on a side-note, that was one ****ing awful series. Christ, could our offense and pitching be anymore pathetic?
I am so freakin glad we don't have to see the Giants again this season. What a distraction this has been. And if it wasn't Bonds this would be a dead issue. And I gaurantee you fans in any other city would react the same way. HOUSTON - Barry Bonds remained the buzz of the ballpark a day after being plunked by Astros reliever Russ Springer — and the San Francisco slugger wasn’t even in the starting lineup. (Follow Tuesday game) Springer? He was out of the state. Major League Baseball on Wednesday had already begun reviewing Bonds’ at-bat leading off the fifth inning Tuesday night against Springer, in which the pitcher’s first offering sailed behind Bonds’ back to draw a warning from plate umpire Joe West. Story continues below ↓ advertisement The next four pitches all came inside, including one that hit Bonds’ bat handle on the third delivery for strike one. On the fifth pitch, Springer hit Bonds in the right shoulder as he turned to protect himself. After being ejected, Springer left to a standing ovation — something that deeply disturbed Giants manager Felipe Alou. Bonds, meanwhile, barely reacted to being hit, calmly taking first base without a word or a glance toward the right-hander. Springer took off immediately after the game to be with his wife when she underwent surgery Wednesday morning in Louisiana. “It’s under investigation. That’s all I’ll say,” Bob Watson, baseball’s vice president for on-field operations, said in a phone interview. “I’ve had 45 calls today to see what I was going to do.” A look back at some key moments in the amazing career of Barry Bonds Bonds didn’t address it with the media after the game or again beforehand Wednesday, when he entertained himself by playing cards with trainer Greg Oliver — perhaps a brief distraction from the pressure surrounding his pursuit of Babe Ruth. The seven-time NL MVP was stalled at 713 homers, one shy of tying Ruth for second place on the career list behind home run king Hank Aaron’s 755. Bonds is homerless in eight games and 26 at-bats since a 450-foot shot to right at Philadelphia on May 7. Bonds had played eight straight days, his longest stretch in the starting lineup without a break since playing 10 consecutive days from June 18-27, 2004, though he was available to pinch hit in the finale of a three-game series with Houston. Alou expects Bonds to play designated hitter in all three interleague games of a weekend series at Oakland. “I’ve never seen anybody miss that bad on five straight pitches,” Giants reliever Steve Kline said. “If Barry goes out and throws a punch, then he gets suspended and goes out for a long time, too. You’ve got to do the best thing for the team. You’re not going to trade a relief pitcher for an everyday left fielder. “Barry knows the game. He knows anything he does is under the microscope. Maybe (commissioner Bud) Selig would suspend him 50 games. Everybody else is after him.” Fans enjoy poking fun at Giants slugger and his alleged steroid use. There was added drama when the posted lineup didn’t get hung until more than an hour after it usually goes up, raising suspicion perhaps Bonds would play after all. Alou said he’d written it much earlier but bench coach Ron Wotus was outside exercising and that explained the delay. Alou expressed disappointment in the Astros’ fans who jumped to their feet in a standing ovation for Springer when he hit Bonds. He understands that pitchers plunking batters is part of the game, but thought many in the crowd of 35,286 disrespected the game. “It bothered me a lot, because a lot of children were watching,” Alou said, noting how Giants fans back in the Bay Area were two hours behind so children were likely still awake. “Even the kid who says ‘Play ball!’ I don’t believe that’s playing ball what we saw last night,” Alou added. “I’m not talking about the guy getting hit. I’m talking about the people giving a standing ovation for that action. ... They’ve got to be respectful of the event, too, respect for the show. Find another way to express your feelings, whatever they are — not in front of millions of people.” Phil Garner said he didn’t expect the Giants to retaliate and reiterated that he believes Springer did not intentionally hit Bonds. Matt Morris, the Giants’ starter Wednesday, received a fine last month along with pitching coach Dave Righetti for their actions during a game at Colorado a day after Jose Mesa plunked San Francisco shortstop Omar Vizquel. Morris was fined for intentionally throwing at Matt Holliday in the first inning. The right-hander was ejected after throwing only eight pitches and plunking two of the five batters he faced. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12842986/from/RS.1/
If Nieve doesn't turn it around, Jason Hirsh and Chris Sampson should be in next in line to start. Chris Sampson is having a great year at Round on the mound and hitting. He is an interesting story. He was drafted by the Astros in 1999 as a shortstop from Texas Tech. He couldn't hit so he retired the same year he got drafted. After 4 years of being a assistant coach at a local college, he returned to the Astros organization as a pitcher. He is a really pitching and hitting great this year and he is extreme groundball pitcher. He is 6-1 with a 2.25 era and is hitting 10-14 for a .714 BA.
Astros outfield must be the worst in the league in terms of offensive production between Lane, Wilson,and Taveras. Willy Taveras' OPS is .649 which is horrible. He seems to get a free pass because people say his defense is good but its not that good IMO. He still misplays balls and throws at the wrong bases. He will make a couple of good catches but he needs to hit a lot better. His base running stinks and he needs to learn how to steal bases. Wilson also has struggled for most of the year. He has a .292 OBP which sucks for a corner outfielder. Maybe the Yankees would like him. Jason Lane has struggled for most of the year but he has been the best of the 3 so far which says a lot about the Wilson and Taveras. Lane would be the most likely be benched because he is corner outfielder and his contract is small. Chris Burke and Mike Lamb should start getting more AB's. Also I think Luke Scott could really help this team and I think Charlton Jimerson is better than Willy Taveras both offensivly & defensivly.
Lets fix the pitching first. As far as offensive moves they can try, without taking guys off the active roster and calling up guys who have never had any sort of MLB success... they can try moving Ausmus to the #2 hole. Brad's high OBP would benefit the team much more if he was to get on base for Lance/Morgan to drive him in. Also, he's a pretty decent fastball hitter... and pitchers wouldn't want to mess around and be fancy with the guy batting right in front of Berkman.
How did he cheat? Wheres the evidence? Again no EVIDENCE = not GUILTY. Get over it, you wouldn't be "man" enough to call him a cheat to his face.
I have reasons for hating superstars such as Kobe Bryant because he had an affair. Mike Tyson for biting Holyfield. Sosa for corking his bat. Palmeiro for taking steroids. etc etc the list goes on.... As for you what do you have against Bonds? Nothing. Evidence? Look at the book sales, they've done pretty good so far. In case you didn't know the authors have been subpoenaed by a grand jury 2 weeks ago (http://www.usatoday.com/sports/2006-05-06-writer-subpoenas_x.htm ). Wouldn't you think.... if all that was said in the book was true wouldn't Bonds be indicted for perjury already? Get a clue.
I agree, if you think hes a cheater. Tell Bonds to his face and not by booing him from 100 feet away. He should rightfully beat your ass for being an idiot.
i agree also. i like him more and more everytime ppl throw stuff at him or send him hate mail. its ridiculous
Out of curiosity, since this is your bizarre standard, would you be "man enough" to tell Mike Tyson you hate him to his face?
It will be nice for the Bonds circus to be behind the Astros for this year. Let's look at the brightside, even as bad as the Astros have been sucking, they are still only 3 1/2 back of the Cards.
Yikes. I know he's had a hot start, but Ausmus is not a #2 hitter. He's a low strikeout guy, but he's also just not a very good hitter for his career, and it's not like catchers all of a sudden get better in their mid 30s. The difference in number of ABs between #7 or 8 and #2 is just too many extra at-bats to give to an overall weak hitter.
It's not just a hot start. He's been batting at a very good level since the all-star break last year.
