Bonds Getting Praise

Through all of this controversy surrounding Barry Bonds and the steroid era as well as the home run record, a few of American sports' biggest icons have stepped forth and shown their support for Bonds. A few weeks back, right after Bonds hit home run number 754, Michael Jordan sent a video message to Barry that was played on the big screen at AT&T Park. Jordan essentially wished Bonds the best and said how happy he was for him. Then, last night before the Giants-Nationals game, a video was shown of the great Muhammad Ali congratulating Bonds on 755 and giving Bonds a double thumbs up. I'm sure Bonds had to find those messages very reassuring. For all the hate he's received in recent years, it has to feel good to know that two of the biggest stars in the world are behind him 100%. It also makes me wonder about Hank Aaron. It's no secret that Aaron isn't happy that Bonds is the guy who is going to break his record, but the fact that Aaron wants no part of this guy, while Michael Jordan and Muhammad Ali are cheering him on has to make me think that Aaron is a little bit jealous. I hate to use the term "hater" but that's really what Aaron is looking like in this situation. Even if he's not going to make an attempt to see Barry's record breaking home run in person, it wouldn't be the worst thing for baseball to have Aaron send Bonds a congratulatory memo like Jordan and Ali did.

Lost in all the Bonds hoopla over the last week was a solid pitching performance from a recent call-up. Pat Misch had a terrific first career start, as he struck out 8 batters while allowing 2 runs in 5 innings of work. I was most impressed by his command as he walked nobody in his 5

innings, and also his big sweeping curveball. He certainly has the control to be able to pitch up here, and he has a very good strikeout pitch in that big hook. I was not very high on the prospect of starting Misch over Jonathon Sanchez as Misch had been dominant in relief all year in Fresno, but he showed why the Giants have hopes of him being in the rotation. Misch has more command and more pitches he can throw strikes with than Sanchez, but I still would like to see Sanchez get stretched out whether it's in San Francisco or Fresno as I think his future one as a starter. Plus, if the Giants are going to deal Sanchez at some point, he will have more value as a starter than reliever.

WORLD SERIES: Giants Move Up 2-0 on Texas

PreGame After taking game one in a surprising slug-fest , the Giants look to go up 2-0 on the Rangers in the World Series on Thursday night. The Giants are sending out Matt Cain, a guy who I'm sure every Giants' fan is pretty confident in. He'll be a opposed by C.J. Wilson, who's in his first year as a full-time starter, but has been brilliant in the role. He did struggle his last time out though, so hopefully the Giants can get to him early and get into his head a bit. I'm going to do something I've never done here on this unique occasion, and sort of do an in-game post. updating this post every time I feel I have something to add. So go Giants, and be sure to check back throughout the game, and after, to vent or whatever! As long as Matt Cain keeps rolling, and the Giants keep coming up with those clutch 2-out hits, we should be OK. Texas has that high-powered offense that can score in a hurry, as we saw last night, so the Giants cannot let down and have to t

Giants Still Need Infield Help

On Saturday, the Giants finalized a 2 year contract extension with Freddy Sanchez, who they acquired in July for Tim Alderson. The new deal for Sanchez will pay him 12 million over the next 2 seasons instead of 8.5 million for just 2010, which was his option for 2010. I've voiced my disappointment in Sanchez a few times here since the Giants dealt for him over the summer. He wasn't able to stay on the field full time to help this club with their run at the NL Wild Card, and even when he was in there, he didn't seem to make much of an impact in th e lineup. Now, I wasn't necessarily hoping the Giants would cut ties with Sanchez (they probably would have had to pay 4 million or so to buy him out), just didn't think he was worth upwards of 10 million dollars, and would have liked to see the Giants pursue someone like Orlando Hudson with that money. The Giants already have an infielder who's being paid about 3-4 times what his play over the last 2 seasons would indi

Giants Notes: Lincecum Signs, Ross to Boston

Well, even though I touched on it a little bit in our last post, I haven't really had a chance to get my thoughts out on the new Lincecum deal since he and the Giants agreed earlier in the week. Also, on the other end of things, the Giants missed out on shoring up their outfield by letting Cody Ross sign in Boston for only $3 million in 2012. First off, obviously, wanted to talk a bit about Lincecum. I've already said here that I didn't expect him to sign a long-term deal that takes him through free agency, but it doesn't mean he wants to leave San Francisco like everyone is suspecting. I mean, if I were Lincecum, I'd probably do the same thing, even if I planned on eventually signing with the Giants long-term. Why take a chance at mitigating your value to just sign a deal? Granted, a 5 year, $100 million deal isn't anything to sneeze at, in this market, if he were a free agent, Lincecum could probably easily command a 8 year, $200 million deal. If he could get

Anonymous said…

Sanchez's arm angle is all over the place and SF
needs a pitching coach to work on mechanex's
with the young arms. I would trade Sanchez and
Lowery. A trade to the Dodgers would give them
the division and Loney & a rookie outfielder would
make the Giants better. A starting rotation of
Vito, Cain, Lincecum, and choose two from Blackley, Misch, Hennessey, Correia, and Beggs.

Blackley, once a top prospect, will be in the second year after arm surgery. Remember Nathan.

3:56 PM

Trevor Cole said…

This comment has been removed by the author.

4:20 PM

Good comment, you seem to know your stuff. You should post a name. Begg is 28 and I wouldn't expect much out of him. Hennessey is a reliever now and he aint coming back to the rotation after all the success he's had this year. I would like to see Blackley get a shot in September.

The Giants and Dodgers will NEVER make a trade with each other and especially not one that would involve big time players or prospects. Even with Ned Colleti there. Sabean has already said that he is going to have to part with some young pitching this winter to get some young positional players and Lowry and Sanchez seem to be the top two on the block, even though I would not deal Lowry unless it's for a young outfielder who's proven himself at this level like Lowry has.

I am in total agreement with you about the pitching coach. I am not impressed with Righetti at all and haven't ever been. Giants pitchers are not aggressive enough in the strike zone and I am upset with the job he's done with Matt Cain's talent so far.

4:22 PM

Greg Anderson was left to rot in a jail multiple times for refusing to co-operate in a federal investigation against Bonds and we're supposed to worry about how Balco Barry feels during a record pursuit? Phulease....

4:38 PM

Locknessmonster

Whatever I may think about how Bonds got to where he is, the one thing I will say for him is that he has handled himself this season much better than a lot of the principal MLB people that have come out against his pursuit of the record. I wasn't really expecting that given the way I'd seen him act prior to this year, so he deserves credit for that.

5:22 PM

Tyrone, you make it sound like Barry forced Anderson to stay quiet. I think that was his choice.

5:29 PM

The fact is that Barry Bonds has hit 755 home runs. Congratulations, Barry! The fact that Hank Aaron is so bitter about it (despite doing commercials with Barry after Bonds bulked up and hit 73 HR in a season) is making him out to be a rather petty, "fairweather" person. Also, I agree that the events of the home run chase have portrayed Bonds in a much more positive light than the "powers" of MLB.

5:48 PM

yeah, good point EA. I forgot about the commercials. Aaron also embraced Bonds during the during the 2004 home run derby festivites.

5:59 PM

Love him or hate him, you do need to respect what he's doing, at his age and over the course of his whole career.

6:13 PM

Big deal. Vidoes played in the friendly confines of San Fran. Bonds is a cheater. End of discussion.

8:26 PM

Aaron said…

Its seems to me that while a lot of people didn't want him to break the record, We all knew it was coming, and had our reaction in our minds. I'm not afriad to say this "Congratulations Barry"

9:13 AM

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