who wrote this dumb ass story about Albert Pujols taking all of Barry Bonds MVP awards: You are a moron. You have completely missed the point of the Alex Rodriguez thing. The point isn't for you to now go looking for a new mythical "clean" player but instead to admit that steroids use was so prevalent during this time that it's moronic to try to give some players credit for being "clean" while taking away the accomplishment of the so called "dirty" players.

Your self-righteousness makes me ill.

And your memory is lacking. Wasn't it just last year that there was significant suspicious about Pujols himself? Would anyone really be surprised if Pujols did steroids? I would honestly be extremely surprised if he had not.

This is not about finding "saviors" who were "clean" during the steroids era you brain dead fool. This is about accepting the reality of the times. If you want to go after anyone about steroids, go after the owners and MLB itself for not giving a crap that players were on steroids when it was helping the games popularity (and thus helping them make more money.)

Labels: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, steroids

Alex Rodriguez tested positive for steroids.

Admit it to yourself: EVERYONE IN BASEBALL DID (AND PROBABLY STILL DOES) STEROIDS. You should all be ashamed of yourself for the way you demonized Barry Bonds. Everyone did steroids, and guess what? Bonds was still better than everyone else. Deal with it. Bonds is the greatest hitter of his generation.

And the federal government needs to stop wasting our tax money on their Bonds witch hunt. Isn't there anything better they could be doing with that money and with that time?

---

Also a little shout out to Jose Canseco. Remember when he said A-Rod did steroids and everyone was like "oh there goes Jose again." Looks like there goes Jose again telling the truth. Everything he's said has turned out to be true. Just fucking deal with it all of you prick ass motherchickens. Seriously, duck you! Bonds is better than you. He is a God amongst mortals. Bonds: The greatest ever.

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Jose Canseco, steroids

According to his agent: Read The Story At ESPN.com

Here's hoping the Mets or Yankees sign him before I leave NYC so I can see the greatest hitter of all time before I leave.

It's absolutely ridiculous to me that no one has signed the man who lead the majors in OBP last season. As his agent says - it's clearly a conspiracy of some kind. Which is such BS, as the whole steroids thing is the leagues fault and the owners fault as much as the players. They are looking for a scapegoat (Bonds) instead of taking responsibility.

Labels: Barry Bonds

#1 Barry Bonds (2002) - 268

While 2001 was the year Bonds hit a record 73 homers, it's the following year that was his most impressive all around season. He hit a career high .370 (which lead the league) and set the record for OBP at .582 (he went on to break that record in 2004.) He also set the single season record for walks with 198 (and again he broke that record in 2004.) Bonds also led the Giants to the World Series where he hit .471 with 4 home runs in 17 at bats (and 13 walks, yes the Angels were slightly afraid of Mr. Bonds) All in all, I think 2002 was Bonds' greatest season.

#2 Barry Bonds (2004) - 263

2004 was the year he broke his own records for walks (232) and OBP (.609) and I do believe those two records may be the Bonds records that stand the longest. I think his career home run mark will fall in about 5 years (Alex Rodriguez looks likely to break it) and his single season mark will probably not last all that long either (I could be wrong on that one though) but his single season marks for OBP & walks will probably last for a very long time. There are a lot of amazing things about his 2004 numbers among them are these two breakdowns which show just how ridiculously good Barry Bonds was in 2004: 45 home runs vs. 41 strikeouts & 232 walks vs 41 strikeouts.

#3 Barry Bonds (2001) - 259

In 2001 Bonds set the single season mark for home runs with 73 and for slugging percentage with .863. I personally find the slugging percentage mark far more impressive. I think it's quite possible that some dude (like a Ryan Howard type) may break the 73 mark in the coming years but will they do it while getting walked 177 times and hitting .328? Probably not.

YUP

So yes, Barry Bonds holds the three single season OPS+ of all time. Pretty incredible. I think a lot of people don't realize just how incredibly ridiculously awesome Barry Bonds was from 2001 to 2004. There has never been anyone, ever, who was as dominating as Bonds was during those four years.

#4 through #10 below.

#4 Babe Ruth (1920) - 256
#5 Babe Ruth (1921) - 239
#5 Babe Ruth (1923) - 239
#7 Ted Williams (1941) - 235
#8 Ted Williams (1957) - 233
#9 Barry Bonds (2003) - 231 (Yes, he "slumped" a bit in 2003!)
#10 Babe Ruth (1927) - 226

Bonds, Ruth, & Williams

That top ten list should give a pretty good indication of why when people who know the numbers talk about the greatest hitter of all time there's only three names they seriously consider: Bonds, Ruth, & Williams.

Labels: Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Ted Williams

Billy Beane (A's GM, Failed 5 TOOOOOOL Prospect)

AND

Barry Bonds (A delicate flower)

Middle name "Lamar"

Labels: Barry Bonds, Billy Beane, IHateU, SILLY, Where da Bonds at?

Do not be confused into thinking that George Mitchell's report released yesterday is some sort of all inclusive report that includes every player who has done or is doing HGH/Steroids. It is only a small sampling. It is only the players they were able to catch red handed.

Jose Canseco calls the report a joke and says that among the many more players that should be on the list are Alex Rodriguez.

Yes the same Alex Rodriguez that hypocritical Barry Bonds haters have been hoping will break Bonds career home run record so that an steroids user won't be #1 all time.

The fact is that the Barry Bonds witch hunt of the past five years has been nothing but ridiculous. Everyone that has taken part in that witch hunt should be ashamed of themselves.

It's time for you to admit the following: Your favorite player and your favorite team have all taken steroids/HGH too. And guess what: They were still not as good as Barry Bonds and they never will be. All of this time you've been whining about Barry Bonds you've missed the chance to appreciate the greatest player of all time playing at his peak.

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds

Does the Federal Government really have nothing better to do? How many of our tax dollars have been spent on this case? Why is Barry Bonds being singled out when it's obvious hundreds of major leaguers have used performance enhancing drugs?

History will frown upon everyone involved in this witch hunt. It's ridiculous.

Labels: Barry Bonds

My last post was going to be about the World Series but ended up mostly being a rant about Coors Field and today I still think ranting about Coors Field is more interesting than this World Series (oh yeah Boston won 13-1 last night.)

I mentioned the insanity that would occur if a truly great hitter ever suits up for the Rockies. For your consideration I have looked at Bonds numbers at Coors Field from 2001-2004 which were his peak seasons when he was absolutely dominating baseball at a pace only rivaled by Babe Ruth and Ted Williams at their peak. As great as his numbers were during this period, how much greater would they have been if he had been a member of the Rockies instead of the Giants?

From '01 to '04 Bonds played 32 games in Colorado and amassed the following numbers: .427 AVG, .566 OBP, .981 SLG, 16 HR, 30 R, 33 RBI, 33 BB, 15 IBB.

As great as his home stats (at AT&T) were during this period (he hit .365 at home from '01 to '04) it's clear that his numbers would have been significantly more ridiculous had he been a member of the Rockies. He would have likely threatened the .400 mark both in 2002 and in 2004.

Ah yes, and Todd Helton sucks.

Labels: Barry Bonds, Colorado Rockies, Todd Helton

The Giants have told Barry Bonds they will not be bringing him back for 2008 because they want to move in a younger direction. Bonds had made it clear that he wished to stay with the Giants in 2008.

While some may think Bonds may just want to call it quits, Bonds is not retiring. He wrote "There is more baseball in me and I plan on continuing my career. My quest for a World Series ring continues" on his website.

Bonds could potentially do much better in the AL than the NL because he would be able to DH which would mean much more time to rest and much less wear & tear on his 43 (and 44 next summer) year old body. It seems that Bonds will be able to get significantly more at bats in the AL as a DH than he would as an NL LF.

The Oakland A's could be the perfect fit because Bonds is the ultimate "Moneyball" player. While the A's don't usually spend a lot of money on free agents, I do not think the market for Bonds will match his skill level because of his unpopularity and his age. Oakland is also of course very close to San Diego and the fans there would be more likely to be accepting of him than probably anywhere else.

Of course this is total speculation, but if I had to lay a bet out right now I'd bet on the A's. Then me and IHateU could root for the same team next season.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Continuing my series on the best hitter, starting pitcher, and relief pitcher of each decade I am moving backwards now to the best hitter of the 1990s. Barry Bonds is the selection. Bonds is also the best hitter of the 2000s. I'm pretty sure he'll be the only player to be selected as the "best of" of two decades, but we'll see.

People often mistakenly claim that Ken Griffey was the best hitter of the 90s. That claim is based mostly on the fact that Griffey hit a lot of home runs in '97 and '98 (56 each year) and more so on an ignorance of the importance of not getting out (ie getting on base.) It's also based on the fact that people think Ken Griffey is a jolly good guy while they think Barry Bonds is a big headed jerk (who did steroids/hgh/killed children/whatever.) Hopefully that spurious Ken Griffey BS can be put to rest in this here article. Read on...

Look at some of the stat leaders for the 1990s to start getting an idea why Bonds ranks #1 among all 1990s hitters.

