Go Cubs indeed!
They are hitting a little bump in the road but that is expected considering they had the best record in baseball over the last month or so, which is why they are even in contention.
They just need to hang tough while Soriano is out.
Shit, the Brewers are playing so bad any team in the NL Central might catch them.
^don’t get your hopes up Brian. I know you’ve learned that lesson.
My Twins finally busted out of this putrid offensive slump last night. First time in 16 games they scored five or more runs. ugh.
The new issue of SI has an article entitled “The Evolution of Barry Bonds.”
It’s a pictorial (complete with stats, factoids and quotes) of his career from 1986 through 2007.
1986 - 6’1’’, 185 lbs
1991 - 6’1’’, 190 lbs
1996 - 6’1’’, 190 lbs
2001 - 6’2’’, 228 lbs
2006 - 6’2’’, 238 lbs
FIFTY THREE POUNDS. And the pictorial is quite something, too.
53 lbs in 20 years?
So?
And I am the only person in the world who doesn’t care about the home run record being smashed? Sports, and baseball especially, has turned into Stats 101. There is an entire cable channel which loves stats, stats, and more stats. It really doesn’t matter. How are the Giants doing this year? They suck. How is that for a stat?
Fifty-three pounds in 20 years is A LOT for an athlete.
He’s not exactly sitting on the couch eating Doritos watching Family Guy reruns like you and I are.
No, you’re not the only person in the world who doesn’t care about the HR record.
But you’re in the minority I bet. Sports is stats. Sports is money. Sports is image. This is no earth-shattering discovery.
Barry Bonds career HR by year
16
25
24
19
33
25
34
46
37
33
42
40
37
34
49
73?
46
45
45
5 (sat out most of the year due to being a cry baby)
26
23
solid numbers indeed. 40 home run seasons are nothing to be ashamed of but where the fuck does that 73 come from? Just a one time thing. Interesting.
anyway, i’m not that excited about it because Bonds is one of those players that just has a bad additude. Always whining about shit and not playing for anything but his own glorification (not turning around to go after fly balls, not running right after he hits it for dramatic effect and then the ball doesn’t go out and he looks like a fool).
and Hank was just one of those good ole ball players ya know.
Bonds breaking Aaron’s record is the equivilant of somebody like Terrel Owens breaking all of Jerry Rice’s receiving records.
Muscle weighs more than fat.
Think of all the advancements we have seen in working out.
All of the LEGAL supplements we didn’t have back when Bonds was younger.
I am not a fan of Barry Bonds, but I find it rediculous he is becoming this evil villain type of person, just from peoples views.
Steroids don’t teach you how to swing a baseball bat.
The first three sentences of your post above sounds like you’re defending Bonds.
Which I don’t care either way, because I’m not particularly a baseball fan. But I do love stats and records, and 756 is a historical moment (whether anyone likes it or not).
I remember playing Tony La Russa Baseball for Sega Genesis in the early 90’s. Know which team I got? Pittsburgh. 3 reasons: Barry, Andy Van Slyke, and Bobby Bonilla. Even then, Barry was a stud.
But I do agree with the pro-Barry camp in the fact that steroids still don’t help hand-eye coordination and the ability to make contact on a 96 MPH fastball. That’s pure talent.
I don’t know what point I’m trying to make. Because, well…I’m half in the bag. Steroids might just add 30-40 feet.
OK, so maybe I am defending Bonds while everyone else bashes him.
Your point?
actually nothing is that far out of whack with his numbers other than the 73 home run season. and even then someone was bound to have an unbelievable year where they hit just about everything. watered down pitching, smaller ballparks, and juiced balls…come on. that being said, i myself do think BB is a cheater.
Other than 73, which is probably the year he started using steroids, he never hit 50 HR/year.
The guy was a stud before 2001, folks.
