BELTRE IS VALUABLE, BUT HE'S NO BONDS.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI SAN FRANCISCO San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden - Before Friday night's big game, Jim Tracy
The Dodgers manager was able to keep this going for nearly a minute, and with a straight face, too. ``What's wrong with our guy?'' Tracy said with the proper tone of umbrage when a San Francisco reporter asked if Bonds is a shoo-in for a record seventh MVP Award. ``Some people here don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. you have a guy,'' the Bay Area man pointed out. It was downhill from there for Tracy's campaign for Beltre over Bonds. Tracy undercut his case somewhat by going on to exalt Bonds as the third coming of Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron. Tracy then rendered the debate moot by demonstrating a fear for Bonds that nobody in baseball shows for any other modern hitter. With two out and a Giants runner on first base in the ninth inning, Tracy ordered Eric Gagne to walk Bonds intentionally, pushing the would-be tying run into scoring position In the sport of baseball, a baserunner is said to be in scoring position when he is on second or third base. The distinction between being on first base and second or third base is that a runner on first can usually only score if the batter hits an extra base hit, while a runner on . Gagne proceeded to walk J.T. Snow not quite intentionally to load the bases and send 42,528 fans at SBC (1) (SBC Communications Inc., San Antonio, TX, www.sbc.com) A large, national telecommunications company that grew from a multitude of local and regional companies, including Southwestern Bell, Pacific Bell and Nevada Bell, into a single, unified brand by 2002. Park into an expectant frenzy. Yorvit Torrealba Yorvit Adolfo Torrealba [pron., /joɾ.ˈvit ˌto.re.ˈal.ba/] (born July 19, 1978 in Caracas, Venezuela) is a catcher in Major League Baseball who currently plays for the Colorado Rockies. lined out, and the Dodgers held on to win 3-2 and increase their NL West lead to 2 1/2 games. It might have been a Dodgers victory, but Bonds' presence dominated, as it will all weekend. His 702nd career home run in the second inning, a liner to right off Odalis Perez, left jaws agape agape In the New Testament, the fatherly love of God for humans and their reciprocal love for God. The term extends to the love of one's fellow humans. The Church Fathers used the Greek term to designate both a rite using bread and wine and a meal of fellowship that included . His strikeouts in the fourth and seventh innings caused eruptions of applause in the visitors' dugout. And his arrival at the plate in the ninth changed the way the game was played. If that's not an MVP, what is? But Tracy is unwavering in his loyalty to his players, and Beltre has been the best of those this summer, going into this weekend's huge series with a chance at becoming the first Dodger to finish in the league's top three in batting (.343), home runs (47) and RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in (115) since Jimmy Sheckard 103 years ago. ``There's definitely a strong case to be made for Barry Bonds (on) home runs, on-base percentage and what he's meant to his club, but how about the third baseman and what he's meant to our club?'' Tracy said. ``The only difference is Adrian doesn't have any rubber chickens.'' The chickens are Giants fans' effigies ef·fi·gy n. pl. ef·fi·gies 1. A crude figure or dummy representing a hated person or group. 2. A likeness or image, especially of a person. for opposing managers who fear Bonds so much that they've ordered him walked intentionally 113 times in 2004. ``I wasn't around for Babe Ruth. I saw some of Hank Aaron when I was a little guy,'' Tracy said of the two hitters with more home runs than Bonds. ``Somebody would have to convince me that either of those guys had as much of a strategic impact on the game as Barry Bonds does.'' See, this is the problem with trying to back up those pro-Beltre ``MVP! MVP! MVP!'' chants with anything like facts and logic, as wonderful as the 26-year-old's coming-out season has been for the Dodgers. Pretty soon, you run out of ammunition, such as Tracy's observation that Beltre is only two homers away from matching the single-season Dodgers record held by Shawn Green. And you come face to face with the fact Bonds is steaming toward the career home-run marks of no less than Ruth and Aaron and showing no signs of slowing down at age of 40. Never mind that Beltre wouldn't be the only alternative to Bonds for overly imaginative MVP voters, who might consider any number of Cardinals, foremost among them Albert Pujols. You have only to watch any game in which Bonds is involved, and see how opposing managers regard him, to realize that the MVP debate still begins and ends with the Giants left fielder and that SBC Park visitors are whistling in the dark if they expect to leave unscathed all weekend. It wouldn't be so embarrassing for the Dodgers if they lost their division lead to the Giants. The Dodgers have been losing pennants to the Giants since the teams were in Brooklyn and New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . The Dodgers have finished behind the Giants in the NL West the past seven years. The indignity in·dig·ni·ty n. pl. in·dig·ni·ties 1. Humiliating, degrading, or abusive treatment. 2. A source of offense, as to a person's pride or sense of dignity; an affront. 3. Tracy would like to avoid is losing the division to a one-man Giants team. There wasn't another Giant in Friday's lineup batting within 79 points of Bonds' league-leading .371, and batting behind the cleanup man was Edgardo Alfonzo. Just to pick a historical comparison at random, when the Giants' Bobby Thomson hit the Shot Heard 'Round the World The shot heard "The shot heard 'round the world" is a well known phrase that has come to represent several historical incidents throughout world history. The line is originally from the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's Concord Hymn to beat the Dodgers out of the 1951 pennant, waiting on deck was Willie Mays. Tracy's theory on how to keep from getting beat by Bonds is to walk him every time there are runners on and first base is empty, shift the defense around toward right field and then realize he's going to get you eventually. In a paradox, in the Dodgers' eight wins over the Giants this season, Bonds is hitting .611 with six homers and 14 walks; in the Dodgers' six losses, Bonds is hitting .286 with one homer and 11 walks. But in the Dodgers' wins, the Giants immediately before and after Bonds in the lineup are hitting .193 with zero homers; in the Dodgers' losses, they're hitting .255 with two homers. ``How you deal with Barry Bonds,'' Tracy said, ``is you get everybody out around him.'' The Dodgers did that again Friday. So after the first of three games here, it's Dodgers 1, Bonds 0. The Dodgers should feel pretty calm about things until the next time Bonds steps into the box. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Dodgers' Shawn Green is congratulated by Adrian Beltre after Green's two-run home run against San Francisco on Friday. Marcio Jose Sanchez/Associated Press |
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