Last night Barry Bonds hit career home run #750 moving him within 5 of Hank Aaron.

It was also his 16th home run of the season. Bonds who turns 43 in less than a month is hitting .298 with an incredible .505 OBP (1st in MLB) and a very good .592 slugging percentage (2nd in the NL.) No hitter has ever performed at this level at this age.

With just one more game in June let's take a look at Bonds monthly splits. After a great April he had a horrible May but he's followed that up with a rather fantastical June.

Month AVG/OBP/SLG

April .356/.536/.814
May .194/.449/.388
June .354/.538/.600

More and more I think Barry Bonds will play next season and have a real shot at 800 career home runs (He's on pace to end this season with about 770) and 3000 career hits. Why should he not play when he's still clearly one of the best hitters in baseball? Certainly he should be a DH but I really don't think he wants to leave San Francisco.

That being said the Giants look to be going nowhere fast and if he wants to join a team with a chance to win the world series he should probably move to the AL and move to the DH slot. As a DH I figure he could play a FEW more years and he's got a good shot at 900 home runs. I'm joking right? Maybe not... ?

Labels: Barry Bonds

For the first time in baseball history a player (Craig Biggio) joins the 3000 hit club on the same day that another player (Frank Thomas) joins the 500 home run club.

The Houston Astros' Craig Biggio went 5 for 6 tonight in reaching and passing the 3000 hit mark. The 5 hits are the most a player has ever got in a game while reaching the 3000 hit mark and it was also only the second time in Biggio's career he had 5 hits in a game.

Biggio started his career with the Astros in 1988 as a catcher and has been a rare case of a player playing out his entire career with one team. He's played mostof his career (after his first 4 years mostly at catcher) at second base.

Biggio has been one of the better hitting second basemen in history with his 3002 hits and a career batting average of .282 along with 286 home runs.

He was at his peak during the '90s when he made the all star team 7 times.

Biggio's best season was probably 1997 when he had a career high 143 OPS+ with .309/.415/.501 rate stats along with 22 homers and 47 steals.

Biggio became the 27th player to reach the 3000 hit plateau and being that he did it from mostly weak hitting positions (2B & C) he should be a shoe in for the hall of fame. Every player over 3000 hits is in the hall of fame except for Ricky Henderson and Rafael Palmeiro who have not yet been eligible for election. And of course Pete Rose.

Which eligible (retired for 5 years and not banned) player has the most hits and has not been elected into the hall of fame? Harold Baines at 2,866.

Who'll reach 3000 next? Well if Barry Bonds stays healthy and decides to play in 2008 it would most likely be him. Bonds has 2,896 career hits.

Some other active players to take a look at:

Ivan Rodriguez - 2428 hits - Age 35

Derek Jeter - 2253 hits - Age 33

Alex Rodriguez - 2160 hits - Age 31

Labels: Houston Astros

Frank Thomas, currently of the Toronto Blue Jays, became the 21st player to join the 500 home run club in the first inning of the Blue Jays/Twins game today. As I wrote earlier this year there are 5 players that have a good shot at joining the 500 HR club this season and Thomas has become the first to make good on that opportunity.

Alex Rodriguez (492), Jim Thome (482), Manny Ramirez (481), and Gary Sheffield (472) are the other sluggers knocking on the door of the 500 home run club.

The current inflated home run totals era has diminished the exclusivity of the 500 home run club but Frank Thomas was an elite hitter during the 1990s.

From 1990 through 1998 Thomas never had an OPS+ below 174. For 7 consecutive seasons ('91 to '97) Thomas finished in the top 8 in the AL MVP voting. He won the MVP award twice in 1993 and 1994. He finished in the top 10 in slugging percentage all 7 of those seasons including leading the league with a .729 slugging percentage in 1994. He lead the AL in OBP 4 seasons during that period. He was in the top 10 in batting average 6 of those seasons and lead the league in batting average in 1997 (.347)

Despite hitting home run number 500 and all of his accomplishments Thomas has never lead the league in home runs. He has finished in the top 8 home run leaders 9 times, including ranking 2nd 4 times. His career high home run total was 43 in 2000.

Thomas appears to be in the twilight of his career despite having a solid year with Oakland last year. Thomas has a career low OPS+ thus far this season (110) discounting his incomplete 2001 (He only played 20 games that year.)

It's hard to see Thomas getting to 600 home runs which is itself a rapidly growing group. It's gone From 3 members (Aaron, Ruth, Mays) just a few years ago to 5 this year and it could be up to 6 by the end of the year (Ken Griffey being within striking distance of joining Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa.) Unless Alex Rodriguez runs into career threatening injuries he should be making the 600 club's membership grow to seven within a few years.

