Posted on 05/07/2006 10:00:12 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
(AP) PHILADELPHIA -- Barry Bonds is heading home, one behind the Babe.
Bonds hit his 713th homer Sunday night, moving within one of tying Babe Ruth for second place on baseball's career list.
The San Francisco Giants' slugger hit a mammoth shot in the sixth inning off Philadelphia right-hander Jon Lieber, sending a 2-1 pitch off the facade of the right-field upper deck during a 9-5 loss to the Phillies.
"They tell me that's the way the Babe used to hit them," Giants manager Felipe Alou said.
Bonds' fifth homer of the season was estimated at 450 feet, one of the longest ever at Philadelphia's hitter-friendly park. He needs 42 to tie Hank Aaron for the major league record.
"About tore that golden arches sign down out there," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said. "I'm glad he's leaving town, too, because he's about to get hot."
The solo homer cut the Phillies' lead to 5-3, but they soon broke it open and pushed their winning streak to eight games for the first time in 15 years.
The last time Philadelphia won eight in a row was a 13-game run in 1991.
The Giants were headed back to San Francisco to begin a homestand, but Bonds is not expected to play Monday night.
Bonds had been held in check since arriving here on Friday. He went 3-for-9 in Philadelphia's three-game sweep with a pair of singles. He had gone 11 at-bats since his previous home run Tuesday against San Diego.
As he took his slow trot around the bases, some of the Phillies fans -- who had been needling Bonds with boos and derisive chants throughout the series -- stood up, cheered and clicked photographs.
He struck out swinging in his next at-bat against reliever Aaron Fultz in the eighth inning, sending many fans heading for the exits. He was taken out of the game before the bottom of the inning, replaced in left field by Jason Ellison.
Carlos Oliveras caught the home run ball, specially marked to assure authenticity. The 25-year-old Oliveras, an Airman 1st Class who lives on McGuire Air Force Base in Fort Dix, N.J., paid $20 for his seat in Section 202, Row 7.
He said he is a Bonds fan and would probably keep the ball.
"I never thought I was going to be lucky like that," Oliveras said.
It was Bonds' fourth career homer off Lieber. But the seven-time NL MVP came into the game 5-for-36 (.139) against the right-hander, his lowest batting average against any pitcher he had faced at least 15 times.
With his mother cheering in the stands, Bonds pumped his fist as he returned to the dugout, perhaps trying to inspire a slumping Giants team that had lost three straight, six of seven and eight of 11.
Now he is one homer shy of Ruth's 714, one of the most hallowed numbers in a sport ruled by them. Ruth hit No. 714 in 1935 and held the major league record until Aaron broke it on April 8, 1974.
Ruth's total is the record for left-handed hitters, and Bonds has said he's more interested in owning that mark than catching Aaron.
Commissioner Bud Selig has said baseball won't do anything special to celebrate Bonds passing Ruth because it would only put the Giants' star in second place.
Maybe it also has something to do with allegations of steroid use by Bonds and baseball's probe into whether he took performance-enhancing drugs.
Bonds has long denied ever knowingly taking steroids, though the new book "Game of Shadows" reveals his alleged extensive doping regimen the authors say began after the 1998 season when Bonds saw the attention Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa generated in their race for the single-season homers record.
Bonds' personal trainer, Greg Anderson, pleaded guilty to his role in a steroid distribution ring, and a federal grand jury is looking into whether Bonds perjured himself when he testified to the separate grand jury that indicted Anderson and three others in the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative scandal.
Perhaps no pursuit of second place in anything has ever garnered as much attention as Bonds closing in on Ruth. The Phillies said they received about 200 requests for media credentials this weekend, about 125 more than for a typical game.
The Giants do plan a celebration when Bonds catches Ruth. The team was set to take an overnight, cross-country flight and face Houston ace Roy Oswalt at home Monday night to make up an April 12 rainout. But Alou said Bonds probably won't play against the Astros.
As Bonds walked out to left field before the bottom of the first, fans in the front row of the bleachers unfurled a huge sign that read: "Ruth did it on hot dogs and beer. Aaron did it with class. How did YOU do it?" In addition, one `i' and the question mark were dotted with asterisks.
The sign came out again in the third. Another sign in left field read "LIAR."
Lieber (2-4) allowed four runs and six hits in seven innings. He is 2-0 in his last three starts after losing his first four outings.
Pat Burrell hit a two-run homer off Matt Morris (2-3) and drove in three runs for the Phillies. David Bell had three hits and scored twice.
LOL -- I've been there :-)
He was a freak.
Greater than Bonds, Mays, and Mantle combined.
Lesson over.
