Bonds nails No. 754 after hammering out flaws in swing
SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds was so bad before Friday's game, the pitcher was laughing at him. The batting practice pitcher.
Bill Hayes is his name, and by trade he's the San Francisco Giants' bullpen catcher. He also throws BP, and Bonds couldn't handle him. After an especially dismal round of swings that saw Bonds foul balls back into the hitting cage and up into the netting, Hayes let out a chuckle. So did Bonds. The future home run king, stifled, in batting practice? Ridiculous.
|
|
| Marlins pitchers make sure Barry Bonds stands at first, rather than trots past it, after his homer. (Getty Images) |
When the game started two hours later, Bonds needed just one swing to raise his record homer pursuit to Defcon 754. His first-inning home run against Marlins rookie Rick Vanden Hurk put him one short of Hank Aaron's total of 755.
The home run to left center, a 420-foot blast to the deepest part of AT&T Park, was Bonds' first in six games. He came into Friday's game in a 6-for-40 slump, hitting .150 since July 6. On Thursday against the Braves he had three infield pop-ups and a broken-bat bloop that two Braves outfielders misplayed into a double.
Then on Friday, Bonds was overmatched in batting practice, leading to the light-hearted laughter and a serious move to the team's indoor batting cage. There, Bonds summoned his personal practice pitcher, a 52-year-old real estate VP named John Yandle, who listened to Bonds complain about the tempo of his swing before serving up a series of left-handed heat.
Something under the stadium clicked into place for Bonds -- after the game he told the media he had discovered some flaws on tape -- and he emerged from the indoor cage in a great mood. He jogged back onto the field, past 15 or 20 television crew members, and stopped short when one of them asked, "Feel like a home run, Barry?"
Bonds searched out the guy who asked the question, smiled, and said, "Why not?"
Two hours later, Bonds nearly had an answer to that question: Lack of opportunity.
Vanden Hurk's first two pitches were outside. This was the first look at Bonds for Vanden Hurk, a 22-year-old rookie from the Netherlands who came in with a 3-2 record and a 6.53 ERA. He throws hard -- the stadium's radar gun registered one of his pitches at 98 mph -- and would be second in the National League in strikeouts per nine innings (9.23) if he had enough innings to qualify, but Vanden Hurk didn't feel like challenging Bonds. His third pitch also was outside, but umpire Mike Reilly called it a strike.
That ticked off Bonds, who could be seen mouthing the words "not close" as he settled back into the batter's box for the next pitch. This one was in a similar location, but the heavily armored Bonds stands so close to the plate that he can reach pitches well outside. As the ball soared toward the 404-foot marker, Bonds stood at the plate and watched it before making his 754th career trip around the bases.
Bonds had little chance at No. 755. Vanden Hurk walked him on his next two at-bats, reliever Renyel Pinto walked him in the sixth, and Taylor Tankersley walked him in the eighth. The crowd booed all four walks, and Bonds concurred by disdainfully dropping his bat at the plate. On Tankersley's first pitch, Bonds dropped his characteristic patience for a moment, swinging at an off-speed pitch in the dirt before taking the next five pitches.
Although the Giants led 12-8 at the time, Bonds stayed in the game, then went back to left for the ninth. He hobbled out there, his shins sore, but it now seems likely that Bonds will play the last two games of this homestand on Saturday and Sunday. Bonds and the Giants would prefer that he hit No. 755 and No. 756 at home, and after a day off Monday, the team has three games in Los Angeles and three in San Diego. So instead of taking off Sunday, as was the team's original plan, Bonds said he expects to play both games.
Everyone in the ballpark will be there for history. Bonds understands, and seems unfazed.
"I don't feel pressure on something I've been doing my whole life," he said. "I don't feel that kind of pressure."
So what does he feel, perched one swing from Hank Aaron?
"It's very hard to explain," he said. "I can't tell you every single emotion that's going through my body."
