Sultan of Walks

There was Dusty Baker, sitting tall on the back of the dugout bench late Wednesday afternoon, saying prophetically that if you’re not going to challenge Barry Bonds, you are almost certain to pay a price for challenging one of baseball’s most trusted adages.

“It’s going to hurt somebody sooner or later,” Baker said. “You can’t keep putting the winning run on base without it coming back to haunt you.”

The tailspinning Houston Astros would walk Bonds three times on a total of 12 pitches in the game that followed. They would walk him when he represented the winning run and when he didn’t. They showed so much caution for the second game in a row that a cynic might wonder where that heart is when people sing “deep in the heart of Texas.”

With Jeff Kent hammering a double and two singles behind him, Bonds scored each time he walked as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Astros, 11-8, to remain two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West with four to play.

Bonds, who struck out on five mid-90s fastballs from rookie Tim Redding in the first inning and had a run-scoring single in the eighth when the Astros pitched to him with the game decided, has now walked 17 times in the last eight games to raise his season total to 172, breaking Babe Ruth’s 1923 record of 170.

An announced crowd of 43,630 at Enron Field seemed more disappointed that he didn’t homer for the third consecutive game and didn’t get much of a chance to improve on his total of 69, one shy of Mark’s McGwire’s 1998 record. The crowd again booed the home team’s cautious approach, and those that remained were chanting for Bonds when the San Francisco ninth ended with Bonds on deck.

The Astros, who led the Central Division by 51/2 games on Sept. 24, have lost five in a row and seven of eight, and their only solace Wednesday night was that 1) they scored five runs in the bottom of the ninth to reduce their embarrassment and 2) the St. Louis Cardinals lost in Milwaukee to maintain a tie for the division lead.

Ultimately, the three runs that Bonds scored after his walks cost Houston this latest loss. He was walked with one out and no one on in the fourth and scored on a Kent double. He was walked to open the sixth with the score tied, 2-2, and eventually scored the first of two tie-breaking runs. Then, with runners at first and second and the Giants leading only 4-3 in the seventh, Houston Manager Larry Dierker ordered an intentional walk to load the bases, bringing up Kent again, who drilled the first pitch for a two-run single, giving him 100 RBIs for the fifth consecutive year.

Dierker said he has never issued an intentional walk in that situation, putting an extra runner on base in an undecided game, but Kent was three for 17 against right-hander Mike Williams, with five consecutive strikeouts, and that translated to pretty good odds, he said.

Kent, however, is now batting .342 over his last 42 games, which also translates to a productive hitter regaining his MVP form of last year.

Nevertheless, Dierker didn’t apologize for consistently working around Bonds.

“The only thing we’ve told our pitchers is go at him aggressively but try to stay on the corners,” Dierker said. “I wouldn’t want to throw the ball down the middle to him at this point in time or any time. I mean, it won’t be an embarrassment to me if he hits 70 and 71 and we win, but if he hits them and we lose, I’m going to be upset at myself--unless the bases were loaded and I had no place to put him.”

In a news conference before Tuesday night’s series opener, Bonds had said that when you play the best, such as the Astros, “you don’t want to cheat them by not taking good swings and you don’t want to get cheated by them by not getting good pitches. I want their best.” Some best. He has walked five times in two games, but he told reporters at his locker after Wednesday night’s game that he wasn’t frustrated.

“We played well and we won,” he said.

Then Bonds waved the reporters away, directing them toward his teammates, saying, “this is just not right. A lot of other guys did more than I did. You need to give some respect to my teammates.”

One of those teammates, John Vander Wal, echoed the majority, saying he couldn’t blame the Astros for pitching around Bonds.

“They’re in a heated battle and so are we,” he said. “This is playoff baseball. You don’t let their best hitter beat you.”

Dierker agreed. He was asked about the hooting crowd and remembered reading Jim Leyland’s response to a similar question.

“I agree with this totally,” Dierker said. “Jim said, ‘I love the fans. Without the fans I wouldn’t have a job, but if I manage for the fans I’ll soon be one of them.”’

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

In Pursuit of 70

Barry Bonds has gone homerless in 15 plate appearances since hitting No. 69 against San Diego Sept. 29. But he hasn’t been given much to hit. A look at each plate appearance since then:

SEPT. 29, vs. San Diego

Eighth inninggrounded out

Result: 0 for 1, 3 pitches, 1 strike

SEPT. 30, vs. San Diego

First inningwalked

Third inninggrounded to short

Fifth inningwalked

Seven inninghit by pitch

Result: 0 for 1, 11 pitches, 1 strike

OCT. 2, at Houston

First inningHit by pitch

Fourth inningwalked

Sixth inningsingled to center

Seventh inningintentionally walked

Ninth inninggrounded to first

Result: 1 for 2, 17 pitches, 5 strikes

OCT. 3, at Houston

First inningstruck out

Fourth inningwalked

Sixth inningwalked

Seventh inningintentionally walked

Eighth inningsingled to right-center

Result: 1 for 2, 22 pitches, 6 strikes

TOTAL

Result: 1 for 6, 7 walks, twice hit by a pitch, saw 53 pitches--13 for strikes

Free Passes

Barry Bonds became single-season walk leader Wednesday:

1. Barry Bonds (2001): 172

2. Babe Ruth (1923): 170

3t Mark McGwire (1998): 162

3t Ted Williams(1949): 162

3t Ted Williams (1947): 162