More Bonds all the time

A live update of all of Barry Bonds' plate appearances in Saturday night's game at Citizens Bank Park. First inning Amidst cascading boos, Bonds strolled to the plate with two outs in the first to face starting pitcher Ryan Madson, though it was hard to tell whether the fans were greeting the star-crossed slugger or letting right fielder Bobby Abreu have it for allowing Pedro Feliz's soft fly ball to drop in for a single.

With a sprinkling of boos, Bonds trotted to first after drawing a five-pitch walk. The fans couldn't have been that angry, though. The flashbulbs from cameras popped like lightning bugs as Madson delivered every pitch.

As Bonds led off first base, he likely heard the "Barry cheated!" chant that made it through three rounds before running out of steam.

Not surprisingly, Bonds was booed as he settled into his position in left field. A small pocket of fans shouted "Cheater!"but there were no banners like on Friday night, and the crowd is relatively behaved. Even the loud chorus of boos from when Bonds robbed Jimmy Rollins from an extra-base hit weren't very heartfelt.

Then again, steroid accusations or not, Bonds was probably the best fielding left fielder in baseball history. Those days have passed, though.

Inning highlights: Carlos Ruiz, in his first ever inning of Major League ball, threw out Randy Winn attempting to steal second base for the second out of the inning.

Between Bonds AB press-box banter: Cole Hamels gets called up after Sunday's start. Geoff Geary heads down. Ryan Madson moves to the 'pen and Hamels first start is next Saturday at Cincinnati.

Third inning Guess what? Bonds gets booed as he walks to the plate. The umps stop the game to put special, authenticated balls in play. Madson promptly throws one of them and gets Bonds to ground into a 6-5-3 double play with Pedro Feliz on first.

Between Bonds AB press-box banter: Who is the Kansas City Royals' All-Star right now?

Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? Anyone?

Fifth inning Before the top of the fifth started, Aaron Rowand had some very harsh words for home-plate umpire Greg Gibson after he grounded out to third base to start the bottom of the fourth. In fact, Rowand was so incensed that he dashed out of the dugout to take up his case -- filled with curse words, of course -- with the ump.

Not shockingly, Rowand was ejected. It will be interesting to hear what the loquacious center fielder has to say about his ouster following the game.

Back to Bonds:

Boos for Bonds. No signs, though. New, authenticated balls, too.

First pitch fastball for strike one... breaking pitch inside for ball one... high and outside with flashbulbs popping for ball two ... changeup a little high, but Bonds seemed to swing late and sent a high fly just short of the track in left field where Pat Burrell catches it. Third out.

Bonds should get at least one more at-bat, but the national media horde chasing the slugger around is preparing to send their stories about how the chase for Babe Ruth's mark will have to wait at least another day.

Eighth inning Charlie Manuel says that it appears as if Bonds does not have his timing down yet. Battling injuries and other sideshow-type things -- if one wants to call a federal grand jury inquiry a "sideshow" -- Bonds' swing isn't where he wants it to be, Manuel said.

He's close though.

"His timing is off. He needs to play a bit more," Manuel said. "He's close though. He can get it back as soon as he leaves here."

He gets to test his timing against lefty Arthur Rhodes following Pedro Feliz's leadoff single, but falls in the hole, 0-1, after Rhodes drops a fastball on the inside corner... a breaking pitch misses outside for ball one ... big swing from the slugger for strike two... another huge swing sends a high fly into center. Shane Victorino settles under it and then gives chase. The winds wreaks havoc with it and sends it to short left field where it oddly drops in for a single.

The hit brings the tying run to the plate with no outs.

That very well could occur now after Steve Finley's hot grounder heading toward Ryan Howard at first for a probable double play, strikes Bonds on the leg for the first out. It could have been unintentional, but Bonds thwarted a potential rally-killing double play.

The smart play is greeted with some halfhearted boos when Bonds casually walked off the field.

So aside from a few "Barry Sucks!" chants (yes, we know... lame), the evening ended without incident. Based upon last night's post-game I'd say it's a better than 99.9 percent chance that Bonds skips out without talking to the press.

Oh well. Let's do it again tomorrow night.

A Night of Bonds

As far as circuses go, this one was hardly any fun. In fact, when I asked Larry Shenk, the Phillies’ vice president of public relations, if the there was going to be a big top installed, all I got was a terse, “No.”

That doesn’t mean there weren’t moments of levity. For instance, upon arriving in the Phillies’ dugout after listening in with the media throng in Giants skipper Felipe Alou’s office and checking out the scene in the visitor’s clubhouse, some wise writers staying along the fringes asked me what was happening on the other side.

“It’s just a whole bunch of guys over there watching another guy listen to his iPod and mark his bats,” I answered.

“Yeah, and you were one of them,” hooted Jimmy Rollins.

“No, it was worse than that – I was watching other guys watch him,” I shot back.

That’s the way Rollins and I talk to each other sometimes. But I digress.

Him, of course, is Barry Bonds, and what everyone was watching and making all sorts of clever remarks about was the wild and wacky atmosphere around the star-crossed slugger’s parade toward Babe Ruth’s career home run total of 714.

Will he hit the two he needs this weekend in Philadelphia? Well, there are about 250 extra writer-types hanging around for the three games thinking he has a shot.

