I'm coming back to Houston for a few weeks and I check the schedule to see who I want to see this season. The Giants are in town than the Rangers. Not bad choices but I went with the Giants and got tickets for the whole series. I love watching Barry Bonds play and this will be the last time that I have a chance to see him play so it became a no brainer. But than I started thinking can he pass Ruth in Houston? The Giants have 13 games until they land in Houston with 0 days off. So lets say he plays 10 games and registers 3 AB's a game. So I'm guessing around 30 official plate appearances. He's 4 away from passing Ruth. So he'd have to hit a homer every 7.5 AB's to break the record before getting to Houston. You think my numbers are close to accurate? Now I know both Bonds and the Giants would prefer that he does this in SanFran but they travel to Oakland after coming here. I don't think they'd bench him for a whole week before returning home. Now him going on the DL before than is a real possibility from the way he has looked. And he can easily catch fire and do it this weekend. But it's a chance to see bonds love/hate him. And maybe a chance to see history. I was shocked to see that there are tickets still available.
Well if Bonds does make history at Minute Maid, you can make a sure bet that Dierker will be leading the crowd in cheering him as he rounds the bases.
hope you're joking about the batteries, cause some idiot would take it seriously.. and it'd just be funny if bonds does it after sosa did
I think he's referring to the 2001 season (Bonds' 73 year) where Dierker walked Bonds nearly every single time he came to the plate... no matter what the situation... and Kent made us pay nearly every single time for it. Then, after we had no hope of salvaging even one game in the series, and were getting blown out, he brings in a no-name minor leaguer (Wilfredo Rodriguez) to pitch to him, and he gave up #70. I know Dierker was trying to win games (that was the year that we sucked at the end, and allowed the Cards to tie us)... but he didn't even try to "manage" those situations... he just gave him a free pass blindly.
i know. i just want to piss off all those racist bastards who send him hate mail. i used to hate bonds until i saw that...
Go back & re-read the game recaps. That's not really at all what happened. One of the most embarassing moments in Houston sportsfan history = booing when Bonds was pitched around. Bush league.
Agreed. The times when he walked were all smart plays in those circumstances. He wasn't being intentionally walked just for the hell of it.
The only marginally questionable intentional walk he got was in the 6th inning of game 3...1 out, man on 2nd & the Stros were losing 8-1.
Not only that, if you read Dierker's book (and believe him) he did not necessarily want the pitchers walking Bonds. Dierker's management style was to let the pitchers make decisions for themselves (as he used to do). Bonds also got the benefit of the doubt on every corner call, so while it may have looked like they were pitching around him, normal players would have gotten a lot more strikes called on them.
walking bonds like they did and turning around and giving up 70 was a joke. I like dierker but that was a shamockery. I know coaches are out there to win games and they really don't think about public relations but that series was a joke.
What do you think should have been done differently? Should Dierker have tried to pitch to Bonds more, and reduce our chances to make the playoffs? Or should he have walked him more?