OPS+ Leaders For The 1990s. (min. PA 3000)
1. Barry Bonds 179
2. Mark McGwire 173
3. Frank Thomas 169
4. Jeff Bagwell 160
5. Mike Piazza 157
6. Edgar Martinez 153
7. Ken Griffey 152
8. Albert Belle 149
9. Manny Ramirez 147
10. Jim Thome 146

Home Run Leaders For The 1990s
1. Mark McGwire 405
2. Ken Griffey 382
3. Barry Bonds 361
4. Albert Belle 351
5. Juan Gonzalez 339
6. Sammy Sosa 332
7. Rafael Palmeiro 328
8. Jose Canseco 303
9. Frank Thomas 301
10. Fred McGriff & Matt Williams 300

OBP Leaders For The 1990s
1. Frank Thomas .440
2. Barry Bonds .434
3. Edgar Martinez .430
4. Jeff Bagwell .416
5. Rickey Henderson .412
6. Jim Thome .412
7. Mark McGwire .411
8. John Olerud .406
9. Garry Sheffield .401
10. Manny Ramirez .399
...
29. Ken Griffey .384

SLG Leaders For The 1990s
1. Mark McGwire .615
2. Barry Bonds .602
3. Albert Belle .581
4. Ken Griffey .581
5. Juan Gonzalez .576
6. Manny Ramirez .576
7. Mike Piazza .575
8. Frank Thomas .573
9. Larry Walker .571
10. Jim Thome .547

Along with ranking in the top 3 in all of the above statistics, Barry Bonds also led the 90s in OPS, Runs, Walks, IBB, & Runs Created. He's a very close 3rd in RBI (only 23 behind Belle for first.) 3rd in Extra Base Hits (9 behind Belle.) Bonds also finished 6th in the 90s in stolen bases. Although stealing bases isn't technically part of "hitting" it is included in what I mean by it which is overall offensive production.

Bonds Vs. Griffey: Not Actually Even Close.

If the battle between Bonds and Griffey was really that close (and it's not) then Bonds would easily be pushed ahead anyway by his huge lead in stolen bases (343 to 151.)

The only stats I can find where Griffey greatly outranks Bonds? Strikeouts & Outs. Griffey was 21st in the 90s with 901 strikeouts while Bonds was 53rd with 747. Griffey was 14th in the 90s with 3913 outs. Bonds was 32nd with 3606.

Also interesting to note is that while Griffey did have more home runs than Bonds during the '90s that's mostly a product of Griffey's lack of discipline (comparatively) at the plate. Griffey walked a lot less than Bonds and thus got a lot more at bats. Griffey's 90s home run ratio was one home run every 14.1 at bats. Bonds' hit a home run every 13.6 at bats in the 90s.

Another interesting point is that Barry Bonds won three MVP awards in the NL in the 1990s. Griffey only one won MVP in the AL. Meanwhile Juan Gonzalez & Frank Thomas both won two.

So please put it to rest people of the baseball universe. Ken Griffey Jr. was not the best hitter of the 1990s. No. The correct answer is Barry Lamar Bonds.

Mark McGwire & Frank Thomas

I'd also like to point out you can probably make a better argument for Frank Thomas or Mark McGwire than for Griffey. But ultimately the arguments for Thomas and McGwire are pretty weak too.

McGwire was very inconsistent. He started the decade very slowly, hitting only .235 in 1990 and a putrid .201 in 1991. While McGwire put up monster home run numbers and got on base almost as good as anyone, he was never in the same class as Bonds as an all around hitter. He certainly didn't have the same speed on the basepaths. McGwire also never won an MVP award (although he was clearly robbed in 1998.) McGwire missed most of '93 & '94 with injuries.

Thomas is most hurt by the fact that he was just getting started in 1990 (he had 7 home runs in 60 games as a rookie) and he had disappointing numbers in 1998 (hit just .265 with 29 homers) and 1999 (just 15 home runs in 486 at bats.)

Barry Bonds: Far More Consistent Than The Competition

Bonds worst season of the 90s was probably 1999. But the main fault of his '99 was that he was injured. He was actually tearing the cover off the ball when he was playing. He had 34 home runs in 355 at bats that year. To further demonstrate Bonds incredible consistency in the 1990s consider this: His lowest single season OPS+ during the 1990s was his 161 in 1991, a year in which he finished second in the MVP voting (and should have won - See Terry Pendleton.) Consider that for a second: In arguably his worst season of the decade he still finished second in the MVP voting!

A worst OPS+ of the '90s comparison:

Thomas' worst was 125 in 1998.
Griffey's worst was 120 in an injury plagued 1995.
McGwire's worst was 103 in 1991.

Final Proof Of Barry Bonds Absolute Domination Of The 1990s

Pete Palmer's Batter-Fielder wins is a statistic which attempts to show how many wins a player brings to his team above that which an average replacement player would bring. This stat actually takes into consideration fielding abilities too which is beyond the scope of this article but really only makes Bonds dominance of the stat that much more impressive.

Bonds led the NL in Batter-Fielder wins in '90, '92, '93, '95, & '96
Bonds finished second in the NL in Batter-Fielder wins in '91, '94, & '98
Bonds finished third in the NL in Batter-Fielder wins in '97

The only year Bonds didn't finish in the top three? 1999 when he played only 102 games.

In comparison: Ken Griffey finished in the top 3 in the AL five times and led only once. He was 3rd three times. Mark McGwire only finished in the top 3 in his league once, that was when he led the NL in 1998. Frank Thomas finished in the top 3 in the AL three times, he also led the league only once.

Barry Lamar Bonds: Best Hitter Of The 1990s.

Labels: Barry Bonds, Best By Decade, Frank Thomas, Ken Griffey, Mark McGwire

Cinderella story Rick Ankiel & 2002 World Series MVP Troy Glaus are the latest MLB players to be connected with performance enhancing drugs.

Both players have allegedly received PEDs (HGH for Ankiel, Steroids for Glaus) from an Orlando based pharmacy.

Jayson Stark of ESPN wrote a good article about the double standard we are seeing applied to these popular players as compared to the treatment that Barry Bonds has received.

And as you can imagine, that's the angle I'm interested in as well. It's obvious that Glaus & Ankiel are just one of many many many MLB players who have used HGH and/or steroids. Why do you think most players haven't said anything bad about Barry Bonds? They know how hypocritical it would be. MOST PLAYERS IN MLB HAVE USED PED. Get that through your heads people! And for God's sake: GET OFF BARRY BONDS' BACK. You seriously look foolish witch hunting this one man because of why again? Because he broke records? Seriously? You think that makes it make more sense to witch hunt him than every other MLB player who probably used steroids or HGH? I really don't get the logic. It's OK to single out one player because he's better than everyone else? Yeah. Really, that makes a lot of sense.

Also consider these two things:

#1 As I mentioned before the pitcher that Barry Bonds hit #755 off of tested positive for steroids. He wasn't accused of taking steroids, he actually TESTED POSITIVE. Think about that. How many other juiced pitchers has Barry hit home runs off of?

#2 Troy Glaus was the 2002 World Series MVP. You remember who lost that World Series? The San Francisco Giants & Barry Bonds. Are you going to tell me that winning the World Series isn't "making history," are you really? And don't tell me that because the shipments that they've caught happened in 2003 and 2004 that means Glaus wasn't on steroids in 2002. PLEASE. This is just what they've been CAUGHT with.

Give me a break.

It is officially time to get off of Barry Bonds' back and accept the fact that your favorite players are just as "guilty" as he is.

Labels: Barry Bonds, hgh, Rick Ankiel, steroids, Troy Glaus

Alex Rodriguez hit his 47th & 48th home runs of the season in the 7th inning of the Yankees 10 to 2 win over the Mariners in New York tonight.

He became the first Yankee in over 30 years to hit 2 home runs in an inning. The last time it happened was June 30th of 1977 when Cliff Johnson did it in Toronto.

Rodriguez was at the DH spot rather than his usual place at 3B because of a sore right ankle. In fact he was sent to a hospital for tests on the ankle after arriving at Yankee Stadium with a limp.

Rodriguez now has 512 home runs in his career, tying him for 17th place all time with Ernie Banks & Eddie Matthews.

#1 on the all time list of course is Barry Bonds and he also added to his career total tonight. Bonds hit #762 in the first inning of the Giants 5 to 3 win over the Rockies in Colorado. According to San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy the pitch that Bonds hit out was a 99 MPH fast ball. The pitch was thrown by rookie Ubaldo Jimenez who became the 449th pitcher to give up a homer to Bonds.

It was Bond's 28th homer of the year. He's now hitting .277 with a .483 OBP (1st in the majors) and .583 SLG (3rd in the NL.)

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds

Top Five Major Leaguers For Fewest AB Per HR (Min. 20 HR)

#1 Barry Bonds 11.1
#2 Alex Rodriguez 11.49
#3 Ryan Howard 11.55
#4 Prince Fielder 12.2
#5 Adam Dunn 12.8

(I also want to throw in that #6 is the Brewers rookie Ryan Braun at 13.3)

Yes that's right. A 43 year old man leads the entire major leagues in home run ratio. A-Rod has lead this stat most of the season but his recent 26 at bat homerless streak combined with Bonds recent home run spurt has given Bonds the lead.

This is just more statistical proof (I think the most jaw dropping if you really think about it) of the amazing season Barry Bonds is having at age 43. It's not all about the amazing things Bonds has done over his career (which he has) but it's about how great he still is.

Labels: Barry Bonds

For all of the talk about Barry Bonds breaking the all time home run record there hasn't been enough about how incredibly Barry Bonds is hitting for a 43 year old man. There surely has never been a better 43 year old hitter in the history of the major leagues.

Tonight Bonds hit his 760th career home and he also hit his 26th home run of the year. That's good for 7th in the National League. And of those above him only Ryan Howard has less than 100 more at bats than Bonds. Howard has 92 more at bats and 7 more home runs. Prince Fielder has had 161 more at bats for his 11 additional home runs. With Bonds hitting a home run every 11.1 at bats as he is this season, he'd have 34 home runs if had as many at bats as Howard (1 more than Howard) and 40 home runs if he had as many at bats as Fielder (3 more than Fielder.) Yes if Bonds had as many at bats as Fielder he'd likely be leading the entire major leagues in homers (A. Rod has 39.)

