Barry's pop up?

[RoseBowlMtg]

I'm confused: I don't know what is worse:

 

The fact that Barry doesn't run out a pop up and hits into a double play in the 6th inning of a 10-6 game.

 

or

 

That Barry gets a free ride from his fans and doesn't care.

 

or

 

That JJ knows Barry won't run as soon as he sees the pop up and plays it into a double play-this being the best player of this era and he continues to not run out easy outs.

 

I wonder if any coach has the gall to tell Barry he needs to run out those kind of plays.

 

It's frustrating as a little league coach seeing this.

[2hoophead]

I know the last option is far and away the best option for us http://static.yuku.com//domainskins/bypass/img/smileys/happy.gif

[rluzinski]

Bonds is old and has bad knees. I think he and the club will gladly trade a couple extra outs over a season for Bonds not having to run. The fans probably understand that was well.

[Invader3K]

He's playing for a bottom barrel team, and will probably not be a Giant after this season, so ultimately it really doesn't matter.

[DuWayne Steurer]

As much as I dislike Bonds.....

 

There are certain guys on a team (most usually pitchers) that I don't really care to see them expending energy busting ass down to first on a sure out. Bonds is at an age where (even with chemical enhancement) I'm sure his energy level is not what it used to be. I'm pretty sure his first reaction was that the weak pop fly would be caught, and when it wasn't, it's not like there was a doubt about whether or not they'd turn the deuce.

[RoseBowlMtg]

Come on you guys know Bonds has not run out those kind of plays his entire career. He is above it. He didn't have to bust himself down the line he just had to put the bat down and jog and he would have beat out that play and the Giants wouldn't have been out of the inning. Barry thinks only about himself and thinks a lousy pop up doesn't deserve a 3/4 jog to first. I love that JJ exposed Barry for what he is. I wonder if the press asked him about that on Barry Bonds day in SF or if the coaches said anything or possibly at the very least that Barry acknowledged his mistake to the coaches. You know most likely none of that happened and we will just have to wait for it to happen again. Life of Barry---too bad an incredible player kids have immitated which is hard to teach them out of it. "Barry does it!"

[rluzinski]

I thought this thread was about yesterday's play. I don't know what Bonds has or hasn't done over his career. If this is just supposed to be another, "I hate Barry Bonds because he's the devil" thread, you should have just said so. Then I could have saved myself the trouble of even reading it.

 

And no, I'm not a Bonds apologist. I just don't care about him, either way.

[RoseBowlMtg]

Are you serious rlu? Bonds up ready to put our beloved Crew down 12-6 but no JJ makes a play because he is on top of what Barry would do and now we have 3 innings to score only 4 runs. The game is still alive so thanks Barry.

[endaround]

This was the same Barry that hit a home run right? The one that actually put the game out of reach?

[TooLiveBrew]

I guess that's kind of rosebowl's point, though. Sure, he hits a home run - does that excuse him from performing his job on another play? That time his job was to run out his pop-up, especially given the situation. No runner on? No prob with resting the knees. Turn your crappy swing into a two-out swing? At best, ignorant - and as mentioned, at worst, selfish & arrogant.

 

I agree that the best method for dealing with Bonds is just plain ignoring him, because attention's all he craves - good or bad. He's just 'That Guy' and joins a long, faceless list of 'That Guys' to me.

[BillScottCanRake]

I wouldn't be surprised one bit of Giant management told him to not run those types of plays out. If I were the owner, GM or the manager of the Giants I'd tell Bonds that.

 

The Giants are 57-72 and 15 games out of first place. Barry Bonds, whether we like him or not, is a huge draw in San Fransisco. And this year because of where this team is he's probably more important to attendance than winning or losing.

 

Giant fans didn't come to the park to watch him run out a pop-up. And they especially don't want him to hurt himself doing so. They came to see him to what he did when he put that ball into McCovey Cove. He's got to stay healthy to do that.

 

It might suck, but the reality of the situation is Bonds doesn't have to run hard, he doesn't have to play defense, he doesn't have to take out the shortstop on a double play. All he has to do is get four at-bats two of every three games and hit the occasional home run.

