Tuesday, August 19, 2003
Enough Pot-Shots At Bonds
I am, as of right now, officially Tired of People Taking Pot Shots At Barry Bonds.
Phil Rogers of ESPN, in his column extolling the virtues of Albert Pujols as MVP, found space to take a swipe at Barry, claiming that his "misplay contributed to the Giants failing to hold a 5-0 lead in Game 6 of last year's World Series".
Hogwash. Dusty Baker for taking out a strong Russ Ortiz before the seventh inning? Yep. Or Felix Rodriguez for allowing Scott Spiezio's home run, could be, or Tim Worrell, for giving up Troy Glaus' go-ahead double in the eighth, sure. But Bonds as contributing to the loss? Gimme a break. Rogers is probably on the long list of people who call out Bonds for not throwing out Sid Bream at the plate in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS instead of placing blame where it belongs, on Jose Lind or Stan Belinda. I'm tired of it.
Mark Kreidler wrote a companion column praising Bonds as MVP. I have no problem if Pujols win the award, but I'd rather see Bonds get the award, because he truly is the most valuable player. Take him out of the lineup, and looky, the Giants stink. Albert Pujols, to put it a different way, is the guy with the most outstanding stats, at least on the surface of it. Plus, he's got that hit streak thing going for him.
Phil Rogers of ESPN, in his column extolling the virtues of Albert Pujols as MVP, found space to take a swipe at Barry, claiming that his "misplay contributed to the Giants failing to hold a 5-0 lead in Game 6 of last year's World Series".
Hogwash. Dusty Baker for taking out a strong Russ Ortiz before the seventh inning? Yep. Or Felix Rodriguez for allowing Scott Spiezio's home run, could be, or Tim Worrell, for giving up Troy Glaus' go-ahead double in the eighth, sure. But Bonds as contributing to the loss? Gimme a break. Rogers is probably on the long list of people who call out Bonds for not throwing out Sid Bream at the plate in Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS instead of placing blame where it belongs, on Jose Lind or Stan Belinda. I'm tired of it.
Mark Kreidler wrote a companion column praising Bonds as MVP. I have no problem if Pujols win the award, but I'd rather see Bonds get the award, because he truly is the most valuable player. Take him out of the lineup, and looky, the Giants stink. Albert Pujols, to put it a different way, is the guy with the most outstanding stats, at least on the surface of it. Plus, he's got that hit streak thing going for him.