Is Frank Thomas a hall of famer? I would vote yes. But not so much because of his home run totals which aren't nearly as impressive as they would be if he had played the peak of his career in the 1960s or the 1980s. But along with being 21st all time in home runs Thomas also ranks among the all time leaders in career OPS+ (16th @ 158), OBP (16th @ .423), and slugging percentage (19th @ .562) He's got a .303 career batting average.

I recently took in a viewing of HBO's "61*," the wildly underrated movie chronicling the battle to 61 home runs between New York Yankees' sluggers Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle during the 1961 season.

Of course, we all know that Roger Maris, on his way to breaking the record, battled the media, the "Ghost of Ruth," and the Yankees fans who backed Mickey from the beginning, along with all of the other fans in baseball who wanted to see Ruth's record stand. Maris notoriously lost clumps of hair, among other things, before finally hitting his 61st home run, breaking Babe Ruth's record. However, for the remainder of Maris' life (he died in 1985), Maris did not own the home run record by himself, rather, owning the 162 game home run record, while Ruth held the 154 game home run record, as his 61 homers were followed by an asterisk.

It wasn't until 6 years after Maris' death that his record was recognized as the only home run record, and the asterisk was dropped.

The point of all this? I believe we are witnessing the second act of this, with the star of the show none other than Mr. Barry Bonds.

Bonds is today's most hated ballplayer, with millions of fans peppering him with verbal attacks and signs about his supposed steroid use all across the country. There are people out there hoping that, by some chance, Bonds knees will give out just short of the record, thereby keeping Hammerin' Hank's name atop the leader board.

It is a stark contrast from 9 years ago, when pumped up sluggers Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa led us across the magical summer of 1998, "saving baseball" and shattering the home run record in the process. But ever since their monumental collapse before Congress in '05, the nation has frowned upon these two former "heroes."

Did they use steroids? Like Bonds, they never tested positive, but the majority of baseball fans believe they did.

And that leads us to Bonds. If this had happened 10 years ago, the country would be like the folks in the "Truman Show." They would stay up day and night, watching, reading, anticipating what would be a colossal event. But instead, no one outside of San Francisco and Bonds fans care. Fans who have waited their entire lives to see Hank's record broken, feel robbed and cheated by an unfriendly player, who has grown immensely in size and ego in the last 10 years.

The funny thing is, the lack of interest in this "home run chase" is actually making headlines just about as often as the "chase" itself. If someone would have told you that in the middle of 1998, would you have believed them? I sure wouldn't.

As I thought about all of this the other night, I wondered if forty years down the road, a filmmaker enamored with Bonds and the Giants decided to make a movie about how the public had the audacity to cheer against Bonds during that summer of '07, just as Billy Crystal did in "61*." I realized that the most likely scenario is that our generation of fans would be looked upon as crazy people who didn't respect the game. After all, the most hallowed record in sports was being broken, and we just don't appreciate it!

I visualize my future grand kids, Cardinals fans like myself, asking me why Bonds was so hated. All they would see are the numbers and the facts, not knowing the pot-shots he took at fans and reporters. Or the way he "disgraced" the game.

But it won't matter in the future. Just like Maris, who was accused of not "being a true Yankee," and who was not really a people person, Bonds will be sympathized with as a player who performed at the highest level, under the most strenuous pressure. And all of the fans will be frowned upon as folks who didn't respect Bonds the way he should have been, regardless of circumstance.

We have seen it all before. It's happened in tons of sports. And it just might happen with Bonds. Sure, I don't like Barry Bonds, but I'm not "crazy," either.

If he breaks the record, then so be it. Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols, among others will be right behind him. But if you are an anti-Bonds fan, like I am, you may want to prepare yourself for future questions about why we opposed Bonds so damn much. There's a very good chance it could happen.

If you don't believe so, just watch "61*" for proof.

Since glorious leader is out flying around on newfangled air carts, I figured the 3 of you paying attention would notice something missing. Bonds went deep off of the equally hated Yankees, which gave Espn some time to make up random stories which no one believes.

Airtime has been given to the issue of A-Rod's contract, and that if someone eventually supplants Bonds soon it would be him. Now, as an A's fan I would love it if the Giants decided to do something hilarious like spend 65 million or so on 3 players (Zito, Bonds, A-Rod). Alas, the Espn story is about the Giants somehow magically having Jack and Shit left (Jack just left town) in their farm system to actually trade for A-Rod. The Giants should just do what they always do in times like this, go get Julio Franco, he's old as all hell.

