Mr. 700

Barry Bonds has reached the 700 homerun milestone. He also seems poised to return for 2005 and 2006 with the possibility of 2007 looming. Bonds hit a 392-foot opposite-field homer to left center off of San Diego pitcher Jake Peavy. The ball was caught by a 25 year old Steven Williams.

"I'm looking around, all of a sudden I see this white thing flying through the sky," said Williams, who plans to sell the ball. "It's not going to eBay. It's worth whatever somebody will pay for it."

Fox sports has seven questions and answers about Barry Bonds:
1. Is Bonds a better hitter than Babe Ruth?
Answer: Yes.

2. Is Bonds a better baseball player than Babe Ruth?
Answer: No.

3. Is Barry Bonds a clutch player?
Answer: Yes.

4. Does race have anything to do with the media's unfavorable treatment of Bonds?
Answer: No.

5. Does Barry Bonds use steroids?
Answer: Irrelevant.

6. Is it bad for baseball when opposing managers intentionally walk Bonds?
Answer: Yes, but it's also inevitable.

7. Will Bonds break Hank Aaron's record of 755 home runs?
Answer: Of course.

Read the article if you want to get some more in depth insight to those questions.

The one thing that is clear is that Barry Bonds has the opportunity to do some unthinkable things. If he does return for 2007 his chances of eclipsing 800 homeruns are almost inevitable. In reality, he will most likely come close to the 800 mark in 2006. Previous generations had players like Mays, Ruth, Koufax, Cobb etc. but the fact is we have living legends playing the game right now. It is easy to say that they do not compare to the stars of the past, but Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson, and Roger Clemens are three of the best players in the history of the game. It is easy to look past that but we are witnessing the careers of some of the all time best players ever to step between the lines.

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Not to be out done by Barry Lamar Bonds, Ichiro Suzuki was busy rewriting a record himself. Ichiro became the single season record holder for the most singles in a season. He topped the mark of 198 which was set by Lloyd Waner of Pittsburgh in 1927.

Since the Met game was rained out, I was relegated to watching the Boston Red Sox try and topple the Evil Empire. The game was actually a great game that featured Mariano Rivera losing it at the end. Orlando Cabrera and Johnny Damon each had RBI singles in the top of the ninth to regain the lead 3-2 before they handed the ball to Keith Foulke to close it out for the win. The Red Sox narrowed the Yankees lead to 2.5 games. That ninth was not without it's theatrics though. On Damon's go ahead RBI single, it appeared that Kenny Lofton pulled up on the ball instead of going balls to the wall to get it. For me, in a game like this, you get your jersey dirty on that play. You have to come full speed and lay out for it. It certainly appeared to been a ball that may have been playable to me. Mario echoed my sentiments as it had appeared he said "catch the f-in ball". I'm no lip reader, but I saw what I saw.

My personal favorite highlight of the game was when Manny Ramirez made a spectacular play to rob Miguel Cairo of a homerun. It appeared as if it had caromed off a fan as it landed in his glove while he went up and over the wall for it. All this happens while Miguel Cairo unknowingly rounds the bases thinking he had a homerun. It was not until he finished rounding the bases that he found out that it was in fact an out. Then Manny Ramirez proceeded to give Cairo the double finger point for a little taunting for some good measure.

In some more shocking news, I will be in attendance at today's Yankee game if it actually happens. My friend Nick, who is also a Met fan, had gotten the tickets last night and in an effort to keep as many Yankee fans out of the hell hole called Yankee Stadium he asked me to go. I decided to do my duty as an American and oblige his request and take one for the team. The weather does not look to favorable, but you never know. Look for me on TV if the game happens, I'll be the one getting beat up.

Kobe admitted to having another affair besides the one in Colorado. The entire transcript was published and it is certainly an interesting read. It seems that Kobe was more upset about getting caught and having his wife pissed than the fact that he was actually cheating on his wife. He was also concerned about his wife finding out about his 'regular' which is something I'm sure she now knows about. He buys his wife a four million dollar ring to make up for this one and the girl that had accused him of rape is now involved in a civil suit to take some more of Kobe's money. It seems that Kobe has to pay a lot for some tail these days. I'm sure his piece on the side Michelle gets a pretty penny from him to keep him...um...satisfied.

I'm not going to get too into this because basketball blows, but it's a pretty interesting.

