I kinda live in Oregon now. Never really thought about Oregon being in "the surrounding area" of S.F. Truth be told I think if you made a list of players not on some kind performance enhancing drugs from the mid 80s till now it would be a lot shorter than the list of those who used. That is baseball's problem not Barry's, IMHO.
Well I'd like to think more were clean than not. And looking at the size and power of most average players I'd probably be right. However I won't deny we've had more cheaters the last 20 years then the previous 100. Palmerio, Sosa, Mac, Bonds, and a few others were obviously big names, because of roids more than not. However you've also had droves of clean stars too, Smoltz, Eckersley, Ripken, Gwynn, etc... etc.... Sure those few that roided have hurt the game, but to assume everyone is on roids just because of a few bad apples is a big leap in my opinion. Is Bonds unfairly targeted, maybe. But of all the roiders he's benefited the most.
Oh were you from here originally? Because that's the same thing as being here now when it comes to being a fan. Fans may leave the city, but the city don't leave a true fan.
my $.02 i'm glad it is finally over with. it is now going to come back to bite the giants organization and fans in the @$$. the biggest issue that i see with all of this is that it is showing everyone that the giants are focused on 1 player. their whole reason for going out to play the game the past few years is to watch barry break the record. my question to giants fans, the giants organization is why do they still play bonds? it seems like every time he is about to break a record, they'll hold him out of a game until they are back home so he can break the record at home. now, if the giants organization is out to win the world series and they think barry is the one to get them there, then why don't they play him everyday? if he's hurt, how come the only times recently that he's been healthy is when he's back home. it only goes to prove that they only thing that is in the organizations mind is to have him hit the big one at home. sure it's a money maker and would be fantastic if he could do it there. but if the team was set out to win every game that they played, wouldn't you want your big slugger out there every day trying to put points on the board? personally i think this record has plagued the giants and any opportunity to win. i am willing to bet that the giants will finally start to play better baseball now that the focus of the game is going to be taken off bonds and they can FINALLY get back to FOCUSING on baseball and not a record. i also feel sorry for the message that is being sent out to little kids. basically telling them it's all about the individual effort that you give and it's not about the team. again, if bonds was healthy enough to play, they should have played him as many games as they possibly could. not sit him out here and there just so he could have the chance to break the record at home. for the record, i am a die hard a's fan. my hat is off to barry bonds for what he was able to accomplish. i'd be willing to bet that this record could have been broken earlier in the season if the giants would have just played him as much as they could and not held him out of the line up until they were back home. but anyway, i'm not going to focus on the roids. sure it may have given him power, but it isn't only power that hits home runs. it's timing and focus also. bonds has been smacking home runs for years. even back when he was a toothpick and playing for the pirates. i think the roids just helped him hit the ball further.
Which means that he would have hit fewer HR without them. (I still would rather Barry has the record than Aaron. I am tired of Aaron's complaints, TBH)
It wont matter, its safe to say we are making the playoffs this year anyways. I personally didnt care. But say they were doing it at the beginning of the season for example, if we had a winning record and they pulled that shit it would have sparked major controversy.
i agree, it never seemed like the giants had a chance to get any where this year. my point is that it seems like the only reason they are playing is to get that freakin home run. and do anything it took to get the home run at home. baseball is a team sport. barry getting his home run either on the road or at home should not be the only thing the giants organization talks about. the #1 thing that should be on the minds of every ownwer, player, manager and coach should be, what can we do to win the world series this year. isn't that what the whole goal to play MLB is to do? it's funny to me how this whole situation is so similar to the "the team that we do not speak of" from down south. the entire league has focused so much on the arrival or becky that the altered the entire schedule of "the team that we do not speak of" from down south. thats all they have cared about all season long. their #1 focus should be the MLS cup and becky #2. don't get me wrong, i get nothing but pleasure from seeing them have the 2nd worst record in MLS. it's going to be fantastic to sit back and watch them possibly miss the playoffs the 2nd year in a row and watch the team fall apart at the end of the year and begining of next. i hope becky can play all positions on the field. he might be the only player left on that squad.
I'm just glad 756* is over with. I put Barry's achievement right next to Palmeiro's 600 career HRs and Brady Anderson's 50 HR season in 1996. Hopefully Barry retires at the end of the season and we never hear from him again. However, he'll probably end up DHing in the AL next year with the Angels.
Yeah, the record is just not exciting to me at all. There's really no suspense about if he's going to do it or not. It's just weird to me for the game to be about that, and the actual ballgame itself to be secondary. The most amazing thing to me is that Brian Sabean still has a job. He seems like a nice guy and everything, and the Giants have a very good young pitching staff, but, wow, almost no position players in the pipeline it seems. And the Barry Zito deal...wow, so far that's been a massive failure. That could hurt the Giants for years. (I like Zito though. I hope he turns it around.) Sabean's admitted that he's failed, this year, and really over the last few years. Just one bad decision after another. But he still hangs onto his job somehow. I guess I have to commend the Giant's ownership for their patience.
