Quote :

"Not only is Barry Bonds going to the All-Star game in his home ballpark, he'll be in the starting lineup. The San Francisco Giants star overcame a 119,000-vote deficit in the final days of balloting and finished 123,000 ahead of the Chicago Cubs' Alfonso Soriano on Sunday to claim the third and final starting outfield spot for the National League."

Am i the only person who doesn't think this sits right?

Quote :

""I think when our staff got together, we were not surprised at all that either the fans or the players were going to vote him in and that somehow we would put him on," La Russa said. "He's having a good year.""

Bonds
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG
192 41 58 9 0 16 38 82 32 5 0 .302

Soriano
AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB K SB CS AVG
312 53 96 23 4 15 30 21 66 10 3 .308

Same amount if games at 72/73 each.

Bonds is having a good year? As a cleanup man? Sure 82 walks, but who's fault is that? His weight guru's?

Every day MLB sickens me more and more under Selig. Baseball has achieved its premier business model by becoming marketable again. But shit I'd take the 80s any day now.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070702/ap_on_sp_ba_ne/bbo_all_stars

7/1/2007 9:29:21 PM

bonds kills soriano in pretty much all baseball metrics

7/1/2007 9:32:53 PM

VOTING STEROIDS

7/1/2007 9:33:10 PM

I'm guessing the fact it's in SF had something to do with it. He won't play more than 2 innings, anyway.

7/1/2007 9:34:14 PM

also yes same amount of games, but the games stat takes into account every game bonds was a PH for 1 AB

7/1/2007 9:35:19 PM

so now that everyone made such a big deal about him being in the all star game, what if he blew his knee out or some other crazy shit? In a game that didn't even matter so close to the record......

7/1/2007 9:38:23 PM

i would probably laugh so hard i'd die

7/1/2007 9:39:21 PM

Quote :

"what if he blew his knee out or some other crazy shit"

we can only dream of such things...

7/1/2007 9:43:04 PM

Quote :

"bonds kills soriano in pretty much all baseball metric"

i just listed half. and doesnt look close to a slaughter.

and if then Bonds has only played in games where he "started" and not the "one AB as a PH", lets cut those games played then till 36?

I'm not debating however who should be an all star or what it takes to be one (and DHs imo shouldn't be in the running for this or MVP) but the whole 250,000 vote turnaround in what 2 days of voting. It doesnt sound legit at all.


But than again MLB isnt about legitimacy anymore, is it?

7/1/2007 9:55:02 PM

blame it on those faggots at ESPN

I heard them talking yesterday about Bonds not being a starter in his own park

either something got rigged or everyone is San Fran. logged on after they saw sportscenter and voted him in

7/1/2007 10:23:16 PM

bonds obp: .513 (leads league... by a lot)
soriano obp: .356

i dont like bonds but i do think obp is a very important statistic

7/1/2007 10:31:11 PM

Bonds gets on base 5 out of every 10 plate appearances. That is fucking insane. He, without a doubt, deserves to be there. Holliday should be there too and starting over Beltran, but that would mean no real CF starter.

John Maine should undoubtedly be there over Valverde, Fuentes and Hamels... or at the very least be on the Final Vote as well... Young too.

[Edited on July 1, 2007 at 10:32 PM. Reason : x]

7/1/2007 10:31:12 PM

ive got a problem with a couple of shortstop snubs... renteria and cabrera. but the all star game will continue to be a joke to me as long as 1. the fans vote and 2. every team has to be represented

7/1/2007 10:43:27 PM

hopefully he'll retire or die after this year and we'll never hear from him again except when he's being investigated for roids

7/1/2007 10:43:48 PM

The NL was stacked with AS caliber shortstops. Reyes, Renteria, Ramirez, Hardy, Rollins. That is one hell of a lineup. But as long as Reyes is healthy he'll be the starting SS. He is on the fast track to being the sports most popular player already and I think he deserved to start (I'm being fair and saying Wright didn't).

Renteria probably deserved it over rollins and ramirez (similar #s to Reyes but an atrocious defensive SS) but all 3 had a case...

7/1/2007 10:46:15 PM

How the hell does this happen? Its obviously rigged! No baseball fan outside of SF would ever vote for Bonds over Soriano. And even the few that do, would not be enough to get him into the All Star game. MLB officailly just went down the shitter.

[Edited on July 1, 2007 at 10:49 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2007 10:48:01 PM

I voted for him b/c my favorite team is once again one of the best teams in the NL and can use homefield advantage and Bonds helps the team, plain and simple.

You might not like him but he is deserving. Period.

7/1/2007 10:49:23 PM

^^^ i think ramirez and reyes are a lot closer than you're admitting. reyes has him by about 15 steals, but ramirez has 7 more homers and 10 more runs. can't go wrong with either one, but its not that cut and dry

[Edited on July 1, 2007 at 10:51 PM. Reason : .]