[dadofandrew]

First of all, the idea Bonds has never run those balls out, back when he was one of the best defensive LF's in the game and stole a lot of bases, is just silly. At this point, he is a DH playing OF, and he's not going to run out grounders and pop-ups. He's still one of the best hitters in the game, a fact overlooked by almost everyone.

[Patrick425]

I guess I'm just an old crumugin' (spl?). It's inexcusable to me, for any player under any circumstance not to hustle at all times. These are professional ball players.

 

If you are so old or in such bad shape that you can not run out a pop up, then you should just retire or go on the DL.

[danzig6767]

First of all, the idea Bonds has never run those balls out, back when he was one of the best defensive LF's in the game and stole a lot of bases, is just silly. At this point, he is a DH playing OF, and he's not going to run out grounders and pop-ups. He's still one of the best hitters in the game, a fact overlooked by almost everyone.

 

Who are the almost everyone that didn't notice that Bonds is still one of the most productive hitters in the game?Unless my vision got bad without me noticing,i've yet to see many,much less almost everyone overlooking that Bonds is still extremely productive at the plate.

 

[RoseBowlMtg]

Yeah the point is that Barry is still the best or one of the best and is aware of it so he takes plays off. We've seen other superstars do it and Barry is prominent in that regard. Barry sure went from 1st to 3rd pretty easily last night so to say he's resting himself is off imo. Barry was frustrated he didn't hit the ball hard, thought it was going to be caught and got shown up for an extreme weakness in his personality and game. The fact that Barry doesn't acknowledge it and that no one calls him on it is wrong on so many levels. Any Brewer able to do that and not get called out? Any player in baseball?

[lukevan]

If you are so old or in such bad shape that you can not run out a pop up, then you should just retire or go on the DL.

 

Why should, or would you retire or go on the DL when you are still one of the best hitters in the game and the team is allowing you to rest on a consistent basis and doesn't freak out when you don't run out some minor plays, all while paying you $15+ million for the year?

[BillScottCanRake]

Barry sure went from 1st to 3rd pretty easily last night so to say he's resting himself is off imo.

 

The difference, of course, is he went from first to third because of a base hit (i.e. a non-out), whereas the ball he hit the other night was an easy out.

Barry was frustrated he didn't hit the ball hard, thought it was going to be caught and got shown up for an extreme weakness in his personality and game.

 

How do you KNOW that Barry didn't run hard because he was frustrated? He might well have done so, but I don't think anyone KNOWS outside of the Giants clubhouse.

 

The fact that Barry doesn't acknowledge it and that no one calls him on it is wrong on so many levels.

 

Why is it wrong? Because that sets a bad example for kids playing the game? Because he's wasting his talent by not running? Regardless of how he got there (and how any of us feel about it), he's hit more home runs than any other player in Major League history. He didn't set the record for most consecutive times running to first in under 4 seconds on a pop-up. Giant fans don't really care what he does, and so Barry and management are going to cater to that. They'd be stupid to do otherwise.

 

Any Brewer able to do that and not get called out? Any player in baseball?

 

This isn't just a Bonds thing. I have seen plenty of guys (Brewers included) not run out pop-ups and ground balls and no one really cares because 99.9% of the time they are just an out. How many guys actually sprint out a pop-up rather than half-assed jog it? How many times when a pop-out isn't fielded to guys wind up on the base they "should" have been on?

 

The only reason anyone cares about this one is because its A) Bonds, and there are plenty of people who need to find more reasons to dislike the guy and B) it turned into a double play.

 

Maybe I have missed it, but isn't Fielder the guy who always veers off towards right-center field when running to second on a double-play ball? Instead rather than staying in the baseline to make the throw harder? I don't think I have seen one post that talks about how he's above everyone else on the team for doing that. I haven't seen a post talking about how Fielder is above the game. Where's the angst for that?

 

I know a lot of people don't like Bonds, and I can say I am one of those people, but do we really need to dig so deeply to try to find another reason to dislike him? And then make such a big deal about something that, to be honest, isn't even a deal, much less a big deal?

[MHgb]

We all would be quite angry if a Milwaukee Brewer hit a pop-up with one out and a man on first and didn't run it out causing the infielder to make a heads-up play to get two outs instead of one. It's lazy, embarassing, and worthy of benching whether it's Barry Bonds or Benito Santiago. Please leave your perception of my perception of Barry Bonds out of my post.