God..I love this game!!

[Logan]

http://mlb.mlb.com/mlb/images/events/bonds/hdr_700_rt.jpg


Only 3 to go!!

God I Love this game!!


http://mlb.mlb.com/images/2004/09/04/JF7kKO7y.jpg



As San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds chases Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron for Major League Baseball's all-time homer lead, Bonds' thoughts about the pursuit will be recorded on a regular basis for MLB.com and barrybonds.com.
I had the feeling I was going to hit my 697th home run on Friday night against the Diamondbacks when I went out there about 5 o'clock to take batting practice. It was a hot day in San Francisco. And that ball carries very well when it gets super hot at night in SBC Park. So I knew that if I could just touch it, I would hit it out.

Day games are different than night games here. If you hit the ball at night in the heat, it's going to go.

I'd never seen that kid before, rookie Arizona right-hander Edgar Gonzalez. I figured the only reason I might not hit a home run against him is that he would pitch around me, walk me like everybody else.

But he came right at me in the first inning with a first-pitch fastball. I knew I was going to hit a home run after he threw me a first-pitch fastball for a strike right over the plate. That's something I don't see that often. He couldn't get the rest of his pitches over. Any pitcher, if he can't get the rest of his pitches over, he's going to get hit. Unless you're Randy Johnson and you're throwing 97, 98 miles per hour. If you're throwing 88, you're going to get crushed.

So I just waited again for that fastball. And in the second inning, he threw two balls and came back with it again. Between the heat and the ball out over the plate, I hit it 438 feet into the right-center-field bleachers. No easy feat in our ballpark.

So I'm three away from 700. With Johnson pitching on Sunday for the Diamondbacks and the Giants heading out on the road for eight games, let's see what the next few days will bring.

Barry Bonds' diary, as told to MLB.com's Barry M. Bloom, also appears on barrybonds.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

[Mark in Austin]

Now that BALCO is bust, somebody should track the rate of Bonds' head shrinking back to normal size and his rate of home runs per game to see if they are proportional.

[E20]

Why don't they do a drug test on Bonds.

[T Park Num 9]

Because drug testing would be a violation of his personal rights.

I mean, heaven forbid baseball players follow the same rules as normal everyday workers who go through drug tests.

I mean, why should THEY, rich spoiled athletes, be subjected to the same rules??

PSHAW the thought.

[IcemanCometh]

Albert Pujols takes drugs, so does Scott Rolen

[DuffMcCartney]

I mean, heaven forbid baseball players follow the same rules as normal everyday workers who go through drug tests.

Here's the problem retard...normal workers are required to go through drug tests, baseball players aren't. Blame the players union, the MLB, but not Barry. They don't require people to take steroid tests you dumbass.

[E20]

I say you can still achieve that size by lifting weights and eating hella food.

[Spurminator]

Now that BALCO is bust, somebody should track the rate of Bonds' head shrinking back to normal size and his rate of home runs per game to see if they are proportional.

HR's/AB's
2000: 1/9.8
2001: 1/6.5
2002: 1/8.8
2003: 1/8.7
2004: 1/8.1


If he's suddenly changed his drugging habits this season, there's no evidence of any effect on his power. Considering the scrutiny he was under in the offseason, I'd be shocked if he was on anything illegal this season, yet he's still far and away the best hitter in baseball.

[Logan]

Bonds Blasts No. 699 in Win Over Arizona

By MEL REISNER, AP SPORTS

PHOENIX (Sept. 12) -- Barry Bonds had a feeling Mike Koplove would pitch to him.

"I could see it in his face," Bonds said. "Like, 'I'm tired of this too. You might miss it."'

http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_articles/06/01/20040912191509990004.4144deeb-0006a-0440b-6e89bccd



Bonds certainly didn't, hitting a 460-foot shot off the bottom of the center-field scoreboard for his 699th home run. The ninth-inning drive Sunday helped the San Francisco Giants regain the NL wild-card lead with a 5-2 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Bonds walked his first two times up, increasing his record total to 203, then took a called third strike and grounded out to overshifted second baseman Scott Hairston in short right field.

With the count 3-1, Bonds finally got a pitch he liked and connected for his 41st homer of the season.

"If you don't start your car eventually, the battery goes dead," Bonds said. "I'm sitting over there just rooting for everybody and, hopefully, we're staying in this thing, but my car's got to start, too, once in a while."

Bonds motioned to the sky in his usual salute to his late father as he crossed home plate but did not acknowledge the crowd. Fans booed loudly Saturday night, when Bonds was walked three times.



"People living in a capitalistic country like this, they want their money's worth," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "I believe they came to see that guy swing a bat."

Bonds is third on the career list behind Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). After an off-day Monday, the Giants play at Milwaukee on Tuesday.

Koplove, the 414th pitcher to allow a home run to Bonds, didn't want to work around him.

"It's always fun to go out there and try to get him out," Koplove said. "I'm not the first guy. It's a long list."

San Francisco (79-65) won for the sixth time in eight games and moved one game ahead of the Chicago Cubs (76-64), who lost to Florida 11-1.

Jason Schmidt (16-6) pitched a four-hitter, struck out nine and walked two in his fourth complete game of the season, retiring 21 consecutive batters in one stretch. Schmidt, who had been 0-2 in four starts since beating Pittsburgh on Aug. 12, has won six straight decisions against the Diamondbacks.

A.J. Pierzynski and J.T. Snow hit solo homers against Brandon Webb, and Pedro Feliz followed Bonds to give the Giants consecutive homers off Koplove in the ninth.

Arizona (43-100) became the first major league team to lose 100 times this season, extending the team record for defeats.

Webb, who got out of bases-loaded jams in the first and third, allowed two runs and four hits in six innings. He walked five, increasing his major league-leading total to 109.

Alan Zinter's RBI double in the first and Luis Terrero's run-scoring single in the second put Arizona ahead 2-0. That was the last hit off Schmidt, who retired 22 of his last 23 batters.

"I just think he picked up the intensity and picked up his mental approach, and he was lights out," Pierzynski said. "He's been struggling with the groin, and I think he finally said, 'You know what? I've got to get over this,' and he did that."

Pierzynski homered in the fourth and Snow in the fifth to tie it.

"He got a little frustrated when he gave up the home run to Snow," Arizona manager Al Pedrique said of Webb. "We thought it was a good pitch -- it was down -- but Snow, that's where he likes it."

Snow also opened the eighth with a single off Randy Choate (1-3). After Koplove relieved, Marquis Grissom sacrificed, Pierzynski was intentionally walked and Cruz hit a grounder that deflected off the pitcher's glove and into short left field as pinch-runner Jason Ellison scored from second.

[Jimcs50]

Does anyone really care if Bonds breaks this record? He is probably the only MLB player that can achieve this milestone with so little interest from the baseball fans. If he was a just a decent person, then he would be the toast of the country, like Hank was in 74.