October 3, 200323 yr Associated Press MIAMI --If Florida Marlins left-hander Mark Redman has his druthers, Barry Bonds will see some strikes Friday. "He's just another guy up there with a bat," Redman said Thursday. Redman will face Bonds for the first time when the Marlins play the San Francisco Giants in Game 3 of their playoff series, which is tied 1-1. "This is not a time to be intimidated by anyone," Redman said. "I'm a guy that's given the ball and supposed to throw strikes. If I need to walk the guy because I'm told to walk the guy, then I'll walk the guy." Marlins manager Jack McKeon has been reluctant to pitch to Bonds, who has had only about five pitches to hit in the first two games of the series. He's 1-for-3 with a double and five walks, three intentional. Giants manager Felipe Alou smiled when told of Redman's comments. "Hopefully Barry gets four or five at-bats Friday," Alou said. "I'm not talking walks, but at-bats. I'm looking forward to see how it works."
October 3, 200323 yr Author I'd love to see Red be allowed to jam a couple down Barry's throat. Although, I don't know how far Red can jam an 89mph fastball. LOCATION LOCATION LOCATION LETS GO BIG RED
October 3, 200323 yr willis is the guy bonds will never be able to hit. he pitches very simmilar to orozco (in that he's a fastball, slider pitcher) and bonds has never been able to hit orozco.
October 3, 200323 yr This is what I am talkin 'bout! I was coming here to post this exact same thing, JBurque - good job. Here is another quote, taken from Herald: As for Bonds, Redman merely shrugged when asked to talk about the slugger's presence. ''He's just another guy up there with a bat,'' said Redman, who has never pitched against Bonds. ``That's all I see. I don't see who it is, what name it is. It's just another guy up there with a bat. I mean, this is not the time to be intimidated by anyone.'' This is the mentality that our pitchers have to have - I see it in Willis and Beckett too. Surpisingly, Penny can be like that and go after Bonds. I really, really like tonight's matchup - but Red is not a fireballer, he is going to have to be wily and get these guys out by being smart. And this is a pro ballclub we are facing, a bunch of vets. Our offense better bring it tonight, just in case. We need to get the lead - then we will be good.
October 3, 200323 yr Author I have a good feeling that is going to have good command of his pitches tonight. This is from Neyer at ESPN about how walking Barry isn't worth the trouble. By Rob Neyer ESPN.com Was anybody watching the postseason in 2002? More to the point, was Jack McKeon? I think the world of McKeon, but isn't he too smart to employ the brilliant "strategy" of walking Barry Bonds every time there's a runner on base? Because there's absolutely no evidence suggesting that it actually works. Barry Bonds' regular-season numbers in 2002 were awesome. Sometimes you have to let Barry Bonds take his cuts. .370 Batting average .582 On-base percentage .799 Slugging percentage All three numbers were tops in the National League, giving Bonds the coveted Percentage Triple Crown for the first time in his glorious career. He also scored 117 runs and drove in 110 in only 143 games. His 2002 postseason numbers were even better. .356 Batting average .581 On-base percentage .978 Slugging percentage If you take the time to compare those averages to the others, you'll see that he batted just as well, got on base just as well, and slugged even better in October than he had during the regular season. What's more, in 17 postseason games Bonds scored 18 runs and drove in 16. That's impressive. And it's more impressive when we consider the competition. Bonds wasn't facing the Brewers and the Padres and the Royals. He was facing the Braves (best ERA in the National League), the Cardinals (fourth-best ERA in the National League), and the Angels (best ERA in the American League), and he was facing the best pitchers those teams had to offer. And when you see numbers like that, you have to wonder if the opposing managers weren't helping Bonds out a little bit. It seems to me that the "We won't let Barry Bonds beat us" strategy has two effects, one obvious and one not so obvious (or provable). The first effect is that Bonds is on base all the time, and scores a bunch of runs because 1) it's not easy pitching with runners all over the place, and 2) the players batting behind Bonds