Amazing what a couple of days off can do.
Barry Bonds was back in the Giants' starting lineup for Thursday afternoon's game here against the Cubs and didn't waste any time in his pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record, smacking two into the depths and out of Wrigley Field.
At 753, suddenly Bonds is now two homers away from tying Aaron's Major League Baseball career-best 755 and three away from passing him into first place on the all-time list.
The homers, his 18th and 19th of the season, came after he rested all week. Sitting in the clubhouse before the game, Bonds had a smile on his face after three days of icing and taking both anti-inflammatory and pain-killing drugs for his sore and swollen lower legs.
"I was wasted," Bonds told MLB.com before blasting the first pitch of the second inning from left-hander Ted Lilly over the right-field bleachers onto Sheffield Avenue and hitting a three-shot into the seats just left of center off reliever Will Ohman in the seventh. "I just hit a wall. Now, at least, I feel good."
Bonds added a bases-loaded, two-run single off the left-handed Lilly in the third inning, giving him six RBIs on the day and 50 on the season, thus placing him just 22 short of becoming the third player in modern baseball history to reach the 2,000 mark. It was the seventh game of his career in which he has had six RBIs or more and the first time he's done it since last Sept. 22 at Milwaukee. His personal record is seven.
It was also the 71st multi-homer game of his 22-year career, placing him one behind Babe Ruth, who holds the all-time record with 72.
Bonds also tied and broke Carlton Fisk's mark for the most homers by a player turning 43 years old that season. Fisk hit 18 for the White Sox in 1991 when he caught 106 games at 43. Bonds' 43rd birthday is next Tuesday. Bonds also holds the overall single-season record (73 in 2001) and the record for a 42-year-old (26 in 2006).
If that wasn't enough, he's a lifetime 6-for-10 with three homers and eight RBIs against Lilly. Ohman, who induced Bonds to line out to left in a pinch-hit appearance Tuesday, became the 443rd pitcher to allow at least one homer to Bonds.
It was a heck of a way for Bonds to return after missing three straight starts. His 3-for-3 day with one walk snapped an 0-for-21 slump that dated back to the fourth inning on July 5 at Cincinnati.
His last hit had been a single and his previous homer, No. 751, was smashed in Great American Ball Park two days earlier during the first inning off Reds right-hander Aaron Harang. Bonds had to sit out on July 4 because of soreness in his lower legs and says now he probably returned too quickly back then.
Bonds' latest malady was the residue of starting 75 of the club's first 89 games -- 69 of them in left field -- including all 30 innings this past weekend at San Francisco in a three-game series sweep by the Dodgers.
That series came on the heels of Bonds starting in left field during the July 10 All-Star Game at AT&T Park and an obvious slowdown during the final days of the first half.
Bonds begged out of the State Farm Home Run Derby on July 9, saying at the time that he was too old to compete in the three-round, three-hour event and that it might lead to serious injury. Bonds was roundly criticized at the time, but the circumstances of this week underscore why he didn't participate.
"Those 30 innings against the Dodgers took it all out of me," Bonds said. "But if I had competed in the Derby, I'd be on the disabled list right now. I'd have to take two weeks no matter what anybody wrote or said about me."
Bonds had previously made only one pinch-hit appearance in the series -- a lineout to left in the eighth inning Tuesday night.
The Giants, with or without him, have been struggling to climb back in the National League West race and came into the game losers of six of their last seven. Under the circumstances, Giants manager Bruch Bochy has used Bonds deep in games, including 12 full innings this past Saturday in a day game after a night game against the Dodgers. It was the third full extra-inning game Bonds has played since June 25.
Bonds, though, said he understands the first-year Giants manager's plight, although Bochy has now promised he probably won't play Bonds anymore in day games after night games.
"He's under a lot of pressure [to win]," Bonds said about Bochy. "So I tried to suck it up and play. But I'm not doing that again."
At 753, suddenly Bonds is now two homers away from tying Aaron's Major League Baseball career-best 755 and three away from passing him into first place on the all-time list.
The homers, his 18th and 19th of the season, came after he rested all week. Sitting in the clubhouse before the game, Bonds had a smile on his face after three days of icing and taking both anti-inflammatory and pain-killing drugs for his sore and swollen lower legs.
"I was wasted," Bonds told MLB.com before blasting the first pitch of the second inning from left-hander Ted Lilly over the right-field bleachers onto Sheffield Avenue and hitting a three-shot into the seats just left of center off reliever Will Ohman in the seventh. "I just hit a wall. Now, at least, I feel good."
Bonds added a bases-loaded, two-run single off the left-handed Lilly in the third inning, giving him six RBIs on the day and 50 on the season, thus placing him just 22 short of becoming the third player in modern baseball history to reach the 2,000 mark. It was the seventh game of his career in which he has had six RBIs or more and the first time he's done it since last Sept. 22 at Milwaukee. His personal record is seven.
It was also the 71st multi-homer game of his 22-year career, placing him one behind Babe Ruth, who holds the all-time record with 72.
Bonds also tied and broke Carlton Fisk's mark for the most homers by a player turning 43 years old that season. Fisk hit 18 for the White Sox in 1991 when he caught 106 games at 43. Bonds' 43rd birthday is next Tuesday. Bonds also holds the overall single-season record (73 in 2001) and the record for a 42-year-old (26 in 2006).
If that wasn't enough, he's a lifetime 6-for-10 with three homers and eight RBIs against Lilly. Ohman, who induced Bonds to line out to left in a pinch-hit appearance Tuesday, became the 443rd pitcher to allow at least one homer to Bonds.
It was a heck of a way for Bonds to return after missing three straight starts. His 3-for-3 day with one walk snapped an 0-for-21 slump that dated back to the fourth inning on July 5 at Cincinnati.
His last hit had been a single and his previous homer, No. 751, was smashed in Great American Ball Park two days earlier during the first inning off Reds right-hander Aaron Harang. Bonds had to sit out on July 4 because of soreness in his lower legs and says now he probably returned too quickly back then.
Bonds' latest malady was the residue of starting 75 of the club's first 89 games -- 69 of them in left field -- including all 30 innings this past weekend at San Francisco in a three-game series sweep by the Dodgers.
That series came on the heels of Bonds starting in left field during the July 10 All-Star Game at AT&T Park and an obvious slowdown during the final days of the first half.
Bonds begged out of the State Farm Home Run Derby on July 9, saying at the time that he was too old to compete in the three-round, three-hour event and that it might lead to serious injury. Bonds was roundly criticized at the time, but the circumstances of this week underscore why he didn't participate.
"Those 30 innings against the Dodgers took it all out of me," Bonds said. "But if I had competed in the Derby, I'd be on the disabled list right now. I'd have to take two weeks no matter what anybody wrote or said about me."
Bonds had previously made only one pinch-hit appearance in the series -- a lineout to left in the eighth inning Tuesday night.
The Giants, with or without him, have been struggling to climb back in the National League West race and came into the game losers of six of their last seven. Under the circumstances, Giants manager Bruch Bochy has used Bonds deep in games, including 12 full innings this past Saturday in a day game after a night game against the Dodgers. It was the third full extra-inning game Bonds has played since June 25.
Bonds, though, said he understands the first-year Giants manager's plight, although Bochy has now promised he probably won't play Bonds anymore in day games after night games.
"He's under a lot of pressure [to win]," Bonds said about Bochy. "So I tried to suck it up and play. But I'm not doing that again."