But surely, there has to be some inconvenience to anything worthwhile. I bet the number of media credentials for the Gettysburg Address numbered in the thousands. Think of how crowded the press box must have been for Nixon's farewell.

“It’s history,” Ryan Howard said. “This kind of stuff doesn’t happen that much.”

But…

“I bet it’s kind of a pain for you guys,” said Howard in as close to commiserating tone an athlete will ever get with the press.

Just to show it was a two-way street, we let Howard know that we felt bad about all of asinine questions he has to field nearly everyday from folks who don’t show up at the park everyday. It was especially bad after he smacked that home run over the batter’s eye against the Marlins a few weeks back.

Nonetheless, in the time that I have written about the Phillies, which dates back to the middle of 2000, I have never had the chance to see playoff baseball in person nor a real media throng. There was a time when I went to Yankee Stadium to write about Scott Rolen soon after he departed for St. Louis, but what I saw as a media frenzy was a regular old Saturday afternoon in New York City.

They do throngs for lunch. We just wonder what it’s like to go to a playoff game.

Anyway, I’m one of those expect-the-worst, but hope-for-the-best kind of guys, so I did my best to get to the ballpark as early as possible to see if I had been bumped out of my regular seat (thankfully no) or just how wild the circus was (not that bad, actually).

In a nutshell, Friday night’s game was kind of like a convention for the Baseball Writers Association of America. You name him, he was here.

OK. Without further ado, here’s the day in Barry excluding the nightmare of a drive to the park on the Schuylkill Expressway.

4:32 – Enter Giants clubhouse to find that everyone has camped out in the rare hope that Bonds might say or do something. Quickly, word trickles out that Bonds will say and do nothing. Everyone leaves the sauna that is the visitor’s clubhouse for the apron of the field. Highlights include Marcus Hayes hijacking a package of Certs from Rob Maaddi, and Dennis Deitch offering $100 for anyone who chooses to take a drink from the industrial-looking faucet in the hallway in the basement of the stadium.

4:46 – The first of many Jack McKeon references is flung toward Jim “Stansberry” Salisbury.

5:00 – Meeting time in Felipe Alou’s office where the Giants’ writers have to deal with the Philly and national guys (as well as a camera crew from ESPN – a faux pas in normal times) hoping for a nugget about Bonds. Because the room is so crowded, it gets pretty warm and unbearable. Upon walking into the hallway to chat up the Giants’ PR guy, I catch a glance of the man himself less than 10-feet away. Dressed in workout gear with black headphone buds in his ears attached to a black iPod on his right arm, Bonds quietly marks his Sam Bats with a Sharpie. Just from a cursory view, Bonds looks like a veteran baseball player – nothing more, nothing less.

5:01 – PR guy says: “It would have been nice if [Bonds] would have done something in a big room beforehand so everybody could have gotten something in about 10 minutes. Sometimes logic doesn’t always win out.” It’s no big deal, I tell him. Besides, what can Bonds be asked or what can he say that he hasn’t been thrown out there already? Besides, isn’t a media frenzy fun by itself?

An aside: 12 years ago I nearly went to work for the Giants PR staff. The problem was that they wanted me to start before the semester was over and like a fool I stayed in school. Let that be a lesson to all you kids out there.

5:06 – Hey, there’s Tim Worrell!

5:11 – Back over to the Phillies’ dugout where Phil Gianficaro, Ken Mandel and Deitch are sitting with Rollins and Howard. They ask me what’s happening on the other side. I tell them. Rollins makes his crack.

5:17 – Decide to go to press box and get myself together and figure out what to write. Once there, Mike Radano asks me if I want to eat. Having had only two Power Bars and a banana to eat all day, I’m ready to swallow my computer bag.

5:22 – Chicken, green beans, a little macaroni, a salad with iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, chick peas (no dressing), and the worst crab cakes in the free world. That’s a shame, too, because crab cakes are my favorite and the press dining room at Camden Yards has some of the best anywhere.

5:34 – Bonds! Live! TV! He spits! Turns around! Warms up before batting practice! Oh my!

5:37 – Bonds swing a bat! He takes BP!

5:40 to 6:00 – TV cameras follow ever move Bonds makes. He smacks some really long batting practice home runs all over the park, but they don’t count. There is no sound on the TV so we can’t here the

6:02 – Marcus Hayes appears on the TV screen. We scream. The others indulge me while I tell them what a good guy Marcus is. That gentle rant morphs into a general announcement of how much I enjoy the company of the other baseball writers. Mike Radano rolls his eyes and then repeats a funny story for Dennis Deitch.

6:11 – Comcast SportsNet's Marc Caputo comes by and says something funny and then leaves. If only it were that easy...

6:14 – Another McKeon reference for Salisbury.

6:20 – Time to start writing. Dan Connolly of the Baltimore Sun is assigned the seat to my left. He’s from York, Pa. so we exchange some general baseball information and stories and discuss our South Central Pennsylvania-ness.

7:01 – Anthem.

7:07 – First pitch.

7:10 – Here comes Bonds. The crowd boos with some cheers sprinkled in, but not many. How weird would it be to get booed? Such an odd custom, but it gets it point across.

7:11 – Bonds swings at a first-pitch fastball from Gavin Floyd. He hits it straight up into the air in center field where Aaron Rowand waits for it and catches it.