Labels: Barry Bonds, IHateU

The Texas Rangers Sammy Sosa hit his 600th career home run yesterday against his former team the Cubs.

This makes Sosa the 5th member of MLB's 600 Home Run Club. Babe Ruth, Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, and Barry Bonds were the first four members of this once exclusive club.

Career stats of the all members of the 600 Home Run Club:

Babe Ruth: .342 Batting Average, .474 OBP, .690, SLG, 1.164 OPS, 207 OPS+, 714 HR

Ruth was an outstanding pitcher before becoming a hitter.

Willie Mays: .302 Batting Average, .384 OBP, .557 SLG, .941 OPS, 156 OPS+, 660 HR

Mays also had 338 career steals and was an excellent defensive center fielder (He won 12 gold gloves.)

Hank Aaron: .305 Batting Average, .374 OBP, 555 SLG, .929 OPS, 155 OPS+, 755 HR

Aaron had 240 career steals and won 3 gold gloves in right field.

Barry Bonds: .299 Batting Average, .444 OBP, .608 SLG, 1.052 OPS, 182 OPS+, 748 HR

Bonds has 513 career stolen bases (the only member of the 400-400 and 500-500 clubs.) He also won 8 gold gloves in the '90s. His peak seasons are rivaled only by Babe Ruth and Ted Williams.

Sammy Sosa: .273 Batting Average, .344 OBP, .535 SLG, .879 OPS, 128 OPS+, 600 HR

Lead his league in strikeouts 3 times. Second all time in strike out. Only made the top 10 in OBP once in his career.

The 600 HR Club was once a place for the truly legendary and now Sammy Sosa is a member. Very sad indeed.

The San Francisco Giants are in a tail spin. They lost their 7th consecutive game today vs. the Milwaukee Brewers.

The Giants weren't doing so well before the losing streak started (30-34) but now they are at 30-41, a full 12 games behind the San Diego Padres in the NL West.

The Giant's season has diminished into nothing more than the Barry Bonds career home run chase. And speaking of the case: Bonds got the day off to rest. He get 1 pinch hit at bat. He got to second base on an error. He stands at 748 home runs, 7 shy of Hank Aaron.

Big contract Giants starting pitcher Barry Zito had another disappointing performance as his record dropped to 6 wins and 8 losses with a 4.83 ERA.

In other sad Giants news rookie pitcher Tim Lincecum who is supposed to be the savior of the franchise has been absolutely horrible in June. He has an 0-2 record with a 10.61 ERA in 4 June starts.

Labels: San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds hit career home run #748 yesterday for his first home run ever at Fenway Park in Boston. But unfortunately for the Giants their season is looking to hold little interest now other than the Barry Bonds pursuit of Hank Aaron. They were swept in Boston and have now lost 4 games in a row to drop to 30-38, a full 10 games behind the first place San Diego Padres.

Only the Reds (27) have fewer wins than the Giants in the NL.

Barry Bonds season to date:

.287 batting average
14 home runs (7th in NL)
31 RBI
.492 OBP (1st in NL)
.581 slugging percentage (4th in NL)
1.072 OPS (1st in NL)

Monthly splits for Barry Bonds' batting average:

April: .356
May: .194
June: .341

I think Bonds is now officially out of his slump. Another home run tonight would really put the stamp on it though.

Labels: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

This is my 3rd installment in the All Time Team series. Previously I've selected the all time team for the New York Yankees and the San Francisco Giants.

As with the Yankees and Mets teams I will be choosing the greatest Met at each position based solely on his contributions to the Mets. In other words I would not be including Pedro Martinez at pitcher due to his years with the Red Sox and Expos.

The Mets having begun play in only 1962 have a much shorter history than the Yankees and Giants which should make choosing their all time team somewhat easier. They won the World Series in 1969 and 1986.

The All Time New York Mets Team (With Career Mets Stats)

First Base - Keith Hernandez (.297 Avg, 80 Home Runs, 468 RBI, .387 OBP, .429 SLG, 130 OPS+)

Some know Keith best for his Just For Men TV commercials or his guest appearance on Seinfeld but Hernandez was a fixture at first base for the Mets during the 80s including during their championship season of 1986. His best seasons with the Mets were '84, '85, and '86 when he hit .311, .309, and .310 respectively. His best year in his career came with the St. Louis Cardinals in 1980 when he won the MVP award with a .344 batting average. While Hernandez did not have great power (his career high was 18 homers) his career Mets OPS+ of 130 shows that he was a great hitter when taking into account the lower power numbers of the era in general.