I was down at the game last night (Saturday) and believe me, the crowd was booing real loud every time Bonds went up to bat, trotted out to left field, or caught a fly ball. There were some very loud and ugly chants that started in the left field stands and they grew louder as adjoining sections piled on.
The people who were sitting around me were saying some really mean things about Bonds. Ninety-five percent of the people in the stands were thoroughly disgusted with Bonds. The place went nuts every time Bonds made an out at the plate.
Yet I looked around and the stands were full. The game was a sellout because of Bonds. Weird.
fakir.
How many games has Bonds the Doper pitched?
Yes. Doped record breakers suck...Bonds, McGwire, Sosa etc
Yes if he was truly contrite but he's not. Rose sure played the game with gusto....I miss that a whole lot.
Myself, I have no shame.........I pretty much just spew whatever comes to mind and hope that not too many people bother to take notice.
It don't mean nuten.
"should Pete Rose be allowed in the hall of fame?"
Yes. The man who thought a walk was just another chance to do a wind sprint.
Your welcome.
Good one! LOL!
"dingers"
Never did like that term for a home run. Sounds like something I could do.
Welcome to FR....given your laconic post I assume you are not a virgin around here.
Lay off Willie Mays will ya?
Anybody using the juice should have a great big * next to their name in the record book. Sammy Sosa all but fell off the map after those Congressional hearings on steroids, while McGwire basically took the 5th when asked if he'd ever taken performance enhancers.
As for Barry Bonds, I'm sure it's just a coinky-dink that at the same time his numbers explode, his body morphs from that of a decent outfielder to some body-building freak with an oversized head. Remember, before 2000, when he started cranking out homers at an unbelievable pace, his numbers were trending downward, as would happen to any aging ballplayer. Suddenly, when he should be thinking about retirement, he suddenly explodes with close to 300 dingers over the last 6 years? Take away the juice, and Big Giant Head is at tops a 550 homer man.
Finally, as to the question of whether or not Pete Rose belongs in the Hall: based on his achievments on the field, yes. But betting on baseball was always a no-no, and he knew better.
Interesting.
So your point is that Bonds cheats AND steals?
Personally, I say just let all the armchair has beens and never weres both in the media and on this thread take their potshots. Those of us fortunate enough to have watched Bonds over the last 20 + years (including high school) know that whether you like him or not, whether he used illegal substances in the last several years or not, know we've been watching something special. If he was crazy enough to use things that would enhance his performance and possibly hurt him later, he's really only hurt himself. The enhancers don't explain the quick wrists, the pitch selection and the awesome swing. They may have helped him swing a bit harder, and hit the ball a bit farther, but they didn't make him a star. He was already a star before any charges were made, and there was any indication of steroid use.
All the know it alls who think they should control whether he goes into the hall of fame, or has an asterick in the record books are free to make their comments and spew their statistics, but in the end, Barry is still one of the greatest ballplayers fo all time. Get over it!
The year Ruth hit 54 home runs, that was more home runs than any American league team had hit that year. That should tell you something about the caliber of pitching that was around before expansion. Ruth was doing something that entire teams could not do. Some of the greatest pitchers ever were pitching back in Ruth's days, and those rosters had only four starters. Todays pitching rosters have five starters, and these 5th starters are guys who wouldn't have made any major league team in Ruth's days, and probably not even any minor league team.
BTW, exactly which Black and Latino pitchers has Bonds had to face in his career that were better than Walter Johnson (110 career shutouts, 3,509 K's), Bob Feller, (44 career shutouts, 2,581 strikeouts in 18 yrs) , Dizzy Dean (23 shutouts in a 6 year span, won 120 games in his first 5 seasons), Lefty Grove, (172 wins in a 7 year span, 35 career shutouts), Grover Cleveland Alexander ( 373 career wins, 2.56 career ERA)??
Another consideration is that Ruth played during the days of the 4-man pitching rotation; Bonds played during the 5-man rotation. This means, of course, that the "5th" pitchers in today's rotations are garbage men who would not have made the rosters of any Major Leage team in Ruth's day, and probably not even the minor leagues. This probably adds another 100 or so cheasy home runs to Bonds' already steroid-tainted total.
Lastly, how can you compare the greatest all around baseball player ever, the only man who absolutely mastered both pitching and hitting and was an AllStar in both, with an artificially pumped up steroid freak?
For the record, Babe Ruth was an excellent base runner. In fact he successfully stole home 10 times, stole 123 total bases even though he never had an attempt in his first four years (as a pitcher). He was a very competent fielder with a strong, accurate throwing arm.
Babe Ruth has 7 World Series rings; Barry Bonds is working on 7 Grand Jury indictments and Congressional investigations. To sum up, Ruth was the better player, the better man, and (unlike Bonds) was good for the game of baseball.
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