7:15 – Bonds heads for left field where a big banner reading “Babe Ruth did it on hotdogs and beer” is unfurled. That’s probably true, but it isn’t exactly too healthy, either. Just think how good Ruth would have been if he did it on plenty of rest, a good diet, weight training and extra batting practice.

7:50 – Bonds draws an intentional walk from Floyd. People boo, but I’m not sure if they are booing Bonds or the intentional walk. A man holds a sign that says, “Pitch to Bonds.” After the game, Charlie Manuel says it will be hard to pitch to Bonds if first base is open.

8:03 – Moises Alou rolls his ankle in the right-field corner while chasing a foul ball. It doesn’t look too bad on the replays, but Alou gets carted off the field.

8:31 – Dan Connolly says Bonds is going to hit one this inning.

8:32 – Bonds taps into a 3-5-4 double play. Yeah, the old 3-5-4.

9:22 – Bonds strikes out on a nasty change up from Aaron Fultz. After the inning he stays in the dugout.

That’s pretty much the Night of Bonds. The mass media went into the Giants clubhouse following the game only to find that the slugger had left for the night. Meanwhile on the Phillies side, everyone is happy about the sixth win in a row. Ryan Howard was happy to hit two homers, win the game and meet Bonds. Charlie Manuel was cracking jokes at Mike Radano’s expense.

It’s now 12:01 a.m. I’m going to drive home to Lancaster, wake up for a 7 a.m. workout and come to the park in the afternoon ready to do it all over again.

All Bonds all the time

There will be an extra 300 media types hanging around the ballpark this weekend and they won't be there to see if Charlie Manuel and the Phillies can keep the five-game winning streak going. Needless to say, it's going to be a mess where writer types will need to show up early, stay late and try to avoid the circus.

Yeah, we're all really looking forward to it... nevertheless, if there is going to be a circus and I'm going to be in the Big Top, why not make the most of it? Check back here for a report on all of the wackiness that goes with a media scrum.

Notes from Wednesday night

Pat Burrell found a seat on the bench against hard-throwing right-hander John Smoltz not just because he was 1-for-19 during his career against the veteran, but also because his legs and surgically repaired foot. "Everyday when he plays, he has some pain in his foot. When he swings on his back leg, and when he has to turn in the outfield," manager Charlie Manuel said about Burrell.

Anyone who has watched Burrell play this season has seen how noticeably slower he is. Like Bob Boone and Johnny Estrada type slow. Burrell was also fitted with new orthodics to go inside of his baseball spikes, and as anyone who has had to wear custom orthodics knows, they can sometimes take a little while to get used to.

Nevertheless, Burrell has been pretty solid at the plate and has solidified the middle of the order to help Manuel break up the lefties with a little more ease. He leads the team with eight homers and 22 RBIs to go with a very solid .400 on-base percentage and a .609 slugging percentage.

Better yet, Burrell has hit lefties at a .305 clip.

"He definitely wants to play. Last year he played through it and knows what it's all about. That's what he's planning on doing this year. Anytime I can give him a blow, that might help him," Manuel said.

Meanwhile, it all works out well for Manuel who gets a chance to give David Dellucci some much-needed playing time. A season ago, the left-handed swinging Dellucci slugged 28 of his 29 homers against righties, so a start against Smoltz makes sense.

It's not exactly the easiest guy to hit against, but Dellucci really needs some action.

"If you expect to get something out of your bench, you have to play them. It's important to get these guys at-bats and keep them as sharp as we can," Manuel said.

How about a wake up call? Manuel's very public airing out of his team in the dugout during the middle of Monday night's game seems to have had a positive affect on the Phillies. Starting with that rant and the skipper's subsequent ejection, the Phillies have become the Comeback Kids by rallying for three straight wins in the late innings.

Coincidence?

"The last two nights, I think we've been playing with more intensity as far as staying in the game," Manuel said. "I'm not a guy who likes to get on players in front of anybody. I like to take them in my office, look him in the eye and tell him exactly what I think, and give them a chance to tell them what I think."

Ready for some football? Here's the trailer for the upcoming movie about former Eagles Vince Papale, starring Mark Wahlberg. Based on emails from friends and Internet chatter, it seems as if Eagles fans will be camping out for tickets.

Catch him now

At one point last season, I tried to get Jim Thome to buy into a theory I had about John Smoltz. The theory was that in 2005, Smoltz was the last of a dying breed of pitcher who was going to throw a really hard fastball and an equally hard slider and come straight at a hitter with that. He wasn’t going to be fancy or cute.

According to the scouting reports, 60 percent of the pitches Smoltz throws are fastballs, while 22 percent are sliders. More telling is that 72 percent of the first pitches he throws to hitters are heaters, and in the rare chance he falls behind a hitter, 70 percent of the time he’s coming with the No. 1.

So with Smoltz, you know what you’re going to get, and there aren’t too many guys left like him. There’s Roger Clemens, when he pitches. Curt Schilling, of course, and Randy Johnson. But as far as guys who will challenge a hitter with nothing more than heat and guts, well, there are still a few guys who are on the way but still have to get a few more years under them.

Needless to say, it’s a treat to watch John Smoltz pitch. If you get the chance, do it now before it’s too late.