Second Base - Edgardo Alfonzo (.292 AVG, 120 Home Runs, 538 RBI, .367 OBP, .445 SLG, 114 OPS+)

Alfonzo had some good years for the Mets in the late 90s and early 00s. His best season came in 2000 when he made the All Star team for the only time hitting .324 with 25 home runs. Alfonzo also played a lot of games at third base for the Mets.

Shortstop - Jose Reyes (.288 AVG, 35 Home Runs, 213 RBI, .331 OBP, .430 SLG, 99 OPS+)

Reyes has very little competition as this position which is why I've already chosen him as the Mets all time best shortstop. The Mets career leaders in games played at the shortstop position; Bud Harrelson and Rey Ordonez were both awful hitters. Reyes best season of his career thus far was last year in 2006 when he hit .300 with 19 home runs and stole 64 bases. Reyes is already 4th on the Mets all time stolen bases leaders and will probably be second by the All Star break.

Third Base - Howard Johnson (.251 AVG, 192 Home Runs, 629 RBI, .341 OBP, .459 SLG, 124 OPS+)

If David Wright can keep up what he's doing now he'll probably overtake Johnson sooner rather than later but for now I have to give this position to Johnson. Johnson is 3rd all time on the Mets home run & RBI leader board. While his career rate stats look somewhat anemic by current standards one again has to understand the era that he played most of his career in. His career Mets OPS+ of 124 tells a truer story of his ability as a hitter. Also consider that HoJo holds the Mets single season OPS+ record of 169 in 1989 when he hit 36 home runs with a .287 batting average.

Catcher - Mike Piazza (.296 AVG, 220 Home Runs, 655 RBI, .373 OBP, .542 SLG, 137 OPS+)

Piazza is second all time on the Mets home run & RBI leader boards and leads the Mets in career slugging percentage. Piazza's best year with the Mets came in 2000 when he hit .324 with 38 home runs. Although Piazza was even better when he was with the Dodgers, his career with the Mets easily makes him the Mets greatest catcher. All apologies to Gary Carter but when you look at the numbers it isn't close. Carter also had his best years for another team (the Expos in Carter's case.)

Outfield - Darryl Strawberry (.263 AVG, .359 OBP, .520 SLG, 252 Home Runs, 733 RBI, 145 OPS+)

Strawberry is the Mets all time leader in Home Runs, RBI, and OPS+. Strawberry's best years came in 1987 and 1988. Although he had better numbers in '87 his '88 season was probably more impressive due to '87 being a hitter's year. In '88 he finished second in the MVP voting and had a 165 OPS+. He did become a member of the 30-30 club in 1987 when he had 39 home runs and 37 stolen bases. Strawberry is 3rd on the Mets career list with 191 stolen bases. Although Strawberry's career went downhill fast in the 1990s he was one of the best power hitters of the 1980s.

Outfield - Cleon Jones (.281 AVG, 93 Home Runs, 521 RBI, .340 OBP, .406 SLG, 111 OPS+)

Jones was instrumental in the "Miracle Mets" 1969 World Series win. He hit a career high .340 that season with a 151 OPS+. Jones played all but 12 games of his career for the Mets.

Outfield - Kevin McReynolds (.272 AVG, 122 Home Runs, 456 RBI, .331 OBP, .460 SLG, 120 OPS+)

McReynolds best year came in 1988 when he hit .288 with 27 home runs and finished 3rd in the MVP voting. Again you have to take into consideration the era. McReynolds had a 142 OPS+ that year.

Starting Pitcher - Tom Seaver (198 Wins, 2.57 ERA, 136 ERA+)

Seaver is the Mets all time leader in Wins, Complete Games, Shutouts, Strikeouts, ERA, and ERA+. Seaver's best year was 1969 when he won the Cy Young award with a 25-7 record and a 2.21 ERA while leading the Mets to the World Series. Seaver won two more Cy Young awards with the Mets; one in 1973 when he had 19 wins and a 2.08 ERA and another in 1975 22-9 with a 2.38 ERA.

Starting Pitcher - Dwight Gooden (157 wins, 3.10 ERA, 115 ERA+)

While Tom Seaver had a more consistent career for the Mets no other Mets pitcher ever hit quite the peak that Dwight Gooden did in 1985 when he had one of the greatest single pitching seasons in the history of the Major Leagues with a 24-4 record and a 1.53 ERA. His ERA+ of 226 in '85 has been bettered by only Pedro Martinez ('99 and '00), Greg Maddux ('94 and '95), and Bob Gibson ('68) among single seasons since 1920. Despite never again reaching the incredible heights of 1985 Gooden did have many more good seasons for the Mets and is second all time on the Mets career wins leader board. He was also a key element of their 1986 championship team going 17-6 with a 2.84 ERA.

