Posted on 09/21/2005 7:55:26 PM PDT by RGSpincich
Bonds, Alou lift Giants to win with home runs apiece Wednesday, September 21, 2005
By HOWARD FENDRICH Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON -- Barry Bonds saw the paper asterisks fans waved at him. He heard the boos and insults.
And when Bonds rounded the bases after hitting an upper-deck homer in his 2005 road debut, he stepped on home plate, pointed to the sky with two fingers as he always does, then put a finger over his lips as if to say, "Shhhhhh!"
On a night filled with subplots and drama befitting a September game between clubs clinging to faint playoff hopes, Bonds hit his 706th homer, then drew a walk before Moises Alou's go-ahead, three-run shot in the ninth inning of the San Francisco Giants' 4-3 comeback victory over the Washington Nationals.
Bonds' homer was his third in 18 at-bats since returning to the Giants last week after missing most of the season recovering from three knee operations -- and being the subject of constant speculation about steroid use.
He directed his post-homer gesture at a particular fan he said was giving him a hard time all game.
"He was just heckling. I just told him to sit down and enjoy it," Bonds said.
He was the center of attention from batting practice on, including when Nationals manager Frank Robinson went to the mound to talk to Livan Hernandez (15-8) in the ninth inning with a runner on and two outs and Bonds at the plate.
Washington led 2-1, and Robinson told Hernandez not to pitch Bonds inside. Hernandez walked the slugger on four outside pitches, then watched Alou hit a first-pitch slider over the wall in left for his 18th homer.
"He hit it good," Hernandez said.
Bonds was booed when his name was announced during pregame introductions, booed each time he stepped into the on-deck circle, and booed when he went out to play left field.
Still, when he sent a 1-2 pitch from Hernandez into the seventh row of section 468 for one of the longest shots this season at RFK Stadium -- which is averaging the fewest homers in the majors -- most of the crowd of 32,403 rose to watch the flight. There was a lot of applause and throaty yells of approval, plus plenty of flashbulbs popping.
"It's amazing to see," said Jack Taschner (2-0), who pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. "Barry comes up, they boo, then Barry hits a home run and they all start cheering. It's amazing. It obviously doesn't affect him very much."
Bonds has homered in three straight games. He is third on the career list behind Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714).
"Hopefully, I can just hang onto it as long as I can until the end of the season," he said.
In a great closing twist, the player who replaced Bonds in left for the bottom of the ninth, Todd Linden, made a diving catch of Brad Wilkerson's slicing drive just in front of the warning track to preserve the win with two runners on. Linden went one way, then spun around before laying out to make the grab.
"When he started getting turned around, I thought, 'Wow!' We might win this game," Wilkerson said. "It took the wind out of me a little bit."
The rest of the Nationals, too, probably. It was Washington's third consecutive loss, and the go-ahead run in each came in the opponent's final at-bat.
"We're losing ballgames on one swing of the bat," Robinson said.
Bonds was the first player to greet Alou when he arrived at the dugout, but Washington nearly made the celebration moot against Armando Benitez, scoring one run in the bottom of the ninth and threatening to add more before Linden's catch.
Asked what would have happened if he had still been in left field at the end of the game, Bonds didn't hesitate.
"We would have lost," he said.
Giants Notes
Bonds popped up to shallow center in his first at-bat and grounded out to shortstop Cristian Guzman -- shifted to the first-base side of second base -- in his third at-bat. ... Asked how Bonds has looked to him since joining the club last week, Giants manager Felipe Alou said: "To me, my personal estimates: 80 percent when it comes to baseball, running and throwing, outfield. Now hitting? 100 percent."
If you had read my post, I didn't mention his performance. I mentioned his complaining about the media.
OK, let's hear some evidence that Aaron was involved in this.
Ummm...ok and?
One stat you can't compare/consider
How many HR'a would Bonds have without the JUICE?
It's too bad because he would have made the HOF without steroids. Damm Juice head...and ge will never get away from that issue.
When anything hit hard from deep left to deep right has to go between 488 to 500 feet to be a HR, it's a very accurate impression that you can't compare it to today's little league parks. How many times has Bonds hit a 500 ft. HR? Maybe a couple. Ruth had to deal with that every home game for 14 years.
Pitching is an entirely different mode of play, baserunning is not.
Bonds is an ass, a chemical-freak. Not even a 'Roid Rager like Barry could lift the gigantic asterisk that will label his every record.
