Greetings from the Grand Canyon…
Picking up where last year's version left off, the Ducksnorts 2008 Baseball Annual provides in-depth analysis of and commentary on the San Diego Padres. Get your copy today.
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I don't always read blogs, but when I do, I prefer Ducksnorts.
August 3, 2007 at 7:29 am
Here’s a question for everyone re: Bonds. If you’re in the stands if/when he hits 755 and 756, do you:
A) boo
B) cheer
C) do something in between?
Personally, I would stand up, and that’s about it. Maybe some polite applause if the moment got hold of me, but not much more.
August 3, 2007 at 8:30 am
Easy answer: boo
Aaron’s record is perhaps the last truly significant number in baseball(since 61 was undone) and to see it broken by someone who is at best is combative and argumentative with both the media and fans is depressing. Combine that with the fact that Bonds may very well be a cheat who should be thinking about 600 HR instead of 800 and I can’t imagine anyone who isn’t a Giants fan even thinking about applauding the accomplishment.
August 3, 2007 at 8:42 am
It does not matter the footage of Bonds 756 HR will only be relavent for 10 years untill A-Rod hits #800
August 3, 2007 at 8:56 am
It’s a record. It’s worth a clap or two but probably not a cheer nor a boo.
August 3, 2007 at 9:29 am
I will be there tonight…will stand and clap when it happens…then sit down. It is still history being made and I will be very glad to be able to say I was there…
BTW, if anyone is interested, here are some pictures from my HOF visit…
http://share.shutterfly.com/ac.....XDJy0ZtmKK
August 3, 2007 at 9:36 am
Padres Prospect Report
You will not see 2-HR performances from Morgan Ensberg every night, but it sure was nice…
Thursday, August 2, 2007
AAA
No significant performances…
AA
Matt Antonelli: 4 AB, 1 R, 1 H, 2 RBI; HR, BB, SO
Nick Hundley: 3 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, BB
High-A
David Freese: 3 AB, 0 R, 1 H, 0 RBI; 3B
Low-A
Cedric Hunter: 4 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 0 RBI; 2B, SO
Short Season-A
Keoni Ruth: 5 AB, 1 R, 2 H, 3 RBI; 2B, HR, BB
John Hussey: 5.0 IP, 4 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 9 SO, 0 HR
Rookie
No game scheduled…
Commentary:
Matt Antonelli has 19 HR on the season… I think he answered the power question.
August 3, 2007 at 9:38 am
Thanks, CM.
Now for some Friday funnies:
http://www.thebrushback.com/prospects_full.htm
http://www.glassgiant.com/holl.....0×144
August 3, 2007 at 9:40 am
Would there be any interest in a Ducksnorts Fantasy Football League again? Id be willing to set it up again if there is.
August 3, 2007 at 10:01 am
7 - Didi, thanks. Here’s another I stole from Deadspin (warning: some profanity):
http://dugout.progressiveboink.....ick150.htm
If you’ve ever spent time around Yankee fans, you will enjoy this.
August 3, 2007 at 10:02 am
5 … thanks for the pics, Mike … I’m prolly a coupla days from sorting and uploading mine …
I watched the Monday “look back” show on ESPN last night where the ESPN guys inverviewed Tony & Cal back on the stage but this time only in front of the “members” … pretty decent show … Tony said his Mom was up and feeling better … and one of the Q&A questions was about the ending to the 94 (?) All-Star game where Tony scored the winning run just ahead of relay throw from Cal and they both had a lot of fun remembering that
August 3, 2007 at 10:07 am
Nice one on Vin Scully. Love that man. Couldn’t you just hear his voice while reading this?
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.c.....ndex.html#
August 3, 2007 at 10:13 am
I will boo… I despise the fact that this miserable excuse for a human being is going to have this record and I hope it doesn’t happen here…
August 3, 2007 at 10:39 am
I’m going on Sunday, and hopeful that Bonds won’t be playing. If for some reason he plays and hits a homerun, I will curse and then either sit silently or boo.
August 3, 2007 at 10:43 am
Boo. Just like any other Home Run he hits at Petco, you BOO. When it comes down to it, this is a record about individual achievement (whish is all Barry cares about anyway), its not going to stop me from BOOing the guy if he hits a home run against us. The Padres winning is much more important to me than Barry breaking this record.
