Barry Bonds is the DEVIL!!!

Actually, I like that big mexican guy (why can't I ever remember his name) who sits in from time to time. He's not bad.

I'm not sure who I despise most between Kruk and Steve Phillips, but I'm going to go with Phillips. What a fucking clown.

Arizona's down 7-2 in the bottom of the 8th, they've pitched to Bonds 4 times earlier in the game (single & bases-loaded double)... Bonds comes up with a runner on 2nd.

Intentional walk issued to Bonds to get to Alou... and Alou hits a 3 run HR.

His realtime stats: .273/.543/.568 = OPS 1.111

Anyways, Bonds took a Scott Linebrink fastball deep (440 feet) to dead center. It was a monster line drive that let out a loud "thunk" (audible above the crowd of 35k's roar) when it hit the score board about 500 feet from the plate on a bounce.

Bonds saw about 30 pitches in 4 at-bats working the count full each time. He saw around 20% of the pitches thrown by San Diego pitchers.

I like the fatherly approval they're receiving.

*1st HR this year not to center or left.

When they showed that ground-level camera angle of that McDonald's sign ... it just seemed so unfathomable to actually reach it.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/stats/fielding?groupId=9&season=2006&seasonType=2&split=83&sortColumn=rangeFactor

As expected, Bonds is towards the bottom of the range factor list, but equal to Jose Cruz Jr. (gold glove as recently as 2003) and ahead of Wilkerson, Podsednik, Burrell, Floyd, Catalanotto and Luis Gonzalez (I)???

He's still got a quick jump and he missed robbing a Nady HR by about a foot... it's surprising to see him actually holding his ground defensively especially after so much media attention focuses on how he supposedly can't field his position anymore.

http://cache.deadspin.com/images/2006/05/bondssignbig.jpg

also interesting to note from that stat table is that Alfonso Soriano leads the majors in outfield assists!

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On the other side of the Pacific, Bonds is adored, admired and `seen as a very friendly star'

Japanese reporters say booing is nonexistent in Japan, and so is media access to the clubhouse, a much different atmosphere that Barry Bonds usually encounters in Major League baseball.
Dai Sugano / Mercury News
Japanese reporters say booing is nonexistent in Japan, and so is media access to the clubhouse, a much different atmosphere that Barry Bonds usually encounters in Major League baseball.

Ryusuke Shiraishi was stunned the first time he heard Barry Bonds booed. Shiraishi had been in the United States for only three months as a Major League Baseball reporter for the Kyodo News, the Japanese equivalent of the Associated Press.

``It's like how you would treat a murderer,'' Shiraishi said of how fans in Milwaukee treated the Giants outfielder.

Shiraishi's surprise wasn't uncommon among the band of Japanese reporters who are following Bonds' chase to 714 home runs. Nikkon Sports correspondent Satoko Sano said Bonds is ``a hero'' in Japan. There, she said, he is without a doubt the most popular non-Japanese player in the major leagues, which has grown its overseas audience since Hideo Nomo came to the United States in 1995.

But what about Bonds' alleged steroid use?

``Japanese people haven't thought enough about it to have an opinion,'' Shiraishi said during an interview conducted in Japanese.

His personality?

``He's always smiling,'' Shiraishi said. ``There's absolutely no perception of him being arrogant. He's seen as a very friendly star.''

Always smiling and benevolent -- that's the endearing image Bonds left in Japan on an all-star tour in 2002. When the Japanese think of Bonds, many of them think of a home run contest between him and then-Tokyo Giants slugger Hideki Matsui, now a New York Yankees outfielder. When Matsui struggled to hit any home runs, Bonds came behind him, massaged his shoulders and told him to relax.

The display of tenderness was followed by an affable appearance in a commercial for Yomiuri, one of Japan's leading newspapers. Yomiuri owns the Tokyo Giants and sponsored the U.S.-Japan all-star series.

So no one was more shocked than Yomiuri reporter Yuichi Usuda to witness the environment surrounding Bonds.

``I feel sorry for him,'' Usuda said. ``No matter what he does, he's attacked in newspaper articles. I'm surprised.''

Much of the surprise, of course, is simply a result of cultural differences.

Booing is non-existent in Japan, the reporters said, and so is media access to the clubhouse.

``I don't think he's that bad,'' Usuda said of Bonds and his dealings with the press. ``He's talking, at least. There are Japanese players who don't talk that much or don't talk at all. I think Ichiro could be more of a hassle to deal with.''

The drug culture is different as well.

Though there are rumors that performance-enhancing drugs are finding their way into Nippon Professional Baseball by way of American players, the Japanese league has been relatively free of drug-related scandals. An exception was when the Chiba Lotte Marines, managed by American Bobby Valentine, were accused in the press of amphetamine use last season. When New York Mets minor league pitcher Yusaku Iriki of Japan tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs and blamed contaminated supplements, his countrymen accepted his excuse.

As Usuda said: ``I thought he was careless.''

The same reasoning is applied when the Japanese hear of Bonds' reported flaxseed-oil defense.

``You don't know,'' Shiraishi said.

Shiraishi added that because Americans are doing the accusing -- Americans are not seen as particularly trustworthy -- the steroid accusations carry less weight. And nothing can undo the impression Bonds left on the Japanese when he launched several monster home runs in the 2002 all-star tour.

``The home runs were of a completely different realm than those hit by Japanese players,'' Shiraishi said. ``The impression he left was so strong that even if people know that he's been accused of using drugs in the United States, they are giving him the benefit of the doubt.''

Bonds' reputation was further enhanced when Japanese players, among them icon Kazuhiro Kiyohara, began mimicking his style of hitting.

``Japanese players are now waiting for the ball as long as possible and turning on it,'' Shiraishi said. ``Japanese players, in the past, have hit by moving their center of gravity as far forward as possible during their swing.''

Catching Babe Ruth would further enhance Bonds' legacy overseas. Shiraishi went as far as to say that matching Ruth could be seen as an even bigger achievement than matching Hank Aaron because of Ruth's greater stature. Belting No. 714 would probably land Bonds on the cover of many Japanese newspapers. (To the Japanese, tying a legend is more important than passing one.)

``Americans say that 755 is the record, but in Japan, there's someone who has hit 868,'' Shiraishi said, referring to Sadaharu Oh. ``To Japanese people, what's important is that he's lining up with Babe Ruth. That in itself is a record.''

haha.

what the dude doesn't mention is that steroids are legal in Japan.

Did any ILB'ers go to the game?

is this way off? can anyone do it with just his 2006 rates?

I was there. Didn't see it though (was running late in car on way to game.)

Injury and/or motivation are probably the only things that would stop him from breaking the record in 2007 (OK, he could also start sucking at the plate).

Read the questiona above dumbass. He asked if I was at the at the GAME. I was. Did I see the HR live? No. My gf, my brother and my mom did though (they remembered to bring their tickets haha.)

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