Japanese Baseball players go on strike for the first time in the 70 year history of the league to protest the merger of the Orix Blue Waves (Ichiro's Old team) and the Kintetsu Buffaloes. One has to wonder what the state of Japanese Baseball is going to be after years and years of the biggest and brightest starts bolting for the US. Could you imagine the impact that would be left on the game if Bonds, Pujols, Johnson, Wilson Delgado, etc. left? It would certainly damage attendance and with rising salaries and lower fan interest it does not take a mathematician to figure that one out.

Buster Olney is under the impression that George Steinbrenner should be enshrined in the Hall of Fame. Now, I'm not against Owners being inducted into the Hall of Fame, but they need to have a better trait than having a team in the largest market in the world and outspending everyone. You can point to the Mets to prove that it take more than that to succeed, but the Yankees income dwarfs everyone's income including the Mets. I had a rant about this a previous post, but they fact is he is a deep pocketed owner that happens to value winning above else. There are some not-so deep pocketed owners that happen to win above all else too. Do they deserve to be in the hall because of their desire to win? The fact is I'm not sure Steinbrenner revolutionized the game. If a dynasty occurs under an owner that does not qualify them for the Hall of Fame. I know people are going to argue a case for George, but I just do not see it. Now if you could convince me that Steinbrenner would be able to build this type of Franchise in the Midwest where media revenue is the lowest, then I'd say put him in. I have a hunch that he would not be able to do that. He may be the perfect owner for the mega market Yankees and has done things to increase revenue streams into another universe and increase the teams value over a billion dollars and therefore should be considered as a tremendous CEO but not an enshrined baseball great. Let us not forget he was once banned from baseball by Commissioner Fay Vincent because of Steinbrenner's $40,000 payment to confessed gambler Howie Spira for damaging information about Dave Winfield. On top of that he has the reputation of being bad news when involved with personnel decisions. For me, he stands one of the most successful owner in all of professional sports, but the hall is reserved for players that transcend and change the landscape of the game forever. For anyone that is non-player (i.e. managers, owners, even baseball commissioners) they must do something so spectacularly beneficial and monumental and I do not feel Steinbrenner, the successful business man, has done that. Feel free to tell me I'm wrong.

Jon Heyman's wet dream may be out for the rest of the season. Alfonso Soriano suffered a leg injury on Thursday night that will most likely cause him to shut it down.

Lets see how many things are silly about this Wilpon statement:

"Our guys felt that Zambrano was one of the top power pitchers in the American League, and he has established himself as that. Kazmir is a great prospect -- but still a prospect. He may do it, and we wish him well, but our baseball people felt Zambrano is ready now to be our No. 1 or No. 2. He has a strain -- you can't predict that, and it's not a serious injury, our doctors tell us."

1) Zambrano was one of the top power pitchers in the American League? I'm not going to even touch this one.

2) Kazmir is no longer a prospect as he is actually pitching in the major leagues. I'm not sure if Fred is aware of that.

3) Zambrano is ready now to be your No.1 or No.2? He actually leads every pitcher in the AL in BB by six and is followed by Miguel Batista, who has pitched in 50 less innings. As for the majors, Victor ranked third in walks despite having 48 and 49.1 less innings pitched than the leaders.

4) Your doctor's tell you it's not serious? Are you serious about that comment?

Look, I think Zambrano can and will be a solid pitcher. However, let's not confuse the fact that he is still Victor Zambrano. No one considers him a top of the rotation starter outside of this organization. He is a guy who has the ability and tools, but has not come close to putting it together. Do not try and sugar coat this one.

Apparently Leiter is unsure he wants to return to the Mets in 2005. He is apparently fed up with all the rumors that he had a hand in pushing Bobby V. and Scott Kazmir out of town. In his opinion the perception that he has too much organizational power is starting to wear him down. It is really the best thing they part ways for the simple fact the Mets need to get younger.

The article also delves into Wally Backman's desire to become a major league manager.

"I know that I'm qualified [to manage in the bigs]," Backman said. "It's just a matter of getting an opportunity."

According to Joel Sherman, Jim Fergosi is at the top of the Mets' wish list.

"Fregosi is a blue-collar guy, a guy's guy, a player's manager, but one who draws the line and players know where not to cross," the baseball executive said. "The Mets obviously are thinking about Lou Piniella, and Fregosi is a Piniella type. He's got swagger. He's got moxie. He will handle the media. He will be entertaining. This guy is the opposite of Art Howe."

The New York Times suggests the Mets should hire some guy that wears 00 on his jersey and has a large baseball for a head.

Kris Benson on resigning with the Mets:

"If it gets to the off-season, other teams will get involved and that can be enticing. But the Mets will still be in it."

The Mets will still be in it? Why does that not give me the warm and fuzzies.