7/1/2007 10:51:12 PM

Quote :

"Bonds gets on base 5 out of every 10 plate appearances. That is fucking insane. He, without a doubt, deserves to be there."

He only does that because as somone posted before, a lot of teams walk him out of spite. If they guy was so badass, he wouldn't have had to cheat to get where he is. When you are in your 30's, your head and feet don't grow significant amounts unless you are on the juice. Shame on Bonds for what he is doing. The guy should be banned from baseball one HR shy of Hank.

7/1/2007 10:52:41 PM

I said their numbers are similar but Reyes is a gold glove defender (and should win it but he won't because of politics -- the award is Vizquels until he retired) and Ramirez is probably the worst fulltime shortstop defensively in the majors.

The BBTN crew is all up Rollins jock but the funny thing is he is a leadoff hitter and Reyes OBP is .70 higher and Reyes actually has a higher OPS even though Rollins has better power numbers...

My order actually would be: Reyes, Renteria, Ramirez, Hardy, Rollins this year...

Quote :

"He only does that because as somone posted before, a lot of teams walk him out of spite."

That's just stupid. They walk him out of spite? Come on, this isn't Little League. These guys are trying to win games at all costs... they walk him because he is feared and he is by far the best player on his team.

[Edited on July 1, 2007 at 10:55 PM. Reason : x]

7/1/2007 10:54:08 PM

haven't really seen ramirez enough to comment about his defense, but reyes does make some sick plays.

7/1/2007 10:56:51 PM

Well, numbers aren't the best way to measure defense but in roughly the same amount of chances Ramirez has 15 errors (most in the bigs for SS) and Reyes has 4.

I'm not sure if you're familiar with sabermetric stats but the last I checked Reyes was 2nd in baseball, behind A-Rod, in Win Shares (which measures overall contribution in all aspects of the game to team wins). He does little things that win games.

His first AB today was a perfect example. A 11 pitch AB to lead off the game against a rookie showing the team every pitch he had, poking a single, screwing with the pitcher so much he fell behind Lo Duca 2-0, stealing 2nd base, and then scoring easily on a bloop single that most baserunners don't read off the bat and probably hold up on.

He's the only player in baseball that I try and see every AB... Yeah, I'm biased because he is my favorite player on my favorite team but he does things almost nightly that I've never seen before...

7/1/2007 11:01:09 PM

Haha, yeah saying teams walk him out of spite is just a little ridiculous. Teams walk him because he hits homeruns, with roids or without. There's no point of pitching to him, he isn't a threat to steal bases and he sets up good double-plays. Plus taking the bat out of his hand is a good thing because he can still crush the ball.

Like the guy or not, teams aren't walking him to stop him from breaking the record.

Which he will do this year unless he gets hurt, so you haters better start wishing and hoping for something bad to happen to him, haha.

7/1/2007 11:02:08 PM

756*

7/1/2007 11:03:48 PM

Quote :

"Like the guy or not, teams aren't walking him to stop him from breaking the record."

Oh but how they should. I honestly don't see how any manager wants to pitch to him. Nothing good comes from pitching to him. The guy should be walked at all costs and never be given the chance to break Hanks record.

7/1/2007 11:25:45 PM

i would start hitting him with the ball

7/1/2007 11:55:46 PM

Quote :

"so you haters better start wishing and hoping for something bad to happen to him, haha. "

start?

Quote :

"i would start hitting him with the ball"

i repeat.

start?

7/2/2007 12:00:26 AM

Quote :