Starting Pitcher - Jerry Koosman (140 Wins, 3.09 ERA, 114 ERA+)

Koosman's best year came in 1969 when he helped the "Miracle Mets" get to and win the World Series. He won 17 games that year with a 2.28 ERA and a career best 161 ERA+. He went 2-0 in the 1969 World Series with a 2.04 ERA. He had another great year in 1976 when he won 21 games with a 2.69 ERA and finished second in the Cy Young voting.

Starting Pitcher - David Cone (81 Wins, 3.13 ERA, 112 ERA+)

Cone's best year came in 1988 when he went 20-3 with a 2.22 ERA. He's the Mets career leader in Strikeouts per 9 innings at 8.72 S0/9.

Relief Pitcher - John Franco (276 Saves)

Franco was with the Mets from 1990 through 2004 and is the Mets career leader in Saves. His best single season for saves with the Mets was 1998 when he had 38.

Labels: All Time Team, New York Mets

Big Show Baseball presents the MLB Search Engine

Test drive it. A great example (and one close to my cold cold heart) is a search for "Giants" in a normal search engine (such as Google.com) you'll get a lot of unrelated stuff (ie Football Giants, mythical Giants, and so on) but in the MLB Search Engine you'll get results focused in on the SF Giants! And the really cool thing is the more it's used the better and more relevant to baseball the results will get because as a user of the MLB Search Engine you can vote up or down the results. So if you see a result that's really good you can vote it positive and if you see a result that is unrelated to baseball or a just a poor quality site then you can vote it down.

Take the MLB Search Engine for a test drive and bookmark it for all of your future baseball related searches.

I haven't posted in awhile, and I apologize for that. However, a crappy internet connection and summer classes starting have delayed my posts.

Regardless, that no hitter yesterday that Justin Verlander threw had to be one of the best pitching performances I've seen throughout my lifetime (21 years and a few months). Topping the gun at 99 mph in the 9th inning is incredible. Mixing that in with his sick breaking stuff was even more incredible.

As always, you cannot complete a no hitter without solid defense behind you. The sliding catch by Magglio Ordonez in the 7th, followed by the spectacular double play by Neifi Perez and Placido Polanco in the 8th were the highlights on the defensive side of things.

Sure, Verlander walked 4 batters, but he also struck out 12. Compare that to Mark Buerhle, who faced the minimum amount of batters in his no hitter, but only struck out 8.

It is funny to think that after Randy Johnson's perfect game in 2004, we did not see another no hitter until Anibal Sanchez last fall, and we've now witnessed 3 in the last 9 months. Baseball is incredible, isn't it?

"To tell the truth, I'm not excited to go to Cleveland, but we have to," Ichiro said through an interpreter. "If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying."

-Ichiro Suzuki

I'm gonna go ahead and guess that this is more towards the fact that it is a one game series to make up the snowed out games earlier and the season, and not a comdemnation of Cleaveland as a whole. Trade rumors should start going up soon with his contract due up at the end of the year tho, and I'm guessing he's not going to Ohio anytime soon.

Labels: Cleavland Indians, Ichiro Suzuki, IHateU

Ben Roethlisberger's bike and internal organs (Brain) have now been deceased for one year on this fine day. Happy birthday some curse (Lets say the Curse of the Phantom Holding Call) that someone hasn't made up yet.

Labels: IHateU, NFL

Barry Bonds finally hit his first home run of June. He hit a 2 run home run in the 4th inning to tie the game vs the Blue Jays at 3. The Giants would score another run to take a 4-3 lead which they would hold onto the rest of the game. The home run was Bonds' 13th of the season and 747th of his career, leaving him just 8 behind Hank Aaron.

Giants fans (like myself) are hopeful that this is a sign of things to come and that Bonds is ready to go on a hot streak. The Giants offense has been anemic during Bonds' slump.

The Blue Jays became believers pretty quickly. They intentionally walked Bonds the next time he came up even though he was leading off the inning.

How bad has Bonds' home run slump been? Before tonight's home run he had hit only one home run in his last 77 at bats and was on a streak of 33 at bats without a home run. Obviously one homer isn't going to erase all of that. Bonds needs to get on track soon for the Giants to have any chance of hanging around in the playoff chase.