Anyway, I think Thome bought my theory, but I really wasn't able to get him to engage. I think he was a little preoccupied at the time – you know, trying to get ready to play a game when some punk writer walked up to him to ask about a guy who likes to throw fastball. Nonetheless, here’s the story from back then. I especially like the first quote from old favorite Todd Pratt.

Man do I miss that guy.

Did anyone see that? Catcher Sal Fasano made one of the funnier plays you'll see in last night's victory over the Marlins. No, we're not making fun of Fasano, we're just enjoying a moment of levity after a comeback win. So thanks to the magic of the Internet, the good folks at YouTube.com and our old pal Dan McQuade at Philadelphia Will Do, Fasano's wild fake-out is posted here for your enjoyment.

Bonds bringing circus (and reality show) to Philly

The next week is shaping up to be one of the more memorable weekends in Philadelphia sports in quite some time. At least from a national perspective, that is. Aside from the potential Game 7 for the Flyers in the opening round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres, as well as the afterglow of a strong draft for the beloved Eagles, the Phillies’ games and Citizens Bank Park could be in the national spotlight.

Huh? A 10-14 team struggling with its relief pitching and nearly every other aspect of the game – how are they going to find anything more than the ire of a handful of folks that call into sports radio shows?

It’s not them, it’s someone else. Like Bonds.

Barry Bonds.

With the dramatic, ninth-inning homer he slugged off former Phillie Billy Wagner last week, Barry Bonds, baseball’s Public Enemy No. 1, stands at 711 home runs in his now checkered big league career. Whether or not Bonds slugged the majority of those homers with the aid of illegal substances remains an issue for former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, commissioner Bud Selig and their steroids investigation. This weekend, Bonds has a chance to tie or surpass Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 career home runs.

Babe Ruth, of course, is one of the most storied and beloved ballplayers to ever live. In the wake of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, it was Ruth and all of his home runs that not only saved the game of baseball, but also became the stuff of legend.

Bonds, not to rehash all of the building controversy, has always been the antithesis of Ruth. According to published reports as well as first-hand accounts from folks who have dealt with Bonds throughout the years, he has been rude, curt, mean and selfish. And that’s to the people who are close to him.

Ruth, according to legend, was always the life of the party. Where Bonds is surly, Ruth was gregarious.

Regardless, Bonds and Ruth could share the spotlight this weekend in Philadelphia.

The Giants have three more games until they arrive in Philadelphia, with only one at home against before the team hits the road, so obviously Bonds will not pass the Babe at the relatively friendly confines of San Francisco’s ballpark (whatever company it’s named for now). Still, after two games in Milwaukee and then the three in Philly, the Giants return home for a week. Therefore, it would not be too surprising if Bonds has some sort of injury when his team comes to Philadelphia even though Sunday’s game is scheduled to be telecast nationally on ESPN.

Bonds, of course, is taping a reality show for ESPN.

Anyway, Major League Baseball has already issued a statement that it will not formally acknowledge Bonds’ 715th home run, which is the correct move since Henry Aaron, not Babe Ruth, holds the record for the most home runs. However, that doesn’t mean the fans in the stands at the Bank won’t acknowledge the deed if it occurs here.

Certainly, the national media will have a field day figuring out how the fans in Philly will react if Bonds passes Ruth, so to take the tired, old Philly fan clichés out of the mix for a change, here’s my suggestion for how the fans should react to Bonds:

Don’t react at all. Don’t boo, don’t cheer, don’t guffaw. Just stand there and be quiet. Turn your back if you feel that’s necessary, but truly respond with no emotion whatsoever.

How cool would it be to see Bonds circle the bases after a milestone homer in total silence?

It’s also worth noting that Babe Ruth's last game was played at the Baker Bowl, the Phillies old stadium that was located in North Philadelphia at Broad and Lehigh Ave. on May 30, 1935. As a player for the Boston Braves, the 40-year-old Ruth struck out in the first inning and then hurt his knee playing first base in the bottom half of the inning.

He walked off the field and never played again.

Oh my! Part two

Cole Hamels made his second start for Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Tuesday afternoon in Richmond. For an encore to his 7-inning, 3-hit, 14-strikeout debut in Triple-A, Hamels pitched a complete game shutout in a 5-0 victory. His line? Well, see for yourself: 9 IP, 2 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 12 strikeouts. He threw 114 pitches of which 76 were for strikes.

Yeah, that's sick.

So if you're counting, here's Hamels' stats for his two Triple-A starts:

16 IP, 5 hits, 0 runs, 1 walk, 26 strikeouts and a 2-0 record. He has thrown 212 pitches (142 strikes).

Now here's the big question: when does he make his debut for the Phillies?

That's more like it

It's rare that I get a chance to sit on the couch and watch a baseball game. Oh sure, I get to "watch" baseball games. Lots of them, in fact. But it isn't too often that I get to watch a baseball game without a notebook, scorebook, computer and sheets and sheets of notes. Sometimes that kind of gets in the way of pure enjoyment of the game. So last night with the team playing in Miami, my two-year boy in bed and my wife at the store, I was able to watch four entire innings without writing anything down or having to worry about anything. Four innings of nothing to do but watch the pitchers pitch and the hitters try to figure out what was coming next.

