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September 7, 2004

Breaking Balls

Pitch to Him!

by Derek Zumsteg

Can we please pitch to Barry Bonds already? This isn't a complicated column, it's a simple request.

It's one thing if a manager believes that intentionally walking Bonds is the best strategy to winning a game. And the game is close. I think the intentional walk is a bad strategy anyway, but I can respect that we have different opinions (me and the manager).

But if a team is out of contention, or it's a blowout, they should pitch to Bonds. If baseball is a sport, and it is, it's only sporting to let him hit if the outcome of the game isn't in question. To offer him a fair chance to perform his best. The essence of baseball, like any sport, is competition, and teams should pitch to Bonds in the same way they shouldn't refuse to field a team if they're facing the Cardinals (92-45, folks, that's nutty) and forfeit the game to save their starters for a better matchup.

Bonds walked three times in one game against the Rockies, who are nowhere near contention. They walked him twice intentionally and once sort-of-intentionally, as part of a general strategy to put him on when the score was anywhere close.

Even if a team is out of contention, there's merit in the argument that not using the best strategy available to win a game makes pennant contention less meaningful. And yet teams do not challenge him, even when the game is not in question.

The Diamondbacks recently walked Bonds with Pedro Feliz on first and Ray Durham on second in the 7th inning of a game where they were down by six runs. Arizona's got the second-worst offense in the league--they're not coming back from that. Pitch to him! Don't make me come down there.