Can he do it? Can he hit home runs consistently again or was his hot streak in April a fluke? The record for home runs for a player 42 years or older (Bonds is 42 and turning 43 in July) is 18 by Carlton Fisk in 1991. Sometimes I forget just how old Bonds is. Maybe it's unrealistic to expect him to be able to perform up to his old standards?

Matt Morris was the Giants pitcher tonight. I recently wrote about the great season he's having and he gave another strong example of that tonight. He pitched a complete game tonight allowing 7 hits and 3 runs with 4 strike outs and just 1 walk. He's now 7-3 with a 2.56 ERA. This was his 3rd complete game of the season and his second in a row.

Labels: Barry Bonds, San Francisco Giants

Apparently our friends at MLB have blocked old video of Bo Jackson throwing out Harold from the warning track (No bounces). Jeez.

This isn't as cool, but it still works.

Labels: IHateU, Jim Edmonds

Last night the A's beat the Giants 5 to 3 in San Francisco. The A's won in the 10th inning when pinch hitter Shannon Stewart hit a two run single. At the time the Giants had 3rd baseman Pedro Feliz playing catcher and pitcher Noah Lowry playing right field.

Why? Because a collision at home plate forced the backup catcher Eliezer Alfonzo out of the game with a sprained left knee. This left the team with no catchers left so Feliz had to move behind the plate. It also left the team with no more position players which is why Lowry was out in right field.

Alfonzo is likely to go on the DL which is going to force the Giants to bring up a catcher from Triple A.

The Giants also lost right fielder Fred Lewis to injury.

How did the game end? With pitcher Noah Lowry (hitting .080 for the season) striking out in the bottom of the 10th. Unbelievable!

Giants rookie pitcher Tim Lincecum had another disappointing start as he also pitched poorly in his last start (6 ER on June 3 vs Philadelphia.) He started off strong by getting the first 7 batters out but ended up being removed from the game after just 4 1/3 innings having given up 4 hits, 5 walks, and 3 runs. This was Lincecum's 7th MLB start and he has still yet to record his first MLB loss as he got a no decision and his record remains at 2-0 although the Giants have lost 4 of his starts.

Barry Bonds went 1 for 3 (single) with 2 walks, a steal (his 3rd of the year), and an RBI. He's now hitting .276 for the season. He's yet to hit a home run this month, still stuck at 746 career home runs.

Labels: San Francisco Giants

Gary Sheffield was one of the coldest stars in the big leagues in April. The 38 year old Sheffield hit just .200 with a .306 slugging percentage in April and the chances of him hitting his 500th home run looked exceedingly slim.

But since then Sheffield has hit 14 home runs in 137 at bats. He has a. 652 slugging percentage in May and has had a .714 slg pct. thus far this month. In May and June combined he has only 14 strike outs. Having as many home runs as strike outs means you are hitting quite well. That's an understatement by the way. The only player I know of who has accomplished this feat recently is of course Barry Bonds who did it in 2004 when he had 45 home runs to 41 strikeouts. Bonds was also very close to accomplishing this in 2002 when he had 46 homers and 47 strikeouts.

Sheffield needs to hit 45 home runs this year to reach 500 this season. He currently has 16 which puts him on pace for 44 so it's looking like it could become quite close. I recently wrote an article about all of the placers approaching 500 home runs. In it I wrote that Sheffield would have to get very hot to have a shot at 500 home runs this season and that's exactly what he's done.


Gary Sheffield Autographed Baseball

Matt Morris pitched another great game for the Giants last night. Unfortunately for Morris and the Giants, the offense couldn't muster a single run against Arizona and the Giants lost 1 to 0.

Morris pitched all 8 innings (the Diamondbacks didn't need the bottom of the 9th) and allowed 2 walks and 7 hits (including a solo home run to Chris Young for the only run of the game) while striking out 6.

Morris is now at 6-3 with a 2.51 ERA which is good for 4th in the National League. These numbers are a huge improvement over last year when Morris went 10-15 with a 4.98 ERA. 2006 was Morris' first year with the Giants after spending the first 8 seasons of his career with the St. Louis Cardinals. It was also the worst season of his career with the highest ERA of his career and the first year he ever finished a season with more losses than wins.

Detractors will say that Morris' strikeout to walk ratio is still poor this year and that his low ERA is a mirage. He currently has 41 strike outs to 28 walks for a 1.46 strikeouts/walk ratio which is far below his career strikeout/walk ratio of 2.44 and even below last seasons of 1.86!

Personally I don't put as much weight into these factors as some do. I'm still an ERA man myself. If you've got a 2.51 ERA you are doing something right.