He's also leading the Major Leagues in OBP and OPS. He's #3 in the NL in SLG. Remember he's 43 freaking years old. Sure by Bonds standards of 2001 through 2004 this is a substandard year but it's in many ways one of his most impressive considering his age and the intense pressure he has been under.

Viva La Barry!

Oh yes and the Giants won their 3rd straight tonight to climb to a 53-70 record, 12.5 games behind the Phillies for the Wild Card slot. Basically the Giants will have to go 39-0 to have any real shot at the playoffs. 37-2 or 36-3 might work too, depending of course on how things play out.

The above paragraph is a bit of a joke by the way. I'm working on it, this whole humor thing. LOL?

Labels: Barry Bonds

As I've mentioned previously, for some reason Barry Bonds seems to play his best baseball each year in the month of August. This year looks to be no exception thus far.

Barry Bonds August '07 #s:

.323 Batting Average
.511 OBP
.839 Slugging Percentage
5 Homers in 31 At Bats.
5 HR/3 SO

His 1.350 August OPS thus far is tied with his OPS for April for his best month this year.

This month is continuing his strange fluctuations up and down with each month this year.

Bonds' monthly batting averages:

April: .356
May: .194
June: .364
July: .186
August: .323

Barry Bonds' Augusts of summers past:

In 2006 he hit .333 in August despite not reaching .300 in any other month that year.

In 2005 he did not play in August due to injury.

In 2004 he hit .414 with 11 home runs (in 70 at bats) and a 1.000 SLG in August.

In 2003 he hit .452 with 7 home runs (in just 42 at bats) and a 1.024 SLG in August.

In 2002 he hit .447 with 11 home runs (in 76 at bats) and a .961 SLG in August.

In 2001 he hit .350 with 12 home runs (in 80 at bats) and a .888 SLG in August. In 2001 both May and September/Oct. were actually more impressive months.

Looking at his career splits Bonds indeed does have his highest career OPS (1.086) in August. He's also hit more home runs (146), had more RBI (374), had more Runs (406), had more Hits (516), had more walks (463), than in any other month. His career BA (.306) and OBP (.453) in August are also the highest of any month. His .633 SLG in August is tied with April for his highest.

Unrelated but awesome Barry Bonds trivia

In an unrelated but cool split, Barry Bonds career numbers vs the New York Yankees:

6 Games
.533 Batting Average
.741 On Base Percentage
.933 Slugging Percentage

Labels: Barry Bonds

Hello there. As you may have noticed I didn't cover Barry Bonds historic #756 after having covered pretty much every home run he's hit leading up to it. Why? I was on a week long road trip, I just got back home last night.

I was actually in Atlanta watching the Giants game in an Atlanta bar when Barry smacked #756. I had a real feeling that he may do it in that at bat after the way he solidly smacked the first 2 hits of the night. What was the reaction in Atlanta? Not as negative as you would imagine. Possibly because the bar we were at was in sort of touristy section of Atlanta. There were a couple of people screaming out anti-Bonds stuff but for the most part people were cheering. They even turned up the sound (they normally have the sound off on the TVs in the bar there) to listen to Barry's speech.

At first I was feeling a bit bad I didn't get to do a writeup here at Big Show Baseball for #756 but the amount of coverage it received EVERYWHERE else makes it seem not too necessary.

Somehow all of this madness leads me to start thinking about Bonds next season. Perhaps that's because of the fact that the Giants season is essentially over.

Bonds has given the impression recently that he will indeed play next season. The question is more now where will he play next season? Obviously he will not be as loved anywhere else as he is in San Francisco but the fact is he's not a very good fit for San Fran at this point. The Giants have to be going into a rebuilding stage as they are going nowhere fast. Bonds should also move to the AL so he can DH. Below I will look at some of the AL teams it seems he could end up hitting #800 for next season:

Oakland A's

The perfect fit would probably be IHateU's A's except for the fact that they don't seem to have much in the way of money and Barry seems to appreciate money quite a bit. But Bonds is an OBP machine, exactly the type of player that the A's love. Oakland is also very close to San Francisco which makes it the perfect location for him to play in the AL. The A's are also a better team than the Giants (although they are struggling this year as well.) If (and that's a big if) the A's are able to pay him the kind of money he will want they seem to be a decent fit.

LA Angels

I get the feeling that Bonds would want to stay on the west coast. The Angels are a half game off the best record in the majors right now so obviously they are the kind of team that would give Bonds the chance to win the World Series he has yet to win. They are also the kind of team that could really benefit from the production of Bonds. Imagine Vladimir Guerrero being protected by Barry Bonds?

Seattle Mariners

The Mariners could be a good fit. They are a good team, currently tied with the Yankees for the AL wild card, that could get a real boost from Bonds' bat. Somehow I don't think Bonds will want to play in Seattle, but maybe I am wrong.

New York Yankees

This seems like a real long shot but if the Yankees lose A-Rod they will need to replace that pop in their lineup (ARod is hitting a home run every 10.9 at bats this season, Bonds is right behind that at a home run every 11.4 at bats.) The Yankees in general seem to have no problem signing (and paying big money) to aging stars, so in that way Bonds is a perfect fit in NY. On the field I am sure he would shine with the Yankees, it's the off the field stuff that could become a concern. Bonds is used to being cheered at home and it's hard to see him getting cheered by Yankees fans, unless perhaps he wins the World Series with a walk off home run... ...

What would Bonds do as a DH in the AL?

Playing on a team like the Yankees it would be very interesting to see how Bonds would perform in a situation where he can no longer be pitched around and where he doesn't have to worry about playing defense. Bonds would most likely see more plate appearances and more at bats. I think it's entirely possible that a healthy Barry Bonds hitting in the middle of the NY Yankees 2008 lineup could hit 50 home runs.

Bonds is Great

With all of the hoopla over #756, people are forgetting that despite some cold slumps Bonds is having a really really great season at age 43. Consider these facts:

- Bonds is leading the entire major leagues in OPS right now (1.086)
- Bonds has 118 walks to just 46 strikeouts.
- Bonds is leading the majors in walks and intentional walks.
- Bonds leads the majors in pretty much every Sabermetric statistic invented.
- Despite having 150 less at bats than most of the people in the top 10 (including A-Rod and Prince Fielder), Bonds is 9th in the entire majors in home runs with 24.

If one were to look just at Bonds statistics this season and forget all of the other nonsense he would be a huge free agent pickup this off season for an AL team looking for a big addition to their lineup.

Maybe Barry will stay in San Francisco?

All indications seem to be that the Giants want to move forward with a youth movement next season but the facts are that Bonds continues to fill the stands in San Fran. Bonds is still easily their best player. They are unlikely to challenge for a World Series next year regardless of what they do in the off season so maybe they will stick with Bonds in LF another year?

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds tied Hank Aaron for the career home run record last night in San Diego with his 755th career home run. It was a solo shot leading off the 2nd inning. Bonds was then walked the next three times he came up before being removed for a pinch runner.

The Padres went on to win the game 3 to 2 in the 12th inning.

Notes on this historic home run:

- The pitcher that gave up the home run, Clay Hensley, became the 445th pitcher to give up a home run to Bonds. This a record that Bonds has been continually adding to over the last few seasons.

- Clay Hensley tested positive for steroids while in the minor leagues in 2005. How perfect. Why is this only being barely mentioned? It's another example of hw you cannot tell who does steroids by a player's performance, position, or physical appearance. Please note that the player most vilified in this steroids witch hunt has never tested positive for steroids. Please again note that he hit #755 off a pitcher who has tested positive. Think about that. Seriously, think about it. No, I don't think you've thought about it long enough, get back to me on this one. Also note this article on how over 100 players in the big leagues tested positive in 2003. Do you understand how completely ridiculous and hypocritical the Barry Bonds steroids witch hunt is yet? Again I am not claiming to know that Bonds has NOT done steroids. My point is the way he's been singled out is asinine.

- How many home runs has Barry Bonds hit off of "juiced" pitchers? I don't think the actual answer matters really, but I guarantee you it's more than one. It's just head shaking how stupid the "asterisk" crowd is. If you think Barry Bonds' records should have an asterisk you are probably also the kind of fella that thinks that Intelligent Design is really solid science. It's just remarkably stupid to single out one player who has never even tested positive while not doing the same with other players' records. And really it all comes down to the fact that baseball stats are not set in a vacuum. Do you want to adjust pitchers ERAs who have given up home runs to Bonds? Hmm... How about adjusting batting averages of players who hit against pitchers that have tested positive? As I've mentioned before many of the players who have tested positive for steroids have been pitchers.

- Many said Bonds would not play on the road for fear of tying/breaking the record on the road. This has not been the case at all. Bonds has been playing throughout the Giants road trip (He does plan to sit out today's final game of the road trip but do not read into that as he almost always sits out day games after night games.) He also stayed in the game last night and tried to hit #756 in San Diego. I would also not be surprised at all if he ends up pinch hitting today as he often does in games he sits out.

- Many said that the reaction to a milestone Bonds home run anywhere but in San Francisco would be unsightly. Not the case in San Diego last night. Bonds received a very warm reaction all things considered.

- It was his 72nd home run since turning 40. This ties the record set by Carlton Fisk.

Video of the home run (with the call by the Giants announcers)

Labels: Barry Bonds

A new feature here at BigShowBaseball.com is going to be a look at the best hitters and pitchers of each decade. I'm going to start in the present and make my way back.

The first period is 2000 to 2007 (through yesterday's games.) Of course there are 2+ seasons left in this decade so we'll have to come back to take another look at the end of 2009.