What a rare, rare treat. It helped remind me why I like the game so much.

*** During those four innings the Phillies staged their big comeback against Dontrelle Willis highlighted by one of the best, head's up base-running plays seen in a long, long time. That's where Jimmy Rollins dashed all the way around the bases from first to score the tying-run on Shane Victorino's bloop, bases-loaded single with two outs. It was such an exciting play.

According to Scott Lauber's story in the Wilmington News Journal, Rollins was able to head for home because he knew that Dontrelle liked to get chatty with his infielders when things didn't go his way and little bloopers found holes. Chalk that up to neighborhood knowledge. Nice work from Lauber capturing the whole thing, too.

*** Here in Lancaster -- or "The Lanc" as the kids say -- the Atlantic League Barnstormers opened up play last weekend. Aside from manager Tom Herr and pitching coach Rick Wise, the team has another former Phillie on the roster. Reggie Taylor, the Phils' first-round pick in the 1995 draft, now plays center field for the Lancaster Barnstormers.

That's a long way from the 14th pick of the draft where Taylor was selected behind Darin Erstad, Ben Davis, Jose Cruz, Kerry Wood, Todd Helton and Matt Morris, and ahead of Roy Halladay, Michael Barrett, Jarrod Washburn, Carlos Beltran, and Sean Casey.

The Phillies also selected David Coggin and Marlon Anderson in the first two rounds of the '95 draft.

It also seems so long ago that Taylor was supposed to be a mainstay in center field and solidify the top of the Phils' order with Rollins.

But baseball is a crazy game sometimes.

Anyway, Taylor had a bit of a rough weekend in his debut for the Barnstormers. In his team's three-game sweep over the Road Warriors, Taylor went 0-for-10 with three strikeouts and a walk. Sure, it's just three games, but the quality of the pitching in the Atlantic League is really, really bad.

*** Since I'm at the ballpark more often than not, I don't get to listen to the team's TV and radio announcers all that much. That said, it was kind of odd hearing Scott Graham on TV instead of just the radio.

Bonds to chase Babe in Philly?

Here's this weeks edition of my column for the CSN E-mail blast. To subscribe for the blast, click here.

The next week is shaping up to be one of the more memorable weekends in Philadelphia sports in quite some time. At least from a national perspective, that is.

Aside from the potential Game 7 for the Flyers in the opening round playoff series against the Buffalo Sabres, as well as the afterglow of a strong draft for the beloved Eagles, the Phillies’ games and Citizens Bank Park could be in the national spotlight.

Huh? A 10-14 team struggling with its relief pitching and nearly every other aspect of the game – how are they going to find anything more than the ire of a handful of folks that call into sports radio shows?

It’s not them, it’s someone else. Like Bonds.

Barry Bonds.

With the dramatic, ninth-inning homer he slugged off former Phillie Billy Wagner last week, Barry Bonds, baseball’s Public Enemy No. 1, stands at 711 home runs in his now checkered big league career. Whether or not Bonds slugged the majority of those homers with the aid of illegal substances remains an issue for former U.S. Senator George Mitchell, commissioner Bud Selig and their steroids investigation. This weekend, Bonds has a chance to tie or surpass Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 career home runs.

Babe Ruth, of course, is one of the most storied and beloved ballplayers to ever live. In the wake of the 1919 Black Sox scandal, it was Ruth and all of his home runs that not only saved the game of baseball, but also became the stuff of legend.

Bonds, not to rehash all of the building controversy, has always been the antithesis of Ruth. According to published reports as well as first-hand accounts from folks who have dealt with Bonds throughout the years, he has been rude, curt, mean and selfish. And that’s to the people who are close to him.

Ruth, according to legend, was always the life of the party. Where Bonds is surly, Ruth was gregarious.

Regardless, Bonds and Ruth could share the spotlight this weekend in Philadelphia.

The Giants have three more games until they arrive in Philadelphia, with only one at home against before the team hits the road, so obviously Bonds will not pass the Babe at the relatively friendly confines of San Francisco’s ballpark (whatever company it’s named for now). Still, after two games in Milwaukee and then the three in Philly, the Giants return home for a week. Therefore, it would not be too surprising if Bonds has some sort of injury when his team comes to Philadelphia even though Sunday’s game is scheduled to be telecast nationally on ESPN.

Bonds, of course, is taping a reality show for ESPN.

Anyway, Major League Baseball has already issued a statement that it will not formally acknowledge Bonds’ 715^th home run, which is the correct move since Henry Aaron, not Babe Ruth, holds the record for the most home runs. However, that doesn’t mean the fans in the stands at the Bank won’t acknowledge the deed if it occurs here.

Certainly, the national media will have a field day figuring out how the fans in Philly will react if Bonds passes Ruth, so to take the tired, old Philly fan clichés out of the mix for a change, here’s my suggestion for how the fans should react to Bonds:

Don’t react at all. Don’t boo, don’t cheer, don’t guffaw. Just stand there and be quiet. Turn your back if you feel that’s necessary, but truly respond with no emotion whatsoever.

How cool would it be to see Bonds circle the bases after a milestone homer in total silence?

It’s also worth noting that Babe Ruth's last game was played at the Baker Bowl, the Phillies old stadium that was located in North Philadelphia at Broad and Lehigh Ave. on May 30, 1935. As a player for the Boston Braves, the 40-year-old Ruth struck out in the first inning and then hurt his knee playing first base in the bottom half of the inning.