^i agree though i tend to believe he started a little earlier. possibly when mcgwire and sosa were going at it for the homerun crown. bonds was prob a bit jealous as he flet he was the best player in the game and decided to give himself an edge. he was great before the alleged juicing took place though.
my cubs are kicking the shit out of the rockies tonight. the offense really needed that. all though d lee dosen’t have a hit yet.
But I do agree with the pro-Barry camp in the fact that steroids still don’t help hand-eye coordination and the ability to make contact on a 96 MPH fastball. That’s pure talent.
[/quote]
Although the 'roids won’t help the hand/eye coordination it will certainly have it’s effects on the distance the ball travels. I see it like this: 'Roids will help with the stamina you have when it comes to working out, the more stamina you have, the longer you work out, the more muscle you build. The more muscle you build, the heavier bat you’ll be able to use in a game. With a heavier bat, the farther the ball will travel once contact is made.
This may be a stretch, and a bit inaccurate, but that’s how I see it.
All that being said, I think that a big reason that Bnds is the face of steroids is simply because he is the one who was chasing the homerun record. If Neifi Perez was the one chasing the record, he would be the face of all this. It also doesn’t help that Bnds is such an asshole. It seems like if he doesn’t get his way, and people don’t bow to his feet, he starts to cry foul and even go so far as to play the race card.
No Barry, it’s not 'cause you’re black that the media has painted you as this mean ogre. It’s because you, quite simply, are an asshole!
Oh, and for the record, I think that in time, it will come out that he did more than rub some cream on his legs or took the “clear”. I truly believe that he injected himself with a needle. This is only the beginning of the story, and much more information will come out. And in the end, not only should the homerun record still belong to Aaron, and all of the records from the last 10-20 years will be wiped off the books.
It’s a dark time for baseball, and I hope for the sake of the game that A-Rod is on the level and all that he is doing is on the up-and-up.
Well the big deal with the 73 homer runs isn’t that he had some monster breakout year (Maris hit 61 after hitting like 37 the year before though it was the first year where he was healthy the entire season)…it’s WHEN he had a breakout year. Bonds was THIRTY-SEVEN when he suddenly hit 73. Sosa and McGuire were very similar in that they both had their big years late in their careers. They’ve tracked the history of most major athletes in baseball and basically EVERY player has started to fall off on his run production when they reach their late 30’s. EVERY player. However Bonds not only hit better but hit TWICE as better. This isn’t a coincidence. It’s the roids. And it’s not even an issue of what he took…Bonds took LOTS of them…he took so many of them that in 1999 he mangled his leg and was out for the final 60 games because his muscles grew so large that his bones weren’t developed enough to handle them…and he’d already tied his HR production in 1998 despite playing 60 less games.
And I don’t buy this “oh roids don’t help that much” crap. If they didn’t do much then we wouldn’t have this massive amount of people taking them. No, a bad hitter isn’t going to become a .350 hitter. But a 20 home-run guy is going to become a 50 homerun guy. And due to that pitchers and teams will treat you differently which effects other stats and intangibles like walks, runs, hits, on-base percentage and other things that might not be related to power numbers. Heck…look at this year…Bonds is only hitting like .250 and he’s still leading the league in walks!! People forget Bonds also has the record for walks and intentional walks and is approaching record the runs and RBI records, all of which is connected to his roid use and his walks. Not to mention that roids definitely help you heal your body faster which helps longevity and obviously allowed Bonds to stick around much longer when a normal person would have broken down.