So then, who is the best hitter of the 2000s? The answer should be no surprise. Barry Bonds. Bonds won 4 consecutive NL MVP awards from 2001 to 2004 and should have won the award in 2000 as well. The 5 years by Bonds from 2000 to 2004 is arguably the greatest 5 year span in the history of baseball by any hitter, thus Bonds is the easy choice for the best hitter of this decade despite missing most of 2005 with injury and being far less successful in 2006 and thus far in 2007.

The OPS+ leaders for this period leave no doubt about Bonds complete dominance during this decade.

OPS+ leaders for 2000 to 2007 (2000 PA MIN.)

1. Barry Bonds 224
2. Albert Pujols 169
3. Jason Giambi 163
4. Manny Ramirez 163
5. Alex Rodriguez 155

Considering the above numbers it's no surprise that Bonds also dominates the slugging percentage leaders for the decade (Bonds is at .726, Pujols is second at .622) and OBP leaders (Bonds is at a Godlike .519.)

How about Home Runs? Alex Rodriguez does lead in home runs during this period with 351 but Bonds is second at 309 despite missing almost all of 2005 and having nearly 1500 less at bats than A-Rod.

Batting Average? Discounting Todd Helton (which one should always do any player with inflated Colorado numbers) Bonds is 4th in batting average during this period despite his .270 average last year and .269 thus far this year. His overall batting average from '00-'07 is .323 which is behind only Suzuki 's .333, Pujols' .330, & Guerrero's .329 batting average.

One of the most revealing stats (both of Bonds dominance and the lack of protection Bonds receives in the Giants weak lineup) is the fact that during the 2000s thus far Bonds has more than double the amount of IBB of any other player. Bonds has been intentionally walked 381 times this decade. Vladimir Guerrero is second with 186.

The real question is not who is #1 as that is obviously Bonds but who is #2? It looks to be close between Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez. I would give Rodriguez the advantage because it is so close and Rodriguez has the benefit of playing (and playing great) in 2000 when Pujols did not enter the Majors until 2001.

Labels: Albert Pujols, Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Best By Decade

Tonight had a chance to be one of the most historic nights in the history of baseball with Tom Glavine going for his 300th win, Alex Rodriguez going for his 500th home run, and Barry Bonds going for a all time home run record tying 755th homer.

Unfortunately for these three, none of them could get the job done tonight.

Glavine came the closest as he pitched a great 6 innings for the Mets in Milwaukee tonight. He allowed just 2 hits and 1 run (although he also had 5 walks) in 6 innings tonight. He left the game with a 2-1 lead but he lost his 300th win when the game was tied in the 8th. The Brewers went on to win the game in the 13th inning by a final score of 4-2.

Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 5 for the Yankees as he one of the few Yankee hitters not to have a big game. The Yanks beat the White Sox in New York by a score of 16 to 3, behind a franchise record tying 8 home runs.

Perhaps A-Rod is pressing due to what Jose Canseco said? If you haven't caught it yet Canseco said he "has stuff" on A-Rod and when asked if he A-Rod ever did steroids he said "wait and see" (for his new book.) Clearly this could be seen as a publicity stunt by Canseco. But I don't see how you can just dismiss what he says considering that it looks like most of what he said in his last book was true. A lot of people dismissed what he said about Rafael Palmeiro and look how that turned out.

Bonds went 0 for 2 with 2 walks to finish off his awful July (save July 19th, that was a good day for him.) Bonds hit just .186 in July. He's had an up and down season this year.

April - .356
May - .194
June - .364
July - .186

Bonds has historically been amazing in August so it'll be interesting to see if he can keep up that trend. Even last year when Bonds was cold most of the season he hit .333 in August. 2004? He hit .414 in August that year. Although the .472 he hit in April that year was what really stands out. He also had an absolutely ridiculous .696 OBP in April of '04. I'm actually wondering if that's the greatest month of any hitter ever. An OPS of 1.828 for a full month has to be among the best if it's not the record.

As far as this magical trifecta of baseball history, I suppose if A-Rod and Bonds remain stuck there's a possibility for it to happen again on Glavine's next start.

It doesn't seem that unlikely that they'll remain stuck because of the way Bonds and Rodriguez have been hitting recently. Bonds has been in an awful month long slump other than his 2 home run game on July 19th. And Rodriguez has now gone 17 straight at bats without a hit as his batting average has dropped under .300 (he's now at .298)

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds, Tom Glavine

Barry Bonds hit career home run #754 (his 20th of the season) in the first inning of tonight's game against the Marlins in San Francisco. Bonds was walked each of his next 4 times up.

Every time Bonds come to the plate now is a potential history making moment. Now it's a question of if he will be given anything to hit. From what I saw tonight pitchers seemed more nervous than usual facing Bonds on the brink of a history making home run. And that's saying a lot as Bonds makes pitchers pretty nervous regardless of how many home runs he has. I think the pressure will go up even more once the record is tied. As I mentioned earlier it's #715 that's most remembered with Aaron and I think it's #756 that pitchers may be most wary of when pitching to Barry Bonds.

The Giants won the game in a slug fest. 12 to 10. It was another awful start for Barry Zito by the way. He got out of this one without a loss at least. He didn't get the win either though as the Giants offensive explosion came after he got the hook.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds took the day off yesterday, but he did take time to call Bob Costas a "midget."

"You mean that little midget man who absolutely knows (expletive) about baseball?" Bonds asked rhetorically.

This was in response to an interview Bob Costas had on his HBO show with a chemist named Patrick Arnold who invented the designer steroid, the Clear. In this interview the chemist stated he believes that Barry Bonds and Gary Sheffield took the Clear. The Clear could not be detected by steroid tests at the time. Costas has long been outspoken in his belief that Bonds took steroids.

Victor Conte, founder of BALCO, immediately responded saying that he never supplied Barry Bonds with steroids and that it would not make any logical sense for him to take the undetectable Clear at the time because MLB was not testing for steroids anyway until 2003. In comparison track & field athletes have been tested for steroids for a long time. Conte has said that track star Marion Jones did use steroids.

Arnold also stepped back from his comments. Yesterday he stated that he could not say for sure if Bonds used the Clear or not.

"To me it was always implicit that an athlete that Victor was working with was on the program," Arnold told ESPN Radio yesterday morning. This statement contradicts what Arnold had said previously that Conte had told him that Bonds was on "the Program."

Labels: Barry Bonds

As IHateU just posted many are trying to guess when Bonds will hit #756 out of the park. Most assume that he will not do it on the road although Selig has said that he expects Bonds to play as he normally would. The good thing for the Giants is they are out of the playoffs anyway (save a complete miracle) and Bonds is old and needs periodic rest so it's easier to rest him without it looking TOO ridiculous.

There are 3 games in Milwaukee and Bonds just went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs yesterday. Usually when Bonds has a big game like that he follows it up with some more big games, and I would be surprised if he doesn't hit at least one home run in this series.

IHateU says that the Giants will sit Bonds if he hits 1 homer but I don't really see why they wouldn't want him to TIE the record on the road, in fact if he ties it that would make it much easier for him to hit #756 out of the park at home during the Giants 7 game home stand coming up after this 3 game series in Milwaukee.

Sure Bonds #755 is historic but what do we remember from Hank Aaron? It's not #714 but #715, so I think that #756 is really the important one this time, the one that they really want to make sure happens at home.

The craziest scenario would be if Bonds hits 2 home runs in his first 2 at bats tonight. Would you sit a guy that hot? That would be pretty obvious...

Anyway as IHateU suggested here's Europe (the band, not the continent)

Labels: Barry Bonds

With people going crazy trying to figure out which location Bonds hitting 755 and 756 (Harry pretends to be dead, and see title)would bring the most drama, here is a look at the upcoming schedule: (Voldemort's snake kills Snape)


Fri 7/20 @ Milwaukee J. Suppan (8-8) 12 HR's allowed (This season)
Sat 7/21 @ Milwaukee D. Bush (8-7) 13 HR's
Sun 7/22 @ Milwaukee- DAY GAME C. Vargas (7-2) 17 HR's
Mon 7/23 Atlanta J. Smoltz (9-5) 9 HR's
Tue 7/24 Atlanta They Kill the Owl
Weds 7/25 Atlanta
Thur 7/26 Atlanta
Fri 7/27 Florida
Sat 7/28 Florida
Sun 7/29 Florida
Mon 7/30 Off Dobby dies
Tue 7/31 @ Los Angeles (N)
Weds 8/1 @ Los Angeles (N)
Thur 8/2 @ Los Angeles (N)
Fri 8/3 @ San Diego
Sat 8/4 @ San Diego
Sun 8/5 @ San Diego
Mon 8/6 Washington
Tue 8/7 Washington
Weds 8/8 Washington
Thur 8/9 Washington
Fri 8/10 Pittsburgh
Sat 8/11 Pittsburgh
Sun 8/12 Pittsburgh- DAY GAME
(Book ends with them sending their kids to wizzard school)

I think it's safe to assume Bonds will be sitting if he hits any today, to wait for the homestand. Dumbledorf was going to die anyway, Snape performed a mercy killing so Draco wouldn't be a murderer. Well, anyway, go watch some baseball and don't read any kids books!

Labels: Barry Bonds, Gay Children's Books, I'll Muggle your goddamned face, IHateU

Barry Bonds emphatically ended his slump today in Chicago.

He had gone 21 consecutive at bats without a hit. But after being out of the starting lineup for 3 games to rest, he hit the very first pitch he saw out of the park for a solo home run in the 2nd inning. He then singled home 2 runners in the 3rd inning. He followed up a 6th inning walk with another home run, this time a 3 run shot in the 7th inning.