August 3, 2007 at 10:47 am
What does personality have to do with achievement? If you are difficult with reporters or prickly around the edges your performance on the field means nothing?
I really don’t understand the level of venom directed at Bonds. As Padres fans we have legitimate reasons for hating the way he has killed us over the years but a good deal of the Bonds hate out there seems like a pile on rather than a genuine disgust. In the media every cue tells us we are supposed to hate this one guy who cheated, but why just him and why this level of contempt?
August 3, 2007 at 10:51 am
8.
I am down!
1.
I would clap for him. I wouldn’t get up and go crazy but that’s just me. I have softened my stance on Bonds a lot through the years. I dislike him because he’s a jerk but the whole steroids thing doesn’t really matter to me much. He one of the top 2 or 3 players my eyes my ever see and although I don’t like him personally he has been a huge part of the game that I have loved for almost 25 years now.
August 3, 2007 at 10:52 am
15: If he wasnt such an ass and was not breaking the most hallowed record in sports, then the media would not be reacting like it is towards him. I think most of the country would like to see a more likable person break the record.
August 3, 2007 at 10:59 am
I personally would applaud/cheer, but I’m not really the booing type.
August 3, 2007 at 11:00 am
17: I’ve never really understood that viewpoint. Are we ever going to know these guys off the field, anyway? Most likely not, so I don’t really care about their personality. I want to watch baseball players … personality is rather insignificant, imo.
August 3, 2007 at 11:04 am
I’ve got tickets for tonight and Sunday. I plan on offering polite applause, since I was able to watch history. I’m pretty sure Barry is not the first one to break a record while cheating. I’m pretty sure he won’t be the last. After all, Ty Cobb was one of the most hated players by his peers, and got a lot of those stolen bases with high slides with sharpened spikes.
His record was ultimately broken by someone who was respected by his peers and the fans. The home run record will ultimately fall to a fan favorite. Karma, I guess.
August 3, 2007 at 11:09 am
Re: 20 Cobb sharpening his spikes is a myth, after he retired he quoted as saying “why would I sharpen my spikes? It hurts more when their dull”
August 3, 2007 at 11:20 am
#21: That “myth” has been drilled into me since I was young, so I can’t give up on that one. But you can’t dispute the spikes flying high on those slides into second base, though. I’ve seen those pictures.
August 3, 2007 at 11:24 am
Re: 22 Im not sure if he was being honest about it, I think he said it more tongue-n-cheek more than anything else, I just thought it was funny.
August 3, 2007 at 11:25 am
22: Doctored!! Just like the moon landing.
August 3, 2007 at 11:38 am
Speaking of fantasy football… anyone want to play in a (low) money league? Only $20 each, split the money 50/30/20 between 1st/2nd/3rd at the end. We use a Yahoo “live” draft and are running with their default scoring.
August 3, 2007 at 11:40 am
20: For a second there I thought you were talking about Ty Cobb’s hit record being broken by someone respected by all. That was amusing.
August 3, 2007 at 11:41 am
Re: 26 Rose is still a fan favorite
August 3, 2007 at 11:42 am
#15 - I totally agree with you. The level of venom seems to be over the top. I have a few friends that say that there is a racial element to it….I am not sure of this but then again what is it. Heck, probably half of the players in the last nineties were on the juice, including the beloved Ken Caminiti (was he booed when he appeared at the Murph before he died ? ).
August 3, 2007 at 12:05 pm
#28–I hope people aren’t more likely to see Bonds as a villian because of the color of his skin, but it is certainly possibility.
One thing I haven’t heard mentioned when race comes up in discussion is that it says something about our progress as a society that Bonds feels comfortable enough to be his true, difficult, prickly self while in the spotlight. I don’t think black athletes even 20 years ago could feel so free to be themselves. You could say the public image of Bonds is more authentic that perhaps the muted image Aaron felt compelled to put out. Certainly that is the goal, for all of us to feel unencumbered by our race and free to be our authentic selves and then judged accordingly.
For the record, though I would argue Bonds deserves a round of applause if he hits it in Petco, I for one will be hoping he Ks every time up. Not because he did steroids or is a jerk, but because I am a Padres fan.
