|
Issue 11
Bonds Smacks 660, Ties Mays for 3rd All-Time
By Jared Levine
After five games and one week of waiting, Barry Bonds made perhaps his biggest mark in baseball's record books Monday, April 12, in San Francisco, hitting his 660th career homerun, tying him for third all time with his hall-of-fame godfather Willy Mays.
Bonds, a six-time National League MVP, eight-time gold glove winner, and single-season home run record holder, has countless credits to his name. However, matching his mentor Mays seems to be the best of them all.
“I felt a sense of accomplishment in baseball,” Bonds said in an associated press post-game interview for www.espn.com. “It's a relief now to be able to stand next to my godfather and finally feel like I've accomplished something in the game of baseball. It was a big way of getting his approval that I've finally done something.”
After the mammoth blast over SBC Ballpark's right field walls and into McCovey Cove, Mays greeted Bonds and presented him with a torch bearing 25 (Barry's jersey number) diamonds.
The homerun was hit off Brewers' pitcher Matt Kinney, on a 3-1 count in the bottom of the fifth. Kinney had walked Bonds on four straight pitches in the first inning and allowed him a single in the third. The third at-bat started with three straight balls, all drawing boos from the sellout crowd. Bonds swung on a 3-0 pitch and fouled it back out of play. The next pitch was the fateful one Barry clubbed into the water for the twenty-eighth time in his career.
Bonds goes for 661 Tuesday night when the Giants take on the Brewers at SBC.
Jays Pound Reds
By: Rebecca Cuttita
Cincinnati Reds pitcher Jimmy Haynes tossed a five-inning shutout against Toronto before the Blue Jays ripped off a five-run rally and won the spring training contest 5-1 in Sarasota, Florida.
Haynes had been recovering from a bulging disc in his back since last season. His excellent work Wednesday showed that he is ready to go.
Despite the loss, Reds’ manager Dave Miley has confidence in his pitcher. “He’s been fine. Every pitch limit thrown at him, he’s gotten to it fine.” Miley said of Haynes in an Associated Press post-game interview with ESPN.
“I had everything working for me, really, I feel great,” said Haynes after the game. “My arms feel good, my back feels good, and I’m just trying to keep it that way.”
On the other hand, Reds’ superstar and franchise player, Ken Griffey, Jr. is out of the Cincinnati lineup yet again, this time with a strained calf he suffered Monday. Griffey has missed over 260 games in four seasons since joining the Reds in 2000.
Ten Toronto batters shelled Jesus Sanchez, a Cincinnati reliever, in the seventh inning for the Jays’ only run of the game. Leading off the rally was Jeff Guiel, who smacked a homerun to fight field off Sanchez.
For the Blue Jays, Chris Baker, filling in for American League Cy Young winner Roy Halladay, pitched five innings, giving up only three hits.
|