Labels: San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds fans like myself haven't had much to cheer about lately. Bonds has been mired in a deep slump having hit only one home run in his last 61 at bats and the Giants have been losing with consistency.

The Giants are currently 4 games under .500 at 27-31 and are sitting in last place in the NL West 8 games behind both Arizona and San Diego. This makes them 8 games out of the wild card slot too.

Bonds' home run chase may be all that's left of the Giants season if they do not turn it around soon.

What does all of this have to do with Barry Bonds Memorabilia? Not a whole lot really. Maybe that right now it's more fun to look back at the memories of the past than to look at what is going on now?

And these wonderful Barry Bonds items are also for all of you Barry haters out there once you get over your silliness and realize that you have a chance to watch the greatest hitter in history hit with your very own eyes you'll want yourself a Barry Bonds autograph. And I must advise that you should not ask Barry for an autograph yourself.

I've selected some cool Barry Bonds autographed items that you can purchase online:


Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Autographed 5x MVP Engraved Baseball Bat





Barry Bonds Autographed 2002 World Series Baseball



Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Deluxe Framed Autographed Jersey



Barry Bonds San Francisco Giants Autographed Authentic Majestic Home Cream Jersey

Labels: Barry Bonds

Our new Baseball Bats Web Store is now open for business. You can search for any baseball bat you want within our baseball bats page. This includes autographed bats, wooden bats, metal bats, composite bats, any kind of baseball bat you may be looking for.

Zito and the Giants beat the Phillies today in Philadelphia 8 to 1.

Before Zito's last 3 starts he was at 3-5 with an ERA over 5.00 and many Giants fans were crying about his huge contract but Zito has turned around at least some of those doubters with his recent performances.

Zito is 3-0 with a 0.45 ERA over his last 3 starts. The Giants have won those three games 9 to 1, 3 to 0, and today's game (vs. the Phillies) 8 to 1.

Today's game was also Zito's 4th start this season in which he hasn't given up an earned run (the only run given up today was unearned.)

Inevitable Barry Bonds mention: Bonds went 0 for 4 with 2 strike outs and a walk to lower his season average to .270, he's now only hit 1 home run in his last 61 at bats.

Labels: San Francisco Giants

Barry Bonds Splits:

Bonds #1 -> April: .356/.536/.814 (1.350 OPS) 8 home runs, 17 RBI

Bonds #2 -> May: .203/.463/.406 (.869 OPS) 4 home runs, 8 RBI

It is now June. For the Giants to have any chance to gain ground in the NL West they'll need Bonds #1 this month. Sure the Giants have great starting pitching and they recently unloaded the awful Armando but they need to score more runs.

For some reason I'm feeling very optimistic today that Barry is going to have a huge June. A June so huge that it makes his April look like May.

Apparently Bonds has been looking very good in batting practice (hitting a home run on 5 consecutive swings yesterday) so hopefully that is a sign that he's coming out of his funk.

How does Bonds normally do in June compared to April & May? I looked back at the recent seasons to see if there was any kind of trend:

2002: April .375, May .292, June .371 (he hit .447 in August...)
2003: April .303, May .306, June .309 (he then hit .415 in July and .452 in August.)
2004: April .472, May .250, June .328 (.414 in August)
2005: DNP till late.
2006: April .277, May .239, June .229 (.333 in August)

He does seem to have a slump in May quite often but it's his incredible Augusts that really stand out.

Labels: Barry Bonds

It's now June 1st. We're two months into the season already. What are the big stories?

The New York Yankees Meltdown

At 22-29 the Yankees are 13.5 games behind the Red Sox and tied with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. It's been an incredible combination of poor pitching, injuries, and bad luck that has kept the highest paid team in baseball on the ropes all year.

Although the Yanks are getting great seasons from Alex Rodriguez (19 home runs), Jorge Posada (.357), and Derek Jeter (.343) it hasn't been enough. The rest of the team's hitters are under performing in particular Bobby Abreu who is hitting just .228 and even worse he has a pathetic .289 slugging percentage.

Johnny Damon is hitting just .264 and Jason Giambi has a .436 slugging percentage. A lot of Yankees fans expected a lot from young Melky Cabrera but he has a .590 OPS thus far, which puts him below even the light hitting Doug Mientkiewicz who has a .661 OPS. Robinson Cano has been a disappointment as well best shown by his .298 OBP (last year he was at .365)

Speaking of Cano does any regular player in the big leagues walk less than this guy? 42 career walks vs 1197 career at bats. That's insane.