August 3, 2007 at 12:46 pm
Definitely booing. I don’t want that record hit off the Padres. B*nds has already done enough to our boys. It’s painful enough to see highlights of 700* hit off Peavy.
August 3, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Because by a common sense standard he almost certainly did steroids and HGH, and because he is a jerk, I will be both booing and turning my back to him at all opportunities for the games I attend. However, I am not sure it will make a difference. There are usually quite a bit of Jint fans at these games, and there cheers could drown out some of the boos.
I will never applaud a record that I believe to be irreparably tainted at the time it is set. Then again, I wish MLB would strip Caminiti of his 1996 MVP award; I am sure that doesn’t endear to me those fans who arguably are hypocritical when it comes to that roider.
August 3, 2007 at 12:53 pm
As someone who has put a lot of things in my body that I probably shouldn’t have, I’d feel a little hypocritical judging anyone for doing likewise, but that’s just me.
August 3, 2007 at 12:56 pm
27: Rose is still a fan favorite after betting on baseball when he was in a position to influence the outcome? To me, that is much, much worse than using steroids at a time when they weren’t banned in the game.
I’ll be there tonight, if he hits a home run and if the homer is basically meaningless in the context of the game (after we go ahead 12-1 say), then I’ll applaud politely. If he hits one and the homer matters in the game, then I won’t clap, but I’m not going to boo.
August 3, 2007 at 12:56 pm
I had tickets for tonight’s game but I sold them because I don’t want to be around all the obnoxious Giants fans if Bonds gets the record.
As for the race issue, I’d feel exactly the same way if Jeff Kent had the same kind of steroid rumors and was about to break the record. A jerk is a jerk.
August 3, 2007 at 1:03 pm
I don’t really buy the race issue for the majority of baseball fans. When you compare Bonds to both Sheffield and Giambi it seems like he does deserve to be disliked much more then either of the other guys.
I’ll be happy when the whole thing is over as I can’t imagine my nephew(who is 5 and going to go to Bonds old high school) growing up idolizing the guy.
August 3, 2007 at 1:20 pm
#32: I know the feeling, having gone way beyond the experimenting into full scale research. Try explaining that to your sons when they go off to college.
#34: I hate Jeff Kent whether he took steroids or not.
August 3, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Personally, I only dislike Bonds because he kills the Padres. If he didn’t, I’d have no problem with him.
August 3, 2007 at 2:19 pm
#34, 36: Count me in on the Kent-hating!
As for Bonds’ personality: it matters because it matters. I don’t like the guy so I don’t want to see him have any success, let alone see him break the home-run record. I don’t like the way he stands at the plate, I don’t like the way he reacts when he hits a homerun, I don’t like the way he catches fly balls. He is arrogant and completely without charm. He has compiled great hitting statistics, but that doesn’t make him worthy of support.
August 3, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Anyone here think Bonds will bag it a bit or come down with sore knees or something to make sure he hits it at his home park after this series? I wouldn’t be surprised.
Personally, I don’t like the way he relates (or doesn’t) to people. I don’t like the fact that he obviously (knowingly or unknowingly) took steroids. I do hate him (in the baseball rival sense) for being a gigante and a Padre killer.
So….that being said and FWIW, If I were at the game(s) (which I am bummed I am not) I would likely cheer (somewhat subdued) since it is a record and it is history and he is a human being (albeit not the nicest at times).
August 3, 2007 at 3:33 pm
39: I can’t see cheering for a divisional rival unless they’re playing against a more loathsome divisional rival.
August 3, 2007 at 11:34 pm
I agree with Richard. Why are we talking about steroids and records?
Bonds plays for the Giants, and he is successful against the Padres. End of story.
Or as Bill James said of personal achievemnts in his 1984 Abstract: “I wouldn’t walk across the street to see Pete Rose get his 4,000 hit. I don’t cheer for numbers.”
August 4, 2007 at 1:16 am
Rose is a fan favorite? I don’t think outside of Cincinatti this is true any longer. It was never universally true, imo; too many people never bought into the bogus Charlie Hustle schtick.
I’d be more for the turning my back and ignoring Barry. I don’t believe it was legitimately set, assuming he will set it at this point seems a pretty safe bet, so I’d just ignore it.
November 22, 2007 at 7:02 pm
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November 22, 2007 at 7:06 pm
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