Oh, and by the way, folks…who the heck says that Bonds isn’t STILL taking them??? At the moment there is NO real test for HGH (Human Growth Hormone)…it’s almost undetectable. Who says that Barry didn’t just switch over to it? Look at ALL the roids guys who suddenly dropped off when they started roid testing. Giambi was a disaster who was hitting below.200 and was almost sent to the minors. Sammy Sosa was hitting so poorly that he was basically cut from the Cubs and took a year off before returning to Texas this year. Palmeiro’s numbers were so horrendous that he was told to basically take the year off and he’s never come back. And Barry Bonds also hit like total crap until he basically faked an injury and took himself out for the rest of the year and the beginning of the year after that. Then within a year or so later, all of these guys have miraculously hit better. Sammy’s hitting them with Texas, Barry obviously broke the record, Giambi got much improved and has been solid again. Why the BIG drop in numbers and why are they all suddenly back to old form again? Why is it so hard to believe that they aren’t STILL on roids, except now they’re just using HGH which isn’t tested? It’s VERY possible and in this day and age I’m willing to believe it. In the end, I also believe that Roger Clemens is on them (sorry…I don’t buy you being that dominant at 44) and I believe that Lance Armstrong was on them too (again, I don’t buy someone fighting cancer for years then dominating the sport at his age). Usually if it’s too good to be true then it is.
The big difference is you can use roids in baseball and get by since you don’t need to be athletic or even be able to run fast or do anything to be a star in baseball…you just need home runs. In other sports you have to be very athletic and fast and in great condition which is why roids (which just add muscle) aren’t as big an advantage in basketball, football and hockey…all of which are VERY skill-oriented and not power-oriented. Yes, roids are probably used to heal injuries, but do they help you with your mid-range jumper? Of course not. That’s why it’s such a deal with baseball and not these other sports.
And to be fair, I know stats are big in all sports but they’re SO much more important than in baseball than in any other sport…
Stevo
They might help you get through an offensive line…I would say your analysis is correct until you mentioned football.
Sad day for Yankee fans:
Hall of Fame New York Yankees Shortstop and Broadcaster Phil Rizzuto Dead at 89
Tuesday , August 14, 2007
AP NEW YORK
^ Uh Yeah. Too bad. I loved him on those money store commercials. Anyway.
[color=blue]WOO HOO! WE SUCK LESS!
Cleveland 8-14-07
Magglio Ordonez hit a three-run homer in Detroit’s four-run 10th inning as Detroit moved one game ahead of Cleveland in the up-for-grabs division with a 6-2 win over the Indians on Tuesday night.
Ordonez’s 22nd homer, a shot to left off Joe Borowski (2-5), broke it open for the Tigers, who were missing two regulars because of the flu and had been playing lately as if their whole roster had come down with something.
Curtis Granderson, whose all-out diving catch in the eighth kept it tied 2-2, walked to open the 10th and went to third on Ryan Raburn’s bloop single. Gary Sheffield’s RBI single gave Detroit a 3-2 lead.
Indians pitching coach Carl Willis made a quick visit to settle down Borowski. The right-hander made a mistake anyway as Ordonez ripped his first pitch over the wall in left to make it 6-2.
Fernando Rodney (2-5) struck the side in the ninth after allowing a leadoff double, and Todd Jones worked the 10th.
For several weeks, the Tigers have looked nothing like defending AL champions. Since the All-Star break, they’re just 14-19. The Indians, though, have been worse, going 13-18 with an offense that can’t hit.
When he stopped hitting pitches, he started going for pitchers.
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=2975386
Two run, bottom of the ninth rally for the BoSox, coupled with a smashing of the Spankmees by the O’s brings the lead in the AL East to a barely breathable 5 games. Still lots to play.
LOL@bigb. I don’t know if you saw it but it was great. You had Sabathia and Bonderman going neck and neck, both Tigers relievers getting two guys on base with no outs then somehow getting out of it, Granderson making a sick, sick, sick catch in the outfield to save two runs (he’s my Tiger!) and of course Mags just crushing that ball. (By the way, why is Bettancourt not the closer on that team?..Am I missing something? It’s like how Joe Nathan is the closer instead of Pat Nesheck…it doesn’t make sense at all).
Gotta love this stretch for the Tigs: 2 at Cleveland, 2 at Yankees, 3 vs Cleveland, 4 vs Yankees. Can you say playoff implications? I’m going to the final Yankees game. That should be a trip. I was at the Tigers/A’s game last Friday which ended up 16-10 and had two grand slams in one game. Just ridiculous.
Stevo