He walked off the field and never played again.

Oh my!

A few of us scribes have a bet regarding the Phillies' top prospect Cole Hamels. If Hamels makes it to the big leagues during any part of the month of June, I win. If Hamels makes it here in July, Steve Miller of the Allentown Morning Call is the big winner. Any time after August 1 -- give the pool to the Courier Post's Mike Radano. Of course we all laughed when Ken Mandel from Phillies.com went with May. That's just the way we are with Ken. But after Hamels' Triple-A debut, it looks like Mandel might have the last laugh.

Hamels pitched seven innings in his debut for Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. He allowed just three hits and he did not walk any one. Pretty good, right. Wait... he struck out 14 hitters. That's 14.

Let's look at it this way:

7 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 14 K

Needless to say, Scranton won the game, 5-0, but it doesn't seem like I'm going to win the bet.

Don't blame Lieby It's popular in some circles to heap some of the blame for a poor pitching performance onto the catcher. After all, goes the reasoning, the catcher calls the pitches (not always) and it's his job to know the hitters' tendencies, how well the pitcher is throwing, and all of the other nuances of a particular moment of a game.

Most of that is true to a degree.

What often is overlooked is that the pitcher throws the pitch. Ultimately, it's the pitcher's decision and not the catcher's.

At least that's what Ryan Madson says.

Still, Phillies' veteran catcher Mike Lieberthal has taken a lot of criticism for what many people say is his inability to call a good game.

"It's not Lieby," Madson said. "I throw the pitch."

Madson says that, yes, it's nice when he and his catcher are in synch. It helps with his rhythm to be ready to throw a pitch and see that the catcher is thinking the same exact thing, Madson says.

But more importantly, Madson says, it's not the pitch calling, relationship or rhythm that's important. It's the pitcher's confidence.

"I'm only going to be as good as I am mentally," Madson said. "It's the uncertainty that kills you."

Not Lieby, he says.

Here he comes

Regardless of the feeling one has about Barry Bonds, one thing is unmistakable -- he's a lot of fun to watch. The same thing goes for Mets closer Billy Wagner, who spent parts of the past two seasons closing games here in Philadelphia. So when the two went head to head in the bottom of the ninth inning with one on and two outs in a 7-5 game in San Francisco, it was more than just interesting theater. It was an event.

At least that's how it here in the press box at Citizens Bank Park where the scribes were glued to the TV sets and then broke into their Wagner impersonations when Bonds blasted a fastball over the fence in left-center.

Tie game.

And everyone does a Wagner impression.

Nevertheless, Bonds' homer off Wagner was the 711th of his career, which make it distinctly possible that baseball's Public Enemy No. 1 could head into next weekend's series against the Phillies ready to tie or break Babe Ruth's mark of 714 home runs.

The Giants have seven more games until they arrive in Philadelphia, with five of them at home against Arizona and San Diego, so obviously the team's brass wants Bonds to pass the Babe at home. Plus, after two games in Milwaukee and then the three in Philly, the Giants return home for a week. It would not be too surprising if Bonds has some sort of injury that weekend.

It's also worth noting that Babe Ruth's last game was played at the Baker Bowl, the Phillies old stadium that was located in North Philadelphia at Broad and Lehigh Ave. on May 30, 1935. As a player for the Boston Braves, the 40-year-old Ruth struck out in the first inning and then hurt his knee playing first base in the bottom half of the inning.

He walked off the field and never played again.

These days, the site of Babe Ruth's last game is a partially a gas station and mini-market.

Fun facts

The ninth spot in the Phillies batting order is hitting .066 (4-for-61) with a .123 on-base percentage. All four of the hits have been singles and three of them came in one game by Ryan Madson -- the other was from pinch-hitter David Dellucci. Meanwhile, the opposing No. 9 hitter are collectively hitting .328 with a .377 on-base percentage. They have six doubles, a triple and a homer with five walks.

*** Left-handed reliever Rheal Cormier has appeared in just one game since April 15. That game was on April 20 where Cormier pitched the eighth inning of a six-run loss to the Nationals at the Bank.

So far this year, Cormier has appeared in six games for 4 2/3 innings without allowing a run. Opponents are hitting .211 off him this season.

***

Monday Night at the ballpark

OK, everyone. Stop complaining. Charlie Manuel fixed his lineup for Monday night’s series opener against the Rockies. Ryan Howard is no longer buried in the hinterlands with David Bell, Mike Lieberthal and the pitcher’s spot. Instead, he has been bumped up to the fifth spot.

Chase Utley is no longer in the bottom half of the order, either. Now he’s in the No. 2 hole and Aaron Rowand is hitting behind Howard at sixth.

Though there isn’t the lefty-righty balance that all managers like, it seems as if Manuel is on to something here. It will be interesting to see how long this order lasts.

Birds of a feather… Here’s a new one – a pigeon flew into the press box before the game and perched itself on the telephone directly to my left. Upon review I noticed the bird had tags – probably for identification – around his ankles.

After checking out the scene and realizing there was nothing to do in the press box, the bird flew away.

Later, Kent Tekulve sat in the seat in front of the bird’s perch.