"Who will give Bonds #756? William C. Rhoden, The New York Times During an interview on a Boston radio station earlier this month, in anticipation of the San Francisco Giants coming to town, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling was asked if Barry Bonds was at home run No. 755 and Schilling was pitching, would he give Bonds a pitch to hit. "Not on purpose," Schilling said. "I don't want to be Al Downing." In fact, the essential question is this: Who will have the courage to be Al Downing? As Bonds nears Hank Aaron's career home-run milestone of 755, pitchers and managers will have decisions to make. Under what conditions will pitchers pitch to Bonds? Who will give him a pitch to hit? On April 8, 1974, Downing, pitching for the Los Angeles Dodgers, threw a fastball that didn't rise to Aaron; Aaron blasted it out of the park for career home run No. 715, which broke Babe Ruth's home run record. Aaron's home run didn't define Downing's career as much as it tied him honorably to a historic moment. Downing could have hidden -- as Schilling apparently would have in the same situation. Instead, he tried to get Aaron to make an out. "I feel that if you're out on the mound and the manager hasn't told you to intentionally walk someone, you have to do everything you can to get that batter out," Downing said Wednesday during a telephone interview from his home in Valencia, Calif. Downing said he had never lost a game against the Braves in the three seasons he pitched against them, "so I wasn't worried about that, at that point. I think I'd given up two home runs to Hank. But I'd never struck him out, either." The underlying concern of Schilling's comment is that in this age of all news, all the time, nobody wants to make a mistake. What's more, no one wants their mistake to live in perpetuity. Shawn Hill, a young pitcher for the Washington Nationals, asked about the Giants' coming visit in August, told a reporter for The Washington Times that he would not want the honor of facing Bonds in a record-breaking situation. "No, thanks," he said. "That's how I'll be remembered in baseball: I gave it up to Bonds? I don't want to be that guy." When the Yankees faced San Francisco, reliever Scott Proctor challenged Bonds. Bonds hit home run No. 749. Two days later, Roger Clemens came on in relief and faced Bonds, but never challenged him, walking him on five pitches. Perhaps at a certain point in one's career, competitive spirit gives way to vanity. "If you're a pitcher of Hall of Fame caliber, you're supposed to be challenging guys," Downing said. "Otherwise, don't pitch. You go out there and do the very best you can; don't take it personally, because this guy has already hit seven hundred and something home runs; it's not like he's singling you out. You just happen to be the guy who got the ball that night." All Downing had to do was look at the names of pitchers who had given up home runs to Aaron: Sandy Koufax, seven; Bob Gibson, eight; Juan Marichal, eight; Don Drysdale, 17. Please. Bonds has hit home runs against 442 pitchers. "You're a major league ballplayer," Downing said. "You uphold the integrity of your own performance. Don't let your career be defined by one moment." Downing's career was not. He broke into major league baseball with the Yankees in 1961 and generally is regarded as the Yankees' first black starting pitcher. Once called the black Sandy Koufax, Downing played 17 seasons and finished with a record of 123-107 and a 3.22 earned run average. He was an All-Star in 1967, led the American League in strikeouts in 1964 and led the National League in shutouts in 1971. "

7/2/2007 12:48:14 AM

Quote :

"Am i the only person who doesn't think this sits right?"

In short, yes.

7/2/2007 3:14:24 AM

Quote :

"but the all star game will continue to be a joke to me as long as 1. the fans vote and 2. every team has to be represented"

7/2/2007 8:36:02 AM

^^ for some reason i think i'm not. perhaps by this thread not being dead on arrival. or the fact you used bold italic and underline. i mean seriously?

7/2/2007 11:49:58 AM

just hit another one

(the Bonds Countdown thread is like 92 days old )

7/19/2007 2:57:11 PM

And another.

7/19/2007 5:03:11 PM

2nd today? wowie wow

whats that 752 and 753?

all i know is my opponent in fantasy has ted lilly and i hope the giants win today haha

7/19/2007 5:15:47 PM

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2944315

7/21/2007 3:27:25 PM

Perhaps I'll see it happen in person

7/21/2007 3:38:58 PM

I hope Bonds gets hit by a ball on Sunday right in the elbow.

7/21/2007 11:10:40 PM

Bonds wears a very heavy duty elbow guard.

7/22/2007 1:17:46 AM

fuck Barry Bonds

7/22/2007 9:26:45 PM

lol

Quote :

"Costas zings Bonds over 'midget' comment By RONALD BLUM AP Baseball Writer AP PhotoSan Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds is seen in the dugout in the eighth inning of the baseball game against the Atlanta Braves in San Francisco, Wednesday, July 25, 2007. NEW YORK --A day after Barry Bonds called him a "little midget man who knows (nothing) about baseball," broadcaster Bob Costas said he wasn't upset with the San Francisco Giants slugger and responded with a jab of his own. "As anyone can plainly see, I'm 5-6 1/2 and a strapping 150, and unlike some people, I came by all of it naturally," Costas said Thursday in a telephone interview. On this week's edition of HBO's "Costas Now," commissioner Bud Selig, Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling and chemist Patrick Arnold discussed Bonds, his pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record and suspicions that Bonds has used steroids. Schilling and Arnold said they believed Bonds had taken performance-enhancing drugs. Bonds viewed at least part of the show before Wednesday's game against Atlanta. "I've actually always had a pretty cordial relationship with Barry," Costas said. "I have no ill feelings toward him personally. I regard him as one of the greatest players of all time who got an inauthentic boost and then became a superhuman player. I wish him no ill whatsoever." Costas said he understood why Bonds might have denigrated him. "He's under tremendous scrutiny and some pressure. It's no big deal," Costas said. "This is a consequence of doing your job, and I've never tried to do my job in any case with the intention of calling attention to myself. I think if people watch the program, they can judge for themselves." Told before Thursday's series finale that Costas claimed he came by his physique naturally, Bonds responded, "How do you know?" before going on to say he didn't care. "

7/27/2007 5:32:18 PM