3 for 3, 1 BB, 2 HR, 6 RBI

Unfortunately for the Giants, Bonds' monster 2 home run, 6 RBI game was not enough to get the win. The Cubs won the game 9 to 8 as the Giants fell to 39-54.

But at this point the Giants season seems to be nothing much except for the Barry Bonds show anyway (along with watching rookie pitching phenomenon Tim Lincecum develop.)

The home runs were #752 and #753 all time for Bonds which leaves him only 2 behind the all time record of 755 by Hank Aaron.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds has been mired in a horrible slump coming on the heels of a very hot streak to close out June and start July.

Today, with the Dodgers beating the Giants for the 11th straight time in San Francisco, Bonds went 0 for 5 to extend his hitless streak to 18 consecutive at bats.

Bonds had a tremendous April, an awful May, a great June, and now appears well on his way to a dreadful July as the Giants are spiraling down and out to complete irrelevance in the NL West.

Bonds hit career home run #751 on July 3rd and has been stuck there since.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Let's look at the numbers which support my argument: This season Barry Bonds has been the best hitter in the NL. At age 42.

Bonds leads the National League in the following categories:

OBP - .517 - Second place is Todd Helton who does not count due to playing for the Rockies so the real second place is Albert Pujols (who has rebounded nicely from his poor start) at .417, a full 100 points behind Bonds. That's an incredible domination of one of baseball's most important statistics. Bonds also leads all AL hitters in OBP by a wide margin. Bonds has been so incredibly good 2001 through 2004 that people aren't as shocked by his ridiculous numbers anymore, but they are still that: ridiculous. A .517 OBP is just absolutely ridiculous. He makes everyone else look like a little leaguer. He is truly a God amongst men when it comes to hitting a baseball.

SLG - .614 - Much was made of Bonds' struggles in May but he's leading the national league in slugging percentage. Read that again and think about it. This 42 (turning 43) year old man is leading the league in slugging percentage. Only A-Rod in the AL has a higher SLG.

OPS - 1.132 - Obviously leading in the two components of this stat he also leads in OPS and by a healthy margin. Second place? Again it's a Rockie (Matt Holliday) so we'll have to go to 3rd place for someone whose stats we can respect, Chipper Jones. Jones is at 0.986, nearly 150 points behind Bonds. Bonds also tops the entire major leagues in OPS.

BB - 86 - Of course Bonds also leads MLB in walks.

IBB - 30

RC/27 - 12.27 - Bonds leads MLB in this Sabermetric statistic by a wide margin. According to this statistic a team of 9 Barry Bonds would average 12.27 runs per game. Obviously the Giants are not a team of Barry Bonds. You can definitely argue this calculation as of course a team of Barry Bonds would not get walked so often but on the other hand they would also have to be pitched to very well (ie throw strikes) because it's not like you can pitch around one Bonds to get to another one. Hell 12.27 might be low.

SECA - .772 - Another Sabermetric stat that Bonds dominates. It's defined as: "A way to look at a player's extra bases gained, independent of Batting Average" and it's calculated TB - H + BB + SB - CS) / AB

BB/K - 2.69 - If K/BB are such an important stat to pitchers this is also an interesting stat to look at from a hitting perspective. Bonds has dominated this stat in the past. In 2004 he had a 5.66 BB/K ratio.

HR/AB % - 8.629 - He's barely ahead of Prince Fielder who is at 8.626, I think this maybe the most surprising stat to those who just look at the totals and see Bonds with 17 home runs vs Fielder's 27. Yes, but Fielder has 313 at bats vs. Bonds 197. No hitter in the NL thus far has been more likely to hit a home run when given a pitch to hit than Barry Bonds. This is why baseball is still so scared of him and why he still gets intentionally walked so much (along with the weak Giants lineup.) A-Rod does lead the majors in this stat at 9.15%. BTW I do think A-Rod has been a better hitter than Bonds this year which is why this is titled the best hitter in the NL rather than in MLB. But I would not be surprised at all if Bonds surpasses Rodriguez in the second half of the season. Bonds generally finishes stronger than he starts, we'll see if that trend holds up as he turns 43 years old.

For those traditionalists out there who will point out that Bonds is only 34th in Runs scored and 40th in RBI in the NL: To you I ask so what? Those counting stats are team/situation dependent statistics that are completely irrelevant when assessing a hitter's skill. Why should Bonds be penalized for being in a piss poor lineup? It doesn't make any sense. I will admit that the Giants' less than stellar lineup does help to boost his OBP but I also believe if he had better hitters in the lineup with him he would have a higher HR% and SLG as he would be getting more pitches to hit and he would be able to get into a better groove as a hitter. He would also obviously have many more RBI and runs (and home runs.) His runs numbers are lowered further because he is often replaced by a pinch runner when he gets on base towards the end of the game.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds sent a 0-2 pitch into the stands in the first inning of tonight's game in Cincinnati to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

The home run was Bonds' 17th of the season and 751st of his career.

He is now 4 home runs shy of Hank Aaron's career record of 755.

The hit extended Bonds' hitting streak to 9 games which is more impressive than it sounds when you consider that Bonds often gets 1 or 2 at bats per game because of all of his walks.

He's now hitting .308 for the season.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Last night Barry Bonds hit career home run #750 moving him within 5 of Hank Aaron.

It was also his 16th home run of the season. Bonds who turns 43 in less than a month is hitting .298 with an incredible .505 OBP (1st in MLB) and a very good .592 slugging percentage (2nd in the NL.) No hitter has ever performed at this level at this age.

With just one more game in June let's take a look at Bonds monthly splits. After a great April he had a horrible May but he's followed that up with a rather fantastical June.

Month AVG/OBP/SLG

April .356/.536/.814
May .194/.449/.388
June .354/.538/.600

More and more I think Barry Bonds will play next season and have a real shot at 800 career home runs (He's on pace to end this season with about 770) and 3000 career hits. Why should he not play when he's still clearly one of the best hitters in baseball? Certainly he should be a DH but I really don't think he wants to leave San Francisco.

That being said the Giants look to be going nowhere fast and if he wants to join a team with a chance to win the world series he should probably move to the AL and move to the DH slot. As a DH I figure he could play a FEW more years and he's got a good shot at 900 home runs. I'm joking right? Maybe not... ?

Labels: Barry Bonds

Since glorious leader is out flying around on newfangled air carts, I figured the 3 of you paying attention would notice something missing. Bonds went deep off of the equally hated Yankees, which gave Espn some time to make up random stories which no one believes.

Airtime has been given to the issue of A-Rod's contract, and that if someone eventually supplants Bonds soon it would be him. Now, as an A's fan I would love it if the Giants decided to do something hilarious like spend 65 million or so on 3 players (Zito, Bonds, A-Rod). Alas, the Espn story is about the Giants somehow magically having Jack and Shit left (Jack just left town) in their farm system to actually trade for A-Rod. The Giants should just do what they always do in times like this, go get Julio Franco, he's old as all hell.

Labels: Barry Bonds, IHateU

Barry Bonds hit career home run #748 yesterday for his first home run ever at Fenway Park in Boston. But unfortunately for the Giants their season is looking to hold little interest now other than the Barry Bonds pursuit of Hank Aaron. They were swept in Boston and have now lost 4 games in a row to drop to 30-38, a full 10 games behind the first place San Diego Padres.

Only the Reds (27) have fewer wins than the Giants in the NL.

Barry Bonds season to date:

.287 batting average
14 home runs (7th in NL)
31 RBI
.492 OBP (1st in NL)
.581 slugging percentage (4th in NL)
1.072 OPS (1st in NL)

Monthly splits for Barry Bonds' batting average:

April: .356
May: .194
June: .341

I think Bonds is now officially out of his slump. Another home run tonight would really put the stamp on it though.

Labels: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds finally hit his first home run of June. He hit a 2 run home run in the 4th inning to tie the game vs the Blue Jays at 3. The Giants would score another run to take a 4-3 lead which they would hold onto the rest of the game. The home run was Bonds' 13th of the season and 747th of his career, leaving him just 8 behind Hank Aaron.

Giants fans (like myself) are hopeful that this is a sign of things to come and that Bonds is ready to go on a hot streak. The Giants offense has been anemic during Bonds' slump.

The Blue Jays became believers pretty quickly. They intentionally walked Bonds the next time he came up even though he was leading off the inning.

How bad has Bonds' home run slump been? Before tonight's home run he had hit only one home run in his last 77 at bats and was on a streak of 33 at bats without a home run. Obviously one homer isn't going to erase all of that. Bonds needs to get on track soon for the Giants to have any chance of hanging around in the playoff chase.

Can he do it? Can he hit home runs consistently again or was his hot streak in April a fluke? The record for home runs for a player 42 years or older (Bonds is 42 and turning 43 in July) is 18 by Carlton Fisk in 1991. Sometimes I forget just how old Bonds is. Maybe it's unrealistic to expect him to be able to perform up to his old standards?

Matt Morris was the Giants pitcher tonight. I recently wrote about the great season he's having and he gave another strong example of that tonight. He pitched a complete game tonight allowing 7 hits and 3 runs with 4 strike outs and just 1 walk. He's now 7-3 with a 2.56 ERA. This was his 3rd complete game of the season and his second in a row.

Labels: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds fans like myself haven't had much to cheer about lately. Bonds has been mired in a deep slump having hit only one home run in his last 61 at bats and the Giants have been losing with consistency.

The Giants are currently 4 games under .500 at 27-31 and are sitting in last place in the NL West 8 games behind both Arizona and San Diego. This makes them 8 games out of the wild card slot too.

Bonds' home run chase may be all that's left of the Giants season if they do not turn it around soon.

What does all of this have to do with Barry Bonds Memorabilia? Not a whole lot really. Maybe that right now it's more fun to look back at the memories of the past than to look at what is going on now?