No, we’re not doing well, thank you After Forbes magazine printed a story where it reported that Major League Baseball and its teams were enjoying increased revenues and that the New York Yankees were the first professional club to reach a value of $1 billion, baseball’s executive vice president of labor relations and human resources, Rob Manfred issued a press release in response.

It read:

“Forbes has never had access to financial information from Major League Baseball or the individual clubs. The estimates published in the current issue of the magazine materially misstate the financial performance of the industry as a whole and of the individual clubs.”

A long time ago I used to write for a business newspaper in Harrisburg, Pa. Never during that time did an executive of a company issue a statement to downplay any type of favorable story about them. In fact, it was always the opposite.

It sounds pretty odd: A big time magazine writes a story lauding your growing revenues and the company issues a statement saying it’s misstated. Why?

Well, the collective bargaining agreement ends at the end of this season and Manfred certainly doesn’t want the players union to use the Forbes information as fact. At least that’s my quick, dime-store analysis.

Saw that coming

As soon as the umpire rotation for the Phillies' series with the Marlins was posted on the board in the press box on Friday afternoon, my first thought was, "uh-oh, someone is getting run." The reason for the reaction was that Dan Iassogna's name was on the list. Now I don't know Iassogna at all -- I've never spoken with him because umpires are not required to talk to the media before or after games. But I've seen Iassogna work games and I just did a Google photo search on him, and, to be kind, the guy seems a little angry. Actually, he appears kind of confrontational.

Iassogna, as some remember, was the umpire who always seemed to drive Larry Bowa crazier than any other ump -- and that's saying something. It was Iassogna who got the notch on his belt for running Bowa for the first time as Phillies manager in July of 2001 and the two continued to have some run-ins during the length of Bowa's stay as skipper.

In fact, Iassogna actually made me feel a little sympathetic toward Bowa during a few of those confrontations. For anyone who knows me, that's saying something.

So when both Chase Utley and Charlie Manuel got the heave-ho for a game where there were more than 40,000 people in the stands, I figured Dan needed a little attention.

Then again, it's not like I didn't see it coming.

Howard's 496-foot home run Wow... that should sum it up.

Rained out

If there was ever a day when the Phillies needed a rain out, Saturday was the day. We’re not sure, but it appeared as if Charlie Manuel was doing some sort of rain dance during his argument with third-base ump James Hoye last night. Maybe that’s why Charlie couldn’t get ejected – he was dancing instead of dropping the magic word.

Actually, the Phillies brass deserves a rare kudos for doing the right thing and calling Saturday night’s game before anyone showed up at the park. There have been way too many nights when the club would open the doors, get everyone in the park to wait around for an hour or two just to pull the plug.

That’s no fun for anyone. The players don’t like it, the media doesn’t like it, and the fans certainly don’t like it either.

With the escalating costs of going to a game for regular folks – not to mention the spiking gas prices – it’s nice to see that the Phillies thought ahead and let everyone stay at home to watch the hockey game on CSN.

Or…

Maybe they TiVo-ed it and tuned in to Henry Rollins’ new show on IFC. Rollins, of course, is the “aging, alternative icon” and media gadfly better known for work as the singer for the Rollins Band (and Black Flag) as well as a riveting spoken word performer.

Plus, Rollins is from D.C., which isn’t a bad thing.

Nevertheless, it’s apparent that the Rollins show is still finding its way, though it certainly has the potential to be as entertaining as IFC’s other show, “Dinner for Five,” hosted by actor/director Jon Favreau.

On the other hand…

As far as the other Rollins goes – Jimmy that is – his hitless skid reached 13 at-bats and 14 plate appearances. Since the club left Atlanta for Colorado last week, Rollins has just four hits in 28 at-bats (.143) and says his swing is a bit out of whack.

Plus, because of some blisters and callouses on his thumbs that sting when he swings right-handed, Rollins took Friday night off against lefty Scott Olsen. But he’ll be back in there against righty Sergio Mitre on Sunday afternoon.

“He's in a little funk right now,” Manuel said on Friday afternoon. “He pulling off the ball right now, dribbling it off the end of the bat. He'll sit and get a breather. When he's hitting line drives, he's short and quick to the ball. During the streak, he was pretty consistent with that. He'll get it back.”

See, the rainout was good. Everyone got to take a break.

Red-hot Thome Not only did Jim Thome smash his ninth homer of the season in last night's win for the White Sox over the Twins, but also, the slugger scored another run on Saturday to keep his perfect streak going.

The streak? Thome has scored a run in every game this season.

It sounds like Thome is healthy.

More randomness

Well, I’m not a jinx… At least last night I wasn’t. Heading into Friday night’s game, David Bell has appeared in 12 games with 47 plate appearances without a strikeout.

In fact, based on some very quick research, Bell is the last of all the everyday players not to strikeout.

Not that anyone is going to mention it to him. At least not again.

*** Throughout the week, the press box has been over run with Major League scouts. That was especially the case on Friday night where the box was so filthy with scouts before the game that they took over the entire third row of seats and forced some of the regulars to find somewhere else to go.

Meanwhile, the presense of such a large number of scouts leads one to wonder if there is something going on. There has to be a reason they’re all here, right?