are, after all, major-league hitters. The second -- maybe -- is that the other team's pitchers get all screwed up. Tony Gwynn brought this up recently, and I agree with him. Brad Penny's a good pitcher pitching a good game, and suddenly his manager essentially says to him, "Son, I don't think you're good enough to get this guy out." And Penny blows up. That's just one example, and thus not particularly illustrative. But let's say the pitcher walks Bonds and does escape the inning with no damage done. What happens if Bonds comes up again, but this time there's no place to put him? Doesn't the pitcher have, in the back of his mind, "My manager doesn't think I'm good enough to get this guy out"? Is there a causal relationship here? I don't know, and I certainly don't have a great body of evidence to support the notion. But I think if I had one of the 40 or 50 greatest pitchers on the planet working for me, I'd generally lean toward trusting him to do his job. Make good pitches, or at least try. At this point, I'm sure some of you are saying, "You're damned if you do and you're damned if you don't." Bonds is going to get his numbers if you walk him and he's going to get his numbers if you don't, so really it doesn't make much difference one way or the other. Ah, but here's the rub. If you pitch to him and he gets his numbers, he'll also make some outs. But if you don't pitch to him, he'll get his numbers and he won't make any outs. That's why you can't just walk him every time. If that was a good strategy, then he'd walk 300 times every season, rather than 180. The postseason does strange things to people. It makes fans and broadcasters assign gigantic weights to tiny sample sizes, and it makes managers invent new rules that don't make any more sense in October than they would have in April. Maybe the Giants will advance to the League Championship Series, maybe they won't. But if they do, the opposing manager would be well-served to remember that Bonds is not Roy Hobbs. He will fail from time to time.
October 3, 200323 yr I agree - that is why I made that post a while ago about keeping the top 3 off base in front of Bonds is going to be indicative of how successful we are in this series. It allows you to pitch to Bonds. The Giants are really a one man team on offense. Losing Kent, I think, was a huge blow to this offense.
October 3, 200323 yr Author From what I can tell, Redman has never faced Bonds. Should be interesting. Eye Popping stat of this game: Barry Bonds vs. LH pitchers in 2003 avg. .363 OPS. 1.300
October 3, 200323 yr Yep, but look at what happened when he faced Willis... And lefties batted .200 with a .582 OPS against Redman this year...
October 3, 200323 yr from baseballprospectus.com When should a team actually pitch to Barry Bonds? Seriously. If you intentionally walk him every time, you knock a couple hundred points off his OPS. Unless there's some sort of absolutely compelling reason, let him go down to first. Eventually, I think McKeon et al. will overcome the emotional scars of being booed by Giants fans holding up signs reading "No Balls." Now that's clever. Right up there with the hundreds of softball teams around the country named "Hard Bats, Soft Balls." God, I hate the Giants. Or, more accurately, I hate the f%%^ing Giants.
October 3, 200323 yr Author I just realized the game is on in half an hour. I am so AMPED for this one. I worked my a$$ off at work this morning so I could spend the afternoon on the couch watching RED the artist do his thing. :w00t :w00t :w00t :w00t :w00t :w00t :w00t :w00t :w00t
October 3, 200323 yr Author When should a team actually pitch to Barry Bonds? Seriously. If you intentionally walk him every time, you knock a couple hundred points off his OPS. Unless there's some sort of absolutely compelling reason, let him go down to first. Eventually, I think McKeon et al. will overcome the emotional scars of being booed by Giants fans holding up signs reading "No Balls." Now that's clever. Right up there with the hundreds of softball teams around the country named "Hard Bats, Soft Balls." God, I hate the Giants. Or, more accurately, I hate the f%%^ing Giants thats some grade A journalism right there
October 4, 200323 yr Red almost cost us the game with that botched double play there. We scrapped and won though...sometimes it is better to be lucky than good....
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.