714


The Boy Who Caught #714 says "I hate that guy," 19 year old Tyler Snyder said of Barry Bonds before he was whisked away. "I don't really care for the guy."



I will say that I invented the four-ply wallop, the dinger, the dong, the circuit smash. If it weren't for me, Barry Bonds wouldn't have had a road to follow., The Babe, questioned from the beyond about Barry Bonds' tying him.

Ray Ratto, of the SF Chronicle, chronicles the event in his usually adept manner noting The present met the past Saturday, and neither the past nor the present comes out ahead in the exchange. Babe Ruth is no more forgotten now than he was when Henry Aaron passed him, and Barry Bonds is no more ennobled then he was before he hit No. 714.

*****

Chicago

After getting barreled over in a home-plate collision, Michael Barrett prepares to land a right hook on A.J. Pierzynski.

After a win in Game One by the White Sox, Game Two saw Michael Barrett waiting for the ball when A.J. Pierzynski ran him over. Barrett's reaction? He got up and punched the White Sox catcher in the jaw, setting off a melee between Chicago's two baseball teams even though the Sox eventually won, 7-0.

Pierzynski hit a game-tying home run in the fourth inning Sunday and drew the ire of Cubs pitcher Carlos Zambrano, who yelled at third-base coach Joey Cora after alleging that Pierzynski had yelled at him.

Barrett, who was booed lustily every time his name was announced, hit a game-tying triple off reliever Neal Cotts in the eighth, the ball hooking away from the outstretched glove of center fielder Rob Mackowiak.

The lowly Cubs managed to avoid the sweep, barely, winning the finale 8-4 on a four run 8th inning off the Sox's bullpen which suffered another setback after throwing four scoreless innings over three previous games. The relievers now have a 5.65 ERA in May and a 4.82 mark for the season. That won't get them to a World Series repeat no matter how good the starting rotation is.

A Sox fan listed five Cubs who have been on the disabled list this year—Kerry Wood, Mark Prior, Angel Pagan, Wade Miller and Derrek Lee—under the heading: "DL Cost—$26,393,667."

*****

NYC

All three games went down to the wire, with Mets closer saving two and blowing one. Mariano Rivera blew Game One, won Game Two and wasn't a factor in Game Three.

The entire cycle is played out at Archie Bunker's Army.