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.
And we also can agree that if the allegations are correct, it sure was stupid to take the health risks!
Yep, in agreement there as well.
That's why I'm so negative about those who do use performance-enhancing drugs like this. It forces others who normally wouldn't do them, to take these health risks merely in an attempt to "keep up".
Coherent post...and nailed my point I was making above.
You really are out of practice, aren't you?
Where can I buy a Barry Bonds bar?
There you go with your racist facts again. Why can't we all just get along?!?
Off the what...
Nice Barley Bones baseball card. Who is that large guy next to him?
Bwahahaha. That is so perfect!
Aw, just being a smart a** :-)
I'm usually the one pulling the leg. Got me.
BTTT
Bonds' ERA = - He would have to pitch at least for one out to get to 0.00. 0/0 means nothing.
Yeah, he was. In those five years he had 678 at bats. He had 8398 in his career. Ruth hit 20 home runs in those 678 at bats. 8% of his at bats were in the years of 1914-1918.
7720/694 = 1 HR per 11.1 at bats.
678/20 = 1 HR per 33.9 at bats.
If you count 1919, then 1110 of his at bats were in the dead ball era. Over 13% of his at bats. 29 HR's in 1919.
7288/665 = 1 HR per 11 at bats.
1110/49 = 1 HR per 22.7 at bats.
Career: 8398/714 = 1 HR per 11.8 at bats.
Any way you look at it, the dead ball era hurt his HR total. If he would have hit 766 if it were not for the dead ball era, all things being equal. Of course, I am open to the argument that Ruth did not hit as well when he was a pitcher.
This means more as far as ranking power hitters for pure power.
At Bats per HR
1. Mark McGwire 10.61 R
2. Babe Ruth 11.76 L
3. Barry Bonds 12.91 L
4. Jim Thome 13.77 L
5. Manny Ramirez 14.08 R
_______________
34. Hank Aaron 16.38 R
Interestingly, No. 33 is Jim Gentile. He is not even in the Hall of Fame. Hank Aaron was a great player and hitter with a really long, 23 season career. McGwire* and Bonds* don't count. Ruth in the greatest power hitter.
Absolutely untrue. There are some good relief pitchers, and there are some garbage ones, but there aren't many of them who are better than the starters they are replacing. "Fresh" does not necessarily mean 'better'. Relief pitchers are essentially there today to prolong the careers of the modern-day pampered starters, and not much else. The advent of the relief specialist is a relatively recent one in baseball history. Guys like Pedro Martinez, for example, would have had a short career if he played in the earlier days of baseball, because he's generally only good for about 6 & 2/3 innings and then he weakens and gets hit hard.
Bear in mind, if you didn't have the stamina to go the nine innings back then, you weren't going to be a major league pitcher. Also bear in mind, these pitchers who used to go nine innings were just as sharp at the end as they were in the beginning. The ability to go nine strong innings is not exactly unique to old-time baseball. Think Nolan Ryan, who threw 222 complete games. You had to be the durable, Nolan Ryan type in Ruth's day to make it as a pitcher.
Many of the 'nine inning pitchers' of years past paid the price with shortened careers, but they were great while they lasted. Sandy Koufax comes to mind. He was the most dominating pitcher in baseball in the early-mid sixties, and he pitched 27 complete games in each of his last two years. But by age 30 he was finished, because the relief specialists hadn't entered the game yet hence he burned out early. So when you mention modern-day "relief specialists", I am not impressed. With the exception of a few dominant 'closers', most of them are average, many of them are crap.
I apologize for only having data going back to 2002, but that's all that was immediately available. Data is from ESPN.com. These stats are aggregate for the entire major leagues. The 2006 numbers are totals to-date:
2002 Starter ERA: 4.41
2002 Bullpen ERA: 4.00
2003 Starter ERA: 4.52
2003 Bullpen ERA: 4.14
2004 Starter ERA: 4.62
2004 Bullpen ERA: 4.14
2005 Starter ERA: 4.36
2005 Bullpen ERA: 4.11
2006 Starter ERA: 4.66
2006 Bullpen ERA: 4.19
So, you can see a pretty clear pattern. In aggregate total, relievers reduce scoring efficiency by about 9% compared to starting pitchers.
If Ruth had laid off the booze, women, and fatting foods, he might have hit 814.
Everyone gains a little girth as they age, but exercise doesn't triple the size of a person's head.
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