Baserunning (base stealing) is all part of playing offense, and Juiceboy is better than the Babe at that.
But Babe Ruth was an extraordinary PITCHER. Bonds just stands in the outfield picking his nose and trying to quell his roid rage.
Ruth was great on offense AND defense. Herr Juiceman was not.
Baserunning (base stealing) is all part of playing offense, and Juiceboy is better than the Babe at that.
Should be:
Baserunning (base stealing) is all part of playing offense, and Juiceboy is better than the Babe at base stealing.
The Pad's magic number is 7. I have tickets to the Pads and Giants at Petco on the 27th and 28th. With luck I will be there to see Steroid Boy as the Pads celebrate the National League West title.
Pardon my ignorance but why is this important?
Wrong - Bonds won several Gold Gloves playing the outfield position, and still plays in the outfield despite being at an age where most players go the AL and DH, or become 1st baseman.
Aaron played LF late into his career as well.
To say that OF's just stand arond picking thier nose is ludicris.
His status with the team made him subject to testing all year long. He was tested once and came up clean.
Bonds will never be a better baseball player than Ruth until he can throw a no-hitter.
Actually, I think it's all Bush's fault!
Cindy Sheehan, by the way, has singlehandedly diverted the hurricane away from the Texas coast, and it will now strike only near Crawford.
Ruth will never be better than Bonds, until he steals 500 bases.
Glad to have company in standing up for Bonds. I usually get blasted on any of the Bonds threads, but don't care. I've worked at Candlestick and SBC Park for many years and have had the pleasure of watching Bonds play. You can love him or hate him, rant on about the steroids and his prickly manner with the press, but year in and year out I have watched him thrill the fans with his play. The man is definitely one of the best in his field, and it's too bad he can't get respect for that. I equate his tormentors with Bush haters.......they just can't stand seeing someone they don't personally like do well professionally. I say GET OVER IT!!
Strange pic of Aaron. No way he ever took an AB choking up that far. The bat in the pic must have had dog crap on it.
Looks like he was playing pepper.
Babe Ruth became a full-time outfielder in 1919 (although he still pitched in 17 games, 15 of them starts, and went 8-5 with a 2.98 ERA). That year, he broke the AL single-season home run record (16 by Socks Seybold in 1902), then the 20th Century single-season record (24 by Gavvy Cravath in 1915) and finally the all-time Major League single-season record (27 by Ned Williamson in 1884) and ended the season with 29 homers. The next year, after moving from Fenway Park to the Polo Grounds upon his purchase by the Yankees, he hit 54 homers, pushing his career total to 103 homers, thus breaking Home Run Baker's AL career record of 80 (actually, his home run production in 1919 and 1920 alone would have been enough for Ruth to break Baker's record). In 1921, Ruth broke Gavvy Cravath's 20th Century record of 119 career homers, and later in the season broke Roger Connor's all-time career record of 138 homers; Ruth hit 59 homers that year to finish the season with 162 career home runs. In his first three seasons as a full-time outfielder, Babe Ruth hit more homers (142) than any other player in Major League history had hit for his entire career. Babe Ruth reached 250 career homers in 1924 and 300 career homers in 1925. In 1929, the year in which Rogers Hornsby and Cy Williams became the second and third players in history to reach 250 career homers, Ruth hit his 500th career home run. And in 1934, the year in which Lou Gehrig and Rogers Hornsby became the second and third players in history to reach 300 career homers, Ruth hit his 700th career home run.
Oh yeah, and he retired the following year with a career batting average of .342 (6th all-time, behind Ty Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Jackson, Tris Speaker and Ted Williams, among 20th Century players with 4,000 plate appearances), a career on-base percentage of .474 (2nd all-time behind Ted Williams) and a career slugging percentage of .690 (best of all time), plus a career won-lost record of 94-46 (his .671 career winning percentage is 6th among 20th Century pitchers with 100 career decisions), a career 2.28 ERA (11th all-time among 20th Century pitchers with 1,000 or more innings pitched) and only 7.18 hits allowed per 9 innings (12th all-time among pitchers with 1,000 or more IP; which is even more impressive when you consider that the first 9 guys on the list debuted in the Majors after 1950).
Barry Bonds is a great, great player, and there's no doubt in my mind he's the greatest left fielder of all time (ahead of Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Rickey Henderson). But there's only been one Babe.
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