IL Ruffino
06-05-2006, 04:16
I was just watching the news and saw what my lovers in Philly did to Barry Bonds, I love them even more now!
Barry Bonds riles up the fans
BY TODD ZOLECKI
Knight Ridder Newspapers
PHILADELPHIA - They slowly unfurled the banner from the first row in left field on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, letter by letter, word by word, their message to the man every baseball fan loves or hates:
"Ruth Did It on Hot Dogs and Beer."
Probably a couple shots of Jack, too. But who's counting?
Everybody, actually. Everybody is watching and counting. Every pitch. Every at-bat. Every home run. Barry Bonds is in Philadelphia this weekend, and he needs just two more home runs to tie Babe Ruth's career mark of 714 - which would put him just 41 homers behind Hank Aaron's major-league record of 755.
But fans aren't riled up because they are Ruth fans.
They're riled up because Bonds allegedly took steroids, which might have seriously inflated his career numbers. Most players believe Bonds is a Hall of Famer, but many fans consider him a cheater who has soiled the record book.
So fans showed up with anti-Bonds signs.
They booed him when he stepped to the plate.
They jeered him when he took his spot in left field.
"Just retire! Just retire!"
When Phillies second baseman Chase Utley crushed a solo home run into the second deck in right field in the bottom of the first inning, they chanted: "He is natural! He is natural!"
There were reports of Styrofoam syringes on sale outside the ballpark and reports of confiscated signs - although the Phillies made it clear that as long as signs were baseball related and weren't vulgar they would be allowed inside the ballpark. Clearly, many of those anti-Bonds signs made their way inside.
Bonds didn't talk with reporters before the game, but he's hit-or-miss that way. It depends on his mood. He talked with reporters Tuesday in Milwaukee, but shooed them away Wednesday. He told The Philadelphia Inquirer's Claire Smith on Tuesday that he looked forward to his trip to Philadelphia because of the cozy dimensions.
"It's sooooo unfair," he said.
He also said he wasn't worried about Phillies fans.
"I don't have to worry about how Philadelphia fans treat me. I'm not on the home team," he said.
Reporters filled the visitor's clubhouse beforehand, but Bonds mostly stayed out of sight. At one point, he relaxed in front of his locker and pulled a number out of a hat for a Kentucky Derby pool.
(For entertainment purposes only, of course.)
He eventually made his way outside for batting practice and put on quite a show. He hit 13 home runs in BP, including the first two that landed in the bushes in center field. He muscled one into the visitors' bullpen and launched two into the upper deck in right.
One smacked off the gigantic Bud Light sign.
But he flied out to shallow center field in the top of the first inning off Phillies righthander Gavin Floyd. Floyd intentionally walked him in the third with a runner on second and one out.
The Giants trailed 6-3 in the fifth, when Bonds stepped up with a runner on first and one out. With the Phillies' infield shifted to the right side, he bounced a weak grounder up the first-base line. Ryan Howard charged and made a nice throw to second. David Bell caught the ball and threw to Utley at first to beat Bonds to complete the inning-ending double play.
Bonds ripped off his protective elbow gear in disgust.
He chucked his helmet to the ground.
In the eighth, reliever Aaron Fultz struck out Bonds.
Fans loved it.
Especially Phil Schaffer and Mike Azzalina. They came in costume from Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County. Azzalina, 19, from Easton, Pa., wore a plain white T-shirt that read "Bonds before 2000." Schaffer, 18, from Ocean City, N.J., wore an inflatable costume - think of those sumo wrestler costumes - with a 4XL T-shirt that read "Bonds after 2000."
He also wore a crown.
"We came up with this idea in math class," Schaffer said. "Our professor says the reason they did stuff in college was to get a reaction. We're doing that, but we're also trying say baseball is America's game, and Bonds is taking it away from us by cheating. It's as simple as that."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14513524.htm
Barry Bonds riles up the fans
BY TODD ZOLECKI
Knight Ridder Newspapers
PHILADELPHIA - They slowly unfurled the banner from the first row in left field on Friday night at Citizens Bank Park, letter by letter, word by word, their message to the man every baseball fan loves or hates:
"Ruth Did It on Hot Dogs and Beer."
Probably a couple shots of Jack, too. But who's counting?
Everybody, actually. Everybody is watching and counting. Every pitch. Every at-bat. Every home run. Barry Bonds is in Philadelphia this weekend, and he needs just two more home runs to tie Babe Ruth's career mark of 714 - which would put him just 41 homers behind Hank Aaron's major-league record of 755.
But fans aren't riled up because they are Ruth fans.
They're riled up because Bonds allegedly took steroids, which might have seriously inflated his career numbers. Most players believe Bonds is a Hall of Famer, but many fans consider him a cheater who has soiled the record book.
So fans showed up with anti-Bonds signs.
They booed him when he stepped to the plate.
They jeered him when he took his spot in left field.
"Just retire! Just retire!"
When Phillies second baseman Chase Utley crushed a solo home run into the second deck in right field in the bottom of the first inning, they chanted: "He is natural! He is natural!"
There were reports of Styrofoam syringes on sale outside the ballpark and reports of confiscated signs - although the Phillies made it clear that as long as signs were baseball related and weren't vulgar they would be allowed inside the ballpark. Clearly, many of those anti-Bonds signs made their way inside.
Bonds didn't talk with reporters before the game, but he's hit-or-miss that way. It depends on his mood. He talked with reporters Tuesday in Milwaukee, but shooed them away Wednesday. He told The Philadelphia Inquirer's Claire Smith on Tuesday that he looked forward to his trip to Philadelphia because of the cozy dimensions.
"It's sooooo unfair," he said.
He also said he wasn't worried about Phillies fans.
"I don't have to worry about how Philadelphia fans treat me. I'm not on the home team," he said.
Reporters filled the visitor's clubhouse beforehand, but Bonds mostly stayed out of sight. At one point, he relaxed in front of his locker and pulled a number out of a hat for a Kentucky Derby pool.
(For entertainment purposes only, of course.)
He eventually made his way outside for batting practice and put on quite a show. He hit 13 home runs in BP, including the first two that landed in the bushes in center field. He muscled one into the visitors' bullpen and launched two into the upper deck in right.
One smacked off the gigantic Bud Light sign.
But he flied out to shallow center field in the top of the first inning off Phillies righthander Gavin Floyd. Floyd intentionally walked him in the third with a runner on second and one out.
The Giants trailed 6-3 in the fifth, when Bonds stepped up with a runner on first and one out. With the Phillies' infield shifted to the right side, he bounced a weak grounder up the first-base line. Ryan Howard charged and made a nice throw to second. David Bell caught the ball and threw to Utley at first to beat Bonds to complete the inning-ending double play.
Bonds ripped off his protective elbow gear in disgust.
He chucked his helmet to the ground.
In the eighth, reliever Aaron Fultz struck out Bonds.
Fans loved it.
Especially Phil Schaffer and Mike Azzalina. They came in costume from Elizabethtown College in Lancaster County. Azzalina, 19, from Easton, Pa., wore a plain white T-shirt that read "Bonds before 2000." Schaffer, 18, from Ocean City, N.J., wore an inflatable costume - think of those sumo wrestler costumes - with a 4XL T-shirt that read "Bonds after 2000."
He also wore a crown.
"We came up with this idea in math class," Schaffer said. "Our professor says the reason they did stuff in college was to get a reaction. We're doing that, but we're also trying say baseball is America's game, and Bonds is taking it away from us by cheating. It's as simple as that."
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/14513524.htm