And these wonderful Barry Bonds items are also for all of you Barry haters out there once you get over your silliness and realize that you have a chance to watch the greatest hitter in history hit with your very own eyes you'll want yourself a Barry Bonds autograph. And I must advise that you should not ask Barry for an autograph yourself.

I've selected some cool Barry Bonds autographed items that you can purchase online:


Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Autographed 5x MVP Engraved Baseball Bat





Barry Bonds Autographed 2002 World Series Baseball



Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Deluxe Framed Autographed Jersey



Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Autographed Authentic Majestic Home Cream Jersey

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds Splits:

Bonds #1 -> April: .356/.536/.814 (1.350 OPS) 8 home runs, 17 RBI

Bonds #2 -> May: .203/.463/.406 (.869 OPS) 4 home runs, 8 RBI

It is now June. For the Giants to have any chance to gain ground in the NL West they'll need Bonds #1 this month. Sure the Giants have great starting pitching and they recently unloaded the awful Armando but they need to score more runs.

For some reason I'm feeling very optimistic today that Barry is going to have a huge June. A June so huge that it makes his April look like May.

Apparently Bonds has been looking very good in batting practice (hitting a home run on 5 consecutive swings yesterday) so hopefully that is a sign that he's coming out of his funk.

How does Bonds normally do in June compared to April & May? I looked back at the recent seasons to see if there was any kind of trend:

2002: April .375, May .292, June .371 (he hit .447 in August...)
2003: April .303, May .306, June .309 (he then hit .415 in July and .452 in August.)
2004: April .472, May .250, June .328 (.414 in August)
2005: DNP till late.
2006: April .277, May .239, June .229 (.333 in August)

He does seem to have a slump in May quite often but it's his incredible Augusts that really stand out.

Labels: Barry Bonds

It's now June 1st. We're two months into the season already. What are the big stories?

The New York Yankees Meltdown

At 22-29 the Yankees are 13.5 games behind the Red Sox and tied with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It's been an incredible combination of poor pitching, injuries, and bad luck that has kept the highest paid team in baseball on the ropes all year.

Although the Yanks are getting great seasons from Alex Rodriguez (19 home runs), Jorge Posada (.357), and Derek Jeter (.343) it hasn't been enough. The rest of the team's hitters are under performing in particular Bobby Abreu who is hitting just .228 and even worse he has a pathetic .289 slugging percentage.

Johnny Damon is hitting just .264 and Jason Giambi has a .436 slugging percentage. A lot of Yankees fans expected a lot from young Melky Cabrera but he has a .590 OPS thus far, which puts him below even the light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz who has a .661 OPS. Robinson Cano has been a disappointment as well best shown by his .298 OBP (last year he was at .365)

Speaking of Cano does any regular player in the big leagues walk less than this guy? 42 career walks vs 1197 career at bats. That's insane.

As much as most of their hitters have struggled (other than A Rod, Posada, and Jeter) it's their pitching that has been their real down fall. Perhaps most indicative of their problems is that only Andy Pettitte has enough innings to qualify for the ERA title as of now. The Yankees starters have been plagued by injuries and by just awful performances. Pettitte has been the only real exception with his 2.51 ERA and 9 Quality Starts in 11 games started. I'm sure that if before the season you said Pettitte would have a 2.51 ERA through 11 starts you'd expect him to have 7, 8, or even 9 wins already but he's got just 3 (his record is 3-4.)

Yankees Pitching Problems:
Much hyped rookie Phil Hughes was pitching a no hitter in his second big league start when he went down with an injury. He is expected back later this season.

Long time lights out closer Mariano Rivera has been having an awful season and currently has a 5.50 ERA.

Mike Musina has struggled with injuries and his game. He's got a 5.86 ERA and 2 QS in 7 GS.

Kei Igawa has been horrendous (ignore his 2-1 record, a great example of how meaningless W-L records are: Igawa vs Pettitte!) He has had just 1 QS in 5 GS and has a 7.63 ERA.

The Yanks are now hoping that Roger Clemens can come in to save the day. Which leads me to my next big story of the season to date.

Roger Clemens chooses the Yankees

Clemens is scheduled to pitch his first game for the Yankees on Monday, June 4th. They'll need him pitching up to his standards of his last couple of years in Houston to solidify their pitching rotation.

Looking at the records now can you imagine if Clemens has chosen the Red Sox?

I find it amazing how Clemens is so greatly respected by most baseball fans as a "living legend" of the game (which I do not argue, he is one of the greatest pitchers of all time) while a similar living legend is playing left field out in San Francisco is receiving far less respect from the media and from fans.

There's just as much circumstantial evidence against Clemens for performance enhancing drug use as their is against Bonds. Clemens was mentioned in the Grimsley affidavit (Pettitte was named too) and similarly to Bonds had a late career surge, posting some of his best seasons statistically after age 40. Clemens will be turning 45 this August. Also recall that Clemens had some pretty so-so seasons with the Yankees, in 1999 his ERA was actually higher than the league average and in 2002 he barely avoided it. Something helped him turn it around. The last few years he's put up some of the best seasons of his career all while past age 40. If you're going to claim that PEDs helped Barry Bonds hit home runs then I'm going to claim they helped (and probably still help) Roger Clemens pitch strikeouts.

And to go off on a rant here a bit: How can people be so incredibly hypocritical? I live in New York and during the rare times when Yankee fans or sports radio people aren't talking about the Yankees they say very nasty things about one Mr. Barry Bonds. Yet they are ecstatic over their own PED users like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. I just find the focus on JUST Barry Bonds to be incredibly ridiculous. It's as if baseball fans all want to blame just one player so they can pretend everyone else is a savior? So they can pretend all of the players on their team never touched the stuff? Give me a break. It's especially hilarious when this sort of BS comes from Yankees fans considering how important players like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi have been to their team.

Barry Bonds Home Run Chase

Of course Barry Bonds closing in on the all time home run record has been a major story all year. Bonds has been struggling recently and this has slowed him down considerably. Before the year I predicted he would break the record in the last game before the all star game. I didn't actually check if that game was at home or not and it's not. As many have said I think the Giants would prefer Bonds breaks the record at home from a PR stand point but I don't know if they would actually go the step of sitting Bonds when he's at 755 on the road. I don't think they'd do that. Bonds is the best hitter on the team and they are trying to make the playoffs (not trying hard enough, but that's another story.)

Bonds is currently at 746 homes. He needs 9 to tie and 10 to break the record.

The St. Louis Cardinals are also 22-29

The defending champion St. Louis Cardinals have the same poor record as the Yanks at 22-29. Luckily for the Cards there is no team anywhere near as good as the Boston Red Sox in their division and they are only 6.5 games out of first.

Albert Pujols hasn't been as awesome as usual but he has shown some signs of getting it together. He hit .340 in May. While his OPS is at a career low (.876) it's still leading the Cardinals this year. That's probably the real bad news for the Cards.

The New York Mets are rolling through the NL

I thought before the year began that the Mets were the best team in the NL and they are making me look like a wizard. They are 34-18 and even more impressively they are a 18-7 on the road.

And just like the other team in New York they will be adding one of the best pitchers of all time to their team at some point this year. If Pedro Martinez can pitch at something close to his peak level the Mets will be deadly.

Labels: Barry Bonds, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Roger Clemens, St. Louis Cardinals

Tonight Barry Bonds' slump continues. Bonds went 0 for 4 tonight against the Rockies continuing his slump that has lasted all of May.

April: .356/.536/.814 for a 1.350 OPS, 8 home runs.

May: .172/.435/.345 for a 0.780 OPS, 3 home runs.

As bad as those May numbers have been recently he's been even worse than they look. He is now 0 for 14 in his last 5 games.

The question is: Is this "just a slump" or has age finally caught up with Bonds? After all he is turning 43 not too long from now.

While I'm still holding out a lot of hope for the "just a slump" theory I am getting more and more scared that it may be the latter situation.

So far this season has basically broken into three different periods for Bonds:

He started the season cold. In the Giants first 9 games they were 2-7 and Bonds was hitting .192 with just 1 home run. In the Giants next 13 games they were 10-3 and Bonds hit .500 with 7 home runs. And now in the Giants latest 26 games they are 12-14 and Bonds is hitting .169 with 3 home runs during that span.

So if you really look at his season it's been mostly cold as ice except for one brilliant span when he was amazing. It's that one span that's propping up his season numbers. Going into tonight he was still leading the NL in OPS, OBP, and 3rd in slugging percentage and 5th in home runs.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Ever want to know the odds to someone turning 37 and putting up a 73 Homerun season?
53,000,000 : 1

This blog entry does a nice job of showing just what an oddity that season was:Kermit the Blog

*Ingest steroids*

~Mike

Labels: Barry Bonds, IHateU, Obvious, steroids

The career home run record is not given to a player based on whether that player is likable or arrogant or an ACCUSED "cheater." It's in fact not given to anyone at all. It's EARNED by hitting more home runs than anyone else. And WHEN Barry Bonds breaks that record he will have earned the home run king crown. The same as Hank Aaron earned it before him and Babe Ruth before Aaron.

I don't hear anyone saying that Roger Clemens records shouldn't be counted and there's just as much, if not more, circumstantial evidence pointing to Clemens having used some form of performance enhancing drug as there is indicating Bonds' guilt.

To me it's absolute nonsense to only talk about erasing someones records or giving them an "asterisk" when they are going to break some big record. You can't count some stats but not others. Baseball is not a game played in a vacuum. The numbers are what the numbers are, they merely represent what has happened on the field.