As much as most of their hitters have struggled (other than A Rod, Posada, and Jeter) it's their pitching that has been their real down fall. Perhaps most indicative of their problems is that only Andy Pettitte has enough innings to qualify for the ERA title as of now. The Yankees starters have been plagued by injuries and by just awful performances. Pettitte has been the only real exception with his 2.51 ERA and 9 Quality Starts in 11 games started. I'm sure that if before the season you said Pettitte would have a 2.51 ERA through 11 starts you'd expect him to have 7, 8, or even 9 wins already but he's got just 3 (his record is 3-4.)

Yankees Pitching Problems:
Much hyped rookie Phil Hughes was pitching a no hitter in his second big league start when he went down with an injury. He is expected back later this season.

Long time lights out closer Mariano Rivera has been having an awful season and currently has a 5.50 ERA.

Mike Musina has struggled with injuries and his game. He's got a 5.86 ERA and 2 QS in 7 GS.

Kei Igawa has been horrendous (ignore his 2-1 record, a great example of how meaningless W-L records are: Igawa vs Pettitte!) He has had just 1 QS in 5 GS and has a 7.63 ERA.

The Yanks are now hoping that Roger Clemens can come in to save the day. Which leads me to my next big story of the season to date.

Roger Clemens chooses the Yankees

Clemens is scheduled to pitch his first game for the Yankees on Monday, June 4th. They'll need him pitching up to his standards of his last couple of years in Houston to solidify their pitching rotation.

Looking at the records now can you imagine if Clemens has chosen the Red Sox?

I find it amazing how Clemens is so greatly respected by most baseball fans as a "living legend" of the game (which I do not argue, he is one of the greatest pitchers of all time) while a similar living legend is playing left field out in San Francisco is receiving far less respect from the media and from fans.

There's just as much circumstantial evidence against Clemens for performance enhancing drug use as their is against Bonds. Clemens was mentioned in the Grimsley affidavit (Pettitte was named too) and similarly to Bonds had a late career surge, posting some of his best seasons statistically after age 40. Clemens will be turning 45 this August. Also recall that Clemens had some pretty so-so seasons with the Yankees, in 1999 his ERA was actually higher than the league average and in 2002 he barely avoided it. Something helped him turn it around. The last few years he's put up some of the best seasons of his career all while past age 40. If you're going to claim that PEDs helped Barry Bonds hit home runs then I'm going to claim they helped (and probably still help) Roger Clemens pitch strikeouts.

And to go off on a rant here a bit: How can people be so incredibly hypocritical? I live in New York and during the rare times when Yankee fans or sports radio people aren't talking about the Yankees they say very nasty things about one Mr. Barry Bonds. Yet they are ecstatic over their own PED users like Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte. I just find the focus on JUST Barry Bonds to be incredibly ridiculous. It's as if baseball fans all want to blame just one player so they can pretend everyone else is a savior? So they can pretend all of the players on their team never touched the stuff? Give me a break. It's especially hilarious when this sort of BS comes from Yankees fans considering how important players like Roger Clemens, Andy Pettitte, Gary Sheffield, and Jason Giambi have been to their team.

Barry Bonds Home Run Chase

Of course Barry Bonds closing in on the all time home run record has been a major story all year. Bonds has been struggling recently and this has slowed him down considerably. Before the year I predicted he would break the record in the last game before the all star game. I didn't actually check if that game was at home or not and it's not. As many have said I think the Giants would prefer Bonds breaks the record at home from a PR stand point but I don't know if they would actually go the step of sitting Bonds when he's at 755 on the road. I don't think they'd do that. Bonds is the best hitter on the team and they are trying to make the playoffs (not trying hard enough, but that's another story.)

Bonds is currently at 746 homes. He needs 9 to tie and 10 to break the record.

The St. Louis Cardinals are also 22-29

The defending champion St. Louis Cardinals have the same poor record as the Yanks at 22-29. Luckily for the Cards there is no team anywhere near as good as the Boston Red Sox in their division and they are only 6.5 games out of first.

Albert Pujols hasn't been as awesome as usual but he has shown some signs of getting it together. He hit .340 in May. While his OPS is at a career low (.876) it's still leading the Cardinals this year. That's probably the real bad news for the Cards.

The New York Mets are rolling through the NL

I thought before the year began that the Mets were the best team in the NL and they are making me look like a wizard. They are 34-18 and even more impressively they are a 18-7 on the road.

And just like the other team in New York they will be adding one of the best pitchers of all time to their team at some point this year. If Pedro Martinez can pitch at something close to his peak level the Mets will be deadly.

Labels: Barry Bonds, New York Mets, New York Yankees, Roger Clemens, St. Louis Cardinals