Bonds does it again

Futurballa is a Giants fan. A factoid that has up until now not found its way into the blog, but we take our baseball seriously. Keep your George Willesque musings about small town America and baseball's pastoral metaphor. This is a city kid who loves the joy of a beer and a hotdog, and the crack of the bat. Futurballa knows that baseball is a better game today because of the international influence on the game. As a kid I grew up on Sandy Koufax who was a hero to the all the kids in my neighborhood, and Jackie Robinson was the ultimate portrait in courage.

Which takes us to Barry Bonds. Some have argued that Barry may not be the greatest of all time, and greatest is a subjective title. But looking at the quality of pitching, that managers give him 4 fingers in unheard of situations, that he continues to set new records at 39 years of age and looks like he may have a few good years left, it is hard to imagine that the Bambino would be outhitting Barry given an even playing field.

The Giants are having a great year in spite of slumping badly on their last road trip, but back at Pacbell this week against the Braves, they are finding their rhythmn again, and with Barry back from spending time with his ailing father they are playing like a team that knows it can win against anyone. But even with that these have been close games, all 3 won with walkoff hits in the 9th or 10th. In game 2 of the series it was a walkoff RBI single by Alfonzo with men in scoring postion in the bottom of the ninth, but in games 1 and 3 it was a Barry Bonds homer that sent them back to the clubhouse in the bottom of the 10th. It's hard to think of any other player who could come up on such a consistent basis, and given even a marginal pitch, can turn it into a game winner.