It was absolutely retarded when baseball put an asterisk by Roger Maris name in 1961 and it would be beyond ludicrous to put one by Barry Bonds name. Remember Barry Bonds has never tested positive for steroids and has never been found guilty of using steroids. And even if he does test positive in the future or is found guilty by the courts, so what?

Jason Giambi used steroids, he admitted to it, are we going to go back and take away his MVP award? It's just stupid the way baseball fans seem to have latched onto Barry Bonds when so many other players have been (and certainly many still are) involved with performance enhancing drugs. You can't root for the Yankees and then say Barry Bonds should be kicked out of the league or have an asterisk and not be a complete 100% hypocrite. The Yankees (just like every other team in the bigs, I'm sure) have many players who have been involved with PEDs. Why is it OK to still root them on but then to throw syringes at Barry Bonds? Doesn't make no sense. Thus it is, my good friends, nonsense.

Labels: Barry Bonds, New York Yankees, Roger Clemens

Tonight with the Giants down 4 to 0 in the bottom of the 4th inning at home vs. the New York Mets Barry Bonds slammed a Tom Glavine pitch over the center field wall for his 745th home run of his career and his NL leading 11th of the season. The solo shot was hit on the first pitch of the at bat, Bonds 3rd consecutive home run hit on the first pitch.

The countdown to tie Hank Aaron's all time record of 755 home runs is down to only 10.

Barry Bonds trivia: Coming into tonight's game there were only 3 days of the regular season that Bonds had never hit a home run on. May 8th, August 5th, and September 30th. Now there's only 2 such days left.

Discuss the Barry Bonds & The San Francisco Giants @ The Baseball Forum.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Ortiz makes the point that I've been trying to make. Plenty of guys have taken performance enhancing drugs in the major leagues (I wouldn't be at all surprised if at LEAST half of major league players have taken some kind of performance enhancing drug) and none of them put up numbers anywhere close to as good as Barry Bonds. Why can't these other players who've used PED put up the numbers Barry is putting up if steroids helps you become such a great hitter?

Ortiz says "He was using the best?" If you are a complete idiot and can't figure it out for yourself that's a rhetorical question. Of course Barry doesn't have access to some amazing steroids that no one else does. That's the whole point. Steroids are not going to make you that much better of a hitter. They may make you stronger and increase your power and improve your recovery time from injury. Great stuff! But they are not going to make you hit .370 and have a slugging percentage over .800, if they did then there'd be lots of other guys doing it too.

As Ortiz puts it best "I've heard a lot of different things about Barry Bonds, but people should just admit it -- this guy's a bad [expletive]."

Labels: Barry Bonds, David Ortiz

The first pitch Barry Bonds saw this afternoon he promptly knocked far into the stands. The monster solo home run was his 744th of his career, his NL leading (tied with Chipper Jones) 10th of the season, and tied the game 1 to 1 in the bottom of the second inning.

Bonds is walked his next three times up. Bonds season #s are now .347/.529/.806!

The Giants win the game 9 to 4 despite 4 errors. Tomorrow Bonds is scheduled to take the day off while Tim Lincecum makes his major league pitching debut in the 4th and final game of the Giants' home series against the Philadelphia Phillies.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds gave the Giants the lead twice tonight. The second time they were able to hold onto it as they improved their season record to 14-12, 2 games behind the NL West leading LA Dodgers.

Barry Bonds hit his 743rd career home run and his 9th of the season tonight in the 4th inning to give the Giants a 2 to 0 lead. Later in the 8th inning he hit a 2 run single with the bases loaded to give the Giants a 4 to 3 lead. Later in the 8th, Giants catcher Bengie Molina singled in an insurance run and the Giants held on to win 5 to 3.

Bonds #s are now at .343/.511/.791

He's on pace for 60 home runs and 140 RBI.

Even as the biggest Bonds hyper in the world I don't think he'll finish with 60 home runs. And he's even less likely to finish with 140 RBI with this very weak Giants offense. But regardless of that, it's quite a show he's putting on. And I think he's got a very real shot of finishing over a .500 OBP again. That's for sure. If he can finish with an over .500 OBP it would be his 5th season over .500! Before Barry the last players to accomplish this feat were Ted Williams & Mickey Mantle who both did it in 1957.

The only players in the live ball era to have an OBP over .500 for a full season are Babe Ruth (5 seasons with a peak of .545 in 1923), Barry Bonds (4 seasons with a peak of .609 in 2004), Ted Williams (2 seasons with a peak of .553 in 1941), Mickey Mantle (once in 1957 at .512), and Rogers Hornsby (once in 1924 at .507.) This is rarefied air for sure.

Amazingly Williams also just missed .500 multiple times (.499 in 1942, .499 in 1947, .497 in 1948, and .490 in 1949.)

But perhaps the most impressive way of looking at what Bonds is doing is this: In the 80 seasons since 1926 there have been 7 seasons where a player has had at least a .500 OBP: 4 of those seasons have been by Bonds, 2 by Williams, and 1 by Mantle.

Bonds has a slight shot of passing Lou Gehrig for 3rd on the career OBP leaders but he'd probably have to hang on for next year (at an extremely high level) to do it.

For your edufication:

Career OBP Leaders:
1. Ted Williams .482
2. Babe Ruth .474
3. Lou Gehrig .447
4. Barry Bonds .443
5. Rogers Hornsby .435
6. Ty Cobb .433
7. Todd Helton* .432
8. Jimmie Foxx .428
9. Tris Speaker .428
10. Eddie Collins .424

*50% of games @ Coors Field greatly warp career stats. Helton's career OBP at Coors is .468 (!?) and his career OBP anywhere else is .393. When you take away this ridiculous advantage Helton barely ranks in the top 100 much less the top 10. Any player who plays their home games at Coors should have their stats discounted. I think it's completely unfair that they are allowed to lead the league in anything with this ridiculous advantage.

What other active players rank highly on the career OBP ranks?

Frank Thomas .423, Albert Pujols .417, Lance Berkman .416, Jason Giambi .413, Bobby Abreu .411, Manny Ramirez .410, Brian Giles .407, and Chipper Jones .402

Bonds also tied Stan Musial for 4th all time on the career RBI leaders tonight. If he can stay healthy he should pass Lou Gehrig for 3rd this season. Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth are quite are pretty much unreachable at 1st and 2nd in RBI total. Unless Bonds plays till he is 46. Which I'm not ruling out.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry has just finished an incredible April this year. Here's a comparison of the last 5 Bonds' Aprils and how he finished for the year.

2007 - .356/.536/.814 - 1.350 in April & how will he finish this year?
2006 - .277/.547/.574 - 1.121 in April & .270/.454/.545 - 0.999 for the year.
2005 - DNP in April.
2004 - .472/.696/1.132 - 1.828 in April & .362/.609/.812 - 1.421 for the year.
2003 - .303/.489/.712 - 1.201 in April & .341/.529/.749 - 1.278 for the year.
2002 - .375/.600/.828 - 1.428 in April & .370/.582/.799 - 1.381 for the year.

First of all look at the 2004 year. Holy God. What were people talking about with A-Rod this year? Please. I mean (*#)(*#$) please. Look at Bonds 2004 #s. I mean (#$)# LOOK at them. Wow. 1.828 OPS in April 2004. Think about that for a little while. I really don't think people should mention other hitters in the same breath as Bonds, it's just disrespectful to the lord.

I did notice an overall tendency for Bonds to dip in May compared to his April although in 2003 he did finish the season with better numbers than his April numbers.

I do think it's definitely worth noting that this year's Bonds had a better April than the 2003 Barry.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Tonight the Yankees finally won a game but Alex Rodriguez went 0 for 4 with 2 strikeouts. He's now 1 for 14 in his last 4 games.

A-Rod now at .348/.412/.899 for a 1.311 OPS

Barry hit his 8th home run tonight and just missed in another at bat with a very long fly ball before getting intentionally walked and then walked again.

Bonds is now at .362/.519/.828 for a 1.347 OPS

That's right. For all of the big talk about A-Rod's great April at age 31. Barry Bonds is now statistically having a better month than him at age 42. Sure Rodriguez is good. He's a good hitter for a 3B. But come on now. This is Barry Bonds time. The man is a legend among legends. Everyone else will merely be a footnote in comparison.

There was Babe Ruth. Then there was Ted Williams. Now there is Barry Bonds.

Labels: Alex Rodriguez, Barry Bonds

With Barry Bonds hitting at close to his 2001-2004 level I was wondering when opposing teams would start treating him like this again.

Last night the Arizona Diamondbacks intentionally walked a 42 year old man 3 times and unfortunately the guy batting behind him, Ray Durham, couldn't get the job done.

The Diamondbacks won the game 3 to 2. Giants starter Barry Zito dropped to 2-3 but he pitched a decent game.

For the game Bonds went 1 for 1 (single) with 3 IBB and 1 HBP so Bonds got on base every time he came to the plate to raise his OBP to a ridiculous 2001-2004ish .507!

If this sort of treatment becomes common for Bonds now it's more vital than ever that other Giants hitters start picking up the slack. It may be time to move Bonds back to the 3rd slot so he has more chances of being hit home with all the walks.

I know Bonds has done much better since being moved to the 4th slot but now that he's locked in and getting this treatment it may be time to try and take advantage of the opposing teams fear and have both Aurilia and Durham batting behind him.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds and the San Francisco Giants beat the Dodgers again last night for their 7th straight victory and they are now 9-1 since starting the season 2-7. Like so many games recently, the difference was a home run by Barry Bonds. This time it was a 3 run homer in the first inning to give the Giants a 4-0 lead.