*** Sal Fasano sent 10 boxes of Peace-A-Pizza pizzas to the “Sal’s Pals” high up in section 307. At $3.75 and $4 per slice, it’s good to know that the folks at Peace-A-Pizza pitched in.

*** A blister on his hand and an 0-for-12 skid kept Jimmy Rollins on bench for Friday’s game.

Way to be a jinx

From the way-to-open-up-your-big-mouth-and-jinx-him file, I would be remiss if I did not admit that I told David Bell that he had not struck out all year following Wednesday night’s extra-inning win over the Nationals.

Bell claimed he was not aware of the fact – and I believe him – but as soon as the information left my mouth, Phillies.com writer Ken Mandel pointed out my faux pas with a, “way to go, jerk. You jinxed him.”

Bell downplayed my profuse (and, I’m sure, annoying) apologies, saying it was no big deal and, “an out is an out.” But the damage has been done. If Bell strikes out tonight, the code of baseball superstition says I’m to blame.

I certainly don’t root one way or another at a ballgame, so I’m hoping Bell keeps his perfect ledger in tact.

On another note, I am positive that Bell had no idea about the lack of whiffs because of the first time I had a conversation with him in the tiny clubhouse at Jack Russell Stadium in Clearwater before the 2003 season. During that chat, I brought up some of Bell’s past statistics during his years with the Giants and Mariners and he very earnestly told me that he had no idea what I was talking about.

It wasn’t that he didn’t care about his statistics; it was just that he didn’t care.

Does that make sense?

Let me try again:

Baseball is the Bell Family business, and in any family business – especially one that stretches through three genereations – the bottom line is very important. To Bell, that bottom line isn’t his batting average or the number of hits or home runs. It’s how many wins his team has.

Yes, Bell wants to put up good statistics. But never at the price of costing his team a win.

Big games in April

As far as important games in April go, the next 10 for the Phillies are about as big as they come. At 5-7 and already five games behind the Mets in the NL East, the Phillies can make a dent in the standings with the Nationals, Marlins and Rockies in town for the next week-and-a-half.

Oh, but if only the next 10 were it for the Phils. For the next three weeks, the Phillies will play 15 of their next 20 games at home with no days off. Of those 20 games, 18 are in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (last we checked, Pittsburgh is still on the other end of the state).

So obviously, this is a big stretch for the Phillies.

Etc. Here’s a fun fact: Jon Lieber is the Phillies’ first Opening Day starter to begin the season 0-3 since Robert Person went 0-3 in 2002.

That season, Person lost his first three of his first six starts, went on the disabled list and picked up his first win on June 2 against the Expos. As some will recall, that was the game where Person blasted a pair of homers and drove in seven runs.

After pitching as well as any hurler in the National League in the final months of the 2001 season, the 2002 campaign was not one to remember for Person. Later that summer, the right-hander and manager Larry Bowa had a few “disagreements” before Person went on the disabled list following a two-inning blowup in a loss at Wrigley Field in late July.

Following that game, Person was done as a Phillie.

Since then, the affable pitcher from St. Louis battled injuries and bounced from the Red Sox and White Sox for a few years before winding up in the Atlantic League with the Bridgeport Bluefish last season.

Against the likes of Pete Rose Jr. and Ryan Minor, Person went 0-4 with a 6.37 ERA in 14 games.

As a side note, Cory Lidle’s brother Kevin was a catcher for the Bluefish.

Here’s another fun fact: Heading into Tuesday night’s game against the Nationals, David Bell had gone 37 consecutive plate appearances without striking out. Of all the Phillies to come to bat this season, only Bell and pitcher Ryan Madson (six plate appearances) are the only players not to strike out.

The Lost London column

Note: This was originally supposed to appear on CSN's weekly "Email Blast," but it was decided something about hockey would be better for the subscribers of the mailing. Since I don't really follow hockey other than to listen to Keith Jones tell me about it, hockey guy Al Morganti was chosen to pen this week's offering. I say it's a good choice. I do nuance, emotion, culture and baseball. Al has more hockey knowledge in the nail of his pinky than I will ever hope to obtain in my entire life. I can tell some stories, though. Just ask Keith. Anyway, here it is:

Knowledge, as they say, is power. It starts revolutions, movements and empowers lives. Here at Comcast SportsNet, a little bit of knowledge is an amusing thing, because it starts good-natured arguments – some which even find the way to television.

And that’s one of the best things about working for Comcast SportsNet. Within our office on the south side of the Wachovia Center, there is someone who is an expert on something. Need to know if Fred McGriff is a Hall of Famer? Someone can break it down for you. How about the latest on the ATP tour or the European soccer leagues? Find Matt Howley and he’ll get scientific.

The intricacies of the salary cap or anything related to the NFL? Ron Burke, Lance Crawford, Derrick Gunn and Rob Kuestner are the go-to guys.

International marathon racing? Well... I guess that’s me.

See, we have it all covered.

Anyway, with the NHL playoffs and NFL draft looming, as well as the baseball season in full swing, it’s not to difficult to be unaware of what’s shaping up to be a historic (in a sports sense) day at next Sunday’s London Marathon. That’s too bad, because for as “boring” as running can seem watching on television or the Internet, this race could be full of drama from the very first stride.

Why? The runners in this year’s race are the greatest collection of athletes in one event. Of the seven men who own the top 