When the Giants Come to Town, It's Bye-Bye Baby

07.20.2007
Seven Fifty Six

This weekend in Milwaukee? It could happen. We know the Giants desperately want Bonds to break Hank Aaron’s record — and probably tie it, too — at home. Blb2

But after his superhero game yesterday, hitting moonshots into the teeth of a Wrigley wind, it would be inexcusable to sit him tonight. Add to that the team’s dire need of a win. If he plays, Barry could easily tie the record in his first two or three at-bats; Miller Park is a good hitter’s park, and Jeff Suppan is starting for the Brewers.

What then? Saturday, a day game after a night game, would probably be an off-day for him anyway, but sitting him Sunday, too? How would you explain that to the rest of the team?

One factor going against him tying the record in Milwaukee: the Brewers are in danger of losing their top spot in the NL Central, so manager Ned Yost will go to great lengths to win. And against the Giants, that means not letting Bonds swing the bat. If the games are within a run or two when Bonds comes up, he probably will get zippo to hit. 

And of course, the ultimate twist: will Bud “Milwaukee’s Finest” Selig show up to any of the games?

How do you think it will play out? What would you prefer to see?

***

P.M. UPDATE: Over at the McChronic, regulars have “adopted” their favorite Giants, major and minor league. I started with homeboy Jesse Foppert, who is back in the Giant organization trying to recover from Tommy John surgery. I added to my family a bit later with Kelvin Pichardo, an obscure minor-leaguer the Giants got in exchange for Michael Tucker in 2005. BP’s Kevin Goldstein gives my adopted son a little ink today with this note:

The 21-year-old Pichardo didn’t do much in 2006, but he dominated at High-A San Jose during the first half of this year, striking out 71 in 46 2/3 innings before getting bumped up to Double-A Connecticut, where he’s delivered four shutout innings, allowing just one hit, in his first two appearances. “I really like his arm. He’s small and there’s some effort in him, but he’s mid-90s with excellent movement, his slider is good, and he even has a pretty nice change,” said the scout. “He’s aggressive, he’s kind of cocky and immature; sometimes he gets a little pumped up and when he calms down he has better movement, but I really like him as a potential late-inning reliever.”

Doing well in double-A at the age of 21. (This year’s stats are here; click here for previous years.) If he continues well, look for a promotion to Fresno next year, and he could conceivably be in the majors by the time he’s 23 or 24. See? It’s always worth getting someone, anyone back in a trade deadline dump.

Looks like I need to talk to Kelvin about this “cocky and immature” business. I didn’t pay for all those baseball lessons to see my boy grow up a fool.



Also on the Network:



[July 20, 2007 2:10 PM]  |  link  |  reply
trilljester said

My prediction:

Bonds plays tonight, maybe gets 1 quality AB (meaning pitches to hit), if he tags one, then that'll be the last quality AB he'll see all weekend. No way does Yost let Bonds see another pitch to hit all weekend.

If Bonds hits 754 tonight, then Bochy will probably sit him tomorrow, and have him try to tie on Sunday. Again, I doubt Yost will give him anything to hit. Subtle baseball "politics" at it's finest.

Giants come home to play against the Braves.. how fitting would it be for him to hit 755 and 756 against the team that Hammerin Hank broke Ruth's record for? What a fairytale story there.

BTW: I heard the person who got 753 yesterday threw it back on the field in traditional Wrigley fashion. Moron or true fan?

[July 20, 2007 2:20 PM]  |  link  |  reply
GiantFan said

The fan who caught 753 threw back a fake ball.

Watch for IBB's until Barry goes cold again. Sad. On the other hand, after 756, the season is truly dead.

[July 20, 2007 2:26 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ELM said

another post-756 factor to watch: how much does Barry play the rest of the year? A good chunk of his contract is tied to plate-appearance incentives...

[July 20, 2007 2:55 PM]  |  link  |  reply
BawLa said

I honestly could care less if Selig shows up. This is Barry's moment, not Bud Selig's. Other commissioners have not been present at certain record breaking moments, and so it really comes down to if Bud wants to or not. I hate how the media spins everything to draw attention to the steroids, instead of analyzing how amazing a soon-to-be-43-year-old Barry is.

One thing is for sure, up until 756 we are going to hear the final cry of the anti-Bonds campaign. Everyone and their mother is going to chime in on what they think. Ideally this whole record breaking moment happens sooner than later, because the longer it drags out, the longer we have to listen to all of the garbage.

I say Bonds hits 754 against Milwuakee, 755 against Atlanta, and 756 against Florida. And that to me is the best case scenario. We think we have seen pitchers stay away from Bonds in the past but it will likely get worse at 755 and 756. No pitcher will want to be known as the duffer that gave up the record.

[July 20, 2007 3:37 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ogc said

No way Bonds ties Aaron at Aaron's home park/town. He is still revered there. Walks galore, he'll be lucky to see a strike during his PAs.

Then hopefully he ties at home. But yeah, probably sits Saturday, and depending on how the first two games go, he could skip game 3 ("legs bothering me again...").

Again, why does anyone talk about anyone showing up for Bonds passing? Isn't his May and recent cold streaks lessons enough that it can be weeks before we see the historic homers and no one wants to tag along for the ride, flying from city to city, disrupting your whole life, just to be there. Of course, it is easy fodder for the Bonds hating media to stick the bear once again.

ELM, I think we already know about Bonds reduced playing time: after the all-star break, Bochy noted that he was using Bonds too much so he will be getting much more rest. Add to that the long stretches of games the Giants will be playing over the next month or two, due to the rainouts with the Pirates, and that means more sitting of Bonds during games.

Yeah, it was a fake ball so that they can follow tradition and yet keep the historic (that is, valuable$$$) homerun ball. Even if it's only $10K, that's a nice addition (start?) on the boy's college fund.

[July 20, 2007 3:46 PM]  |  link  |  reply
the gene hackman said

if i was a ML pitcher i think it would be kinda cool to give up that historic dong. especially if i still got the win, which, you know, is pretty likely.

but that just the way i roll.

[July 20, 2007 4:58 PM]  |  link  |  reply
ogc said

Checked out the thread on adoption. Todd Linden is such an idiot; that's probably why he got released. :^)

I don't have a Ishikawa hard-on, I have a homerun hard-on, and that's just the way I roll. I will protect any homerun hitting potential hitter from any idiot wannabe analyst who thinks of releasing the player when he's only 20 years old or any park that makes homerun hitters look like Neifi reincarnated.

I know the thread is old, but I'll adopt Wendell Fairley, even though he hasn't signed yet. He likes "watching the ball get up there." I like him already. And I'll add Nick Noonan too, to the ogc family.

[July 21, 2007 12:00 AM]  |  link  |  reply
wcw said

Noonan has been stinging the ball. Yeah, it's only rookie league, but it doesn't hurt. I am pretty interested in him.

I also like Pichardo. I am always suspicious of minor-league relievers, but his stats in the Cal League were amazing, and while he's walked too many in double-A, he's striking out a bunch.

My adoptee is Clayton Tanner. Yeah, he's a long way from the majors. He's not striking out a ton. Still, he's 19, he's surviving the Sallie League and he's mostly keeping the ball on the ground.

Tonight? 6 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 BB, 2 K, 12 GB outs, 4 FB outs.

Second-string adoptee: apparent underachiever Jesse English.

Yes, yes, I like me lefty pitching. Sue me.

[July 21, 2007 2:11 AM]  |  link  |  reply
Frank said

Did Barry look tired and sore tonight to anyone?