This was the Giants 7th straight victory. While their offense is still struggling (they are tied for the second fewest runs in the majors) Barry & the pitching is keeping their win streak and their season alive. They are now only 1 game out of first place (behind the Dodgers) in the NL West. The Giants have allowed the fewest runs of any team in the major leagues.

During these 7 straight victories Bonds has hit 4 home runs and each time his home run has provided the margin of victory. Is there even an argument about who has been the National League's most valuable player so far this year?

Randy Wolf who gave up Bonds' home run said this about it "I think he got it off the end of the bat. When he hit it, I really didn't think it was going to be a home run. I've given up quite a few to know what they sound like, but he's a guy with kind of superhuman power and he doesn't always need to hit it perfectly."

Barry Bonds career milestones:

Bonds passed Willie McCovey to become the Giants all time leader in RBI with 1,389.

Tied Pete Rose for 5th all time in runs scored with 2,165.

Oh yeah and Bonds Bombs Counter: 741

Labels: Barry Bonds

There have been 3 very good things about the Giants this season:

1) Barry Bonds hitting at a level very close to his 2001-2004 peak. (.348/.466/.804)

2) Rich Aurilia hitting well above his career average. (.323/.357/.462)

3) The Giants starting pitching dominating.

The Giants won today because of #1 and #3 (Aurilia went 0 for 3 today to snap a 14 game hitting streak.)

Barry Bonds hit his 6th home run of the year and Matt Cain pitched a complete game 3 hit, 1 run masterpiece to lower his season ERA to 1.55, although Cain has pitched excellently in every game this year this was his first victory due horrible run support by the Giants.

While Cain has been the hottest Giants pitcher in the rotation, the other Giants pitchers are doing great too. Matt Morris is 2-0 with a 2.00 ERA. Noah Lowry has a 2.70 ERA. Barry Zito has recovered from a poor beginning to his Giants career, and now has a 3.70 ERA for the season after not allowing a run in either of his last two starts. Russ Ortiz is coming off of a solid start as well in which he allowed only 2 runs in 7 innings.

The Giants 2-1 victory today means that the Giants swept the Arizona Diamondbacks to go over .500 for the first time this year with a 9-8 record. The Giants have now won 5 games in a row.

The Giants have allowed only 7 runs in their last 4 games. To give a good example of how dominant their starting pitching has been this year: They have allowed 2 or less runs in 10 of their 17 games this year.

The problem with the Giants is that other than Bonds, Aurilia, and Ray Durham they've been struggling at the plate. The Giants cannot expect Bonds to continue to hit at this pace at his age (although I'm certainly hoping...) and they cannot expect their starting pitching to stay this dominant. They need to get more runs from their offense. Looking at their lineup it's hard to see where those extra runs are going to come from.

Bonds Bombs Counter: 740.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds went 2 for 3 with a solo home run today. Bonds is now hitting .349 with 5 home runs. Bonds has been extremely hot recently: He is .588 with 4 homers in his last 6 games.

Barry Zito pitched 7 1/3 scoreless innings and is now 2-2 with a 3.70 ERA for the season. Zito started the season poorly with 2 losses and an ERA over 8 for his first two starts as a Giant. But he's now won 2 in a row without allowing a run in either game.

Bonds' homer was the only run of the game as the Giants moved to .500 for the first time this season by beating the Arizona Diamondbacks 1 to 0.

The Diamondbacks fell to 10-9, 0.5 games ahead of the Giants.

Bonds Bombs Counter: 739 (16 more to tie Aaron.)

Labels: Barry Bonds

Last night the Giants beat the Cardinals 6 to 5 in 12 innings. The 12th inning hero was Rich Aurilia who knocked in the winning run in the 12th inning with mighty Barry on deck.

Bonds hit #738 in the 8th inning to tie the game 5 to 5. It was an absolutely towering shot that splashed into McCovey Cove. It was his first "splash" home run of this season. He is now 17 behind Hank Aaron for the all time home run record.

Bonds season stats: .306 AVG, 4 HR, 10 RBI, .458 OBP, .694 SLG (1.152 OPS which is best in the NL)

Look at those numbers and then remember that this man is 42 years old. Absolutely incredible. Sure it's still early but if he can finish the season with numbers in that range certainly there would have to be new words created to describe his greatness.

Luckily for the Giants, Bonds is not the only hot hitter, Rich Aurilia has been having a great season and last night's game winning hit is just another example of what he can do with the bat. Aurilia is 8th in the NL currently with a .353 batting average.

For the Cards, Albert Pujols showed signs of awakening from his early season slumber. He came into this game with a .160 batting average. He's now up to .200 after going 3 for 5 including his 4th home run of the season.

They play again this afternoon. Unfortunately for the Giants and their fans it's unlikely that Bonds will start today because of it being a day game after a night game, especially since last night's game went so late. Bonds has only sat out 1 game so far this year.

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds went into tonight's game hitting .192 with .346 slugging pct.

He's now hitting .276 with a .621 slugging pct.

Bonds went 3 for 3 with 2 home runs and 4 RBI tonight in the Giants 8 to 5 win over the Pirates.

The Giants will need a lot more of these kind of games from Bonds to have a shot at making the playoffs this year.

This was Bonds 70th career multihomer game. The major league record is 72 by Babe Ruth.

Bonds Bombs Counter: 737

Labels: Barry Bonds

Barry Bonds hit a solo home run in the first inning last night for his 735th career home run and his first of the season. 21 more to break Hank Aaron's record. Unfortunately he went hitless otherwise (1 for 4 for the game) and the Giants suspect relief pitching gave up 2 runs in the 8th inning to lose the game to the Padres 5 to 3.

It was also his 86th career home run against San Diego, his most against any one team.

In other Barry news, he had a running catch in the 3rd inning that took away what looked to be an easy double and another Padres run. Bonds is looking very agile and in great shape as the season starts. Has he turned back the clock 5 years this season? We hope so.

The Giants are now 0-2. (Obviously then the Padres are 2-0, eh?)

As a Giants fan I'm excited about how Barry is starting off the season but I'm very concerned about the team overall. The relief pitching is going to be a problem for sure and we need better performances out of Zito and Cain.

Bonds Bombs Counter: 735

Bonds Season Stats:

.286 Avg
.375 OBP
.714 SLG
1 Home Run

Chris Young became the 435th pitcher to surrender a home run to Barry.

Young's also got a bit of a streak going for himself. He is now 9-0 with 16 no decisions (he got a no decision in this game as well) over his last 25 road starts. This means he's gone 25 consecutive road starts without picking up a loss. This ties him with Allie Reynolds who set the mark of 25 in 1949-50. Young's teams have gone 17-8 during those 25 games.

Labels: Barry Bonds

The Giants start their season today against the San Diego Padres.

In my opinion the Giants are being underrated by the so called baseball experts. I am expecting a huge season out of the Giants and I think they will contend for a playoff spot.

The Giants projected line up looks like this (with 2006 Stats) :

1. Dave Roberts, CF - .293, 49 SB

2. Omar Vizguel, SS - .295, 24 SB

3. Barry Bonds, LF - .270, 26 HR

4. Ray Durham, 2B - .293, 26 HR

5. Rich Aurilla, 1B - .300, 23 HR

6. Pedro Feliz, 3B - .244, 22 HR

7. Randy Winn, RF - .262, 11 HR

8. Bengie Molina, C - .284, 19 HR

Bonds will surely DH in all AL games with Ryan Klesko or Jason Ellison taking his spot in the OF

Looking at this lineup I'm struck by a few positive things. First of all I believe that Bonds good finish to last year and his great spring training point to a possible return to something close to his 2001-2004 numbers. I'm very hopeful that he'll put up numbers far surpassing .270 and 26. Even last year when he struggled he lead MLB in OBP. Bonds is still one of the biggest impact offensive players in the major leagues. This fact is being overlooked by most sportswriters simply because they do not like him. This is a big factor in the Giants being underrated this year. Another positive point is that the top of the line up looks stronger than it has in recent years. There is now speed at the 1 and 2 slots especially Roberts as the lead off man with 49 steals. This should give Bonds some excellent opportunities. I also feel that Bonds has more protection than he has recently with Durham & Aurilia coming off great years. If Durham and Aurilia can match last year they should be good enough in the 4 and 5 slots. I also think Molina is a strong hitter to have in your 8th slot. He hit .284 last year with 19 home runs. Very good for an 8th slot hitter and for a catcher.

I'm also happy that Bonds is batting 3rd. He's not gone along with it in the past but now he seems happy to be hitting 3rd. This will allow him to get up in the first inning of every game and should get him more PA. I think this will make for more productive first innings and get the Giants off to a good start more often. I also think it's important for the Giants run production for Bonds to be surrounded by decent hitters both in front and behind him. The Giants are quite weak at #6 with Feliz only hitting .244 last season.

Certainly it's not an overpowering line up. But if Bonds can come close to his 2001-2004 production and the rest of the line up can have above average seasons I think that people will be surprised by the level of run production this line up can create.

Pitching. I'm very excited by the pitching of the Giants this year. I'm looking for a break out year for both Matt Cain and Nick Lowry. I'm also looking for Barry Zito to return to his Cy Young level. The Giants are not a very good defensive team and that will put even more pressure on the pitchers. The Giants and their fans have to hope that every pitcher in the rotation all pitches up to their potential.

The projected rotation is as follows:

1. Barry Zito: 16-10, 3.83 ERA
2. Matt Cain: 13-12, 4.15 ERA
3. Matt Morris: 10-15, 4.98 ERA
4. Noah Lowry: 7-10, 4.74 ERA
5. Russ Ortiz: 0-8, 8.14 ERA

The relief pitching may be one of the biggest problems for the Giants. Hopefully Armando Benitez can improve on last years 17 saves and 3.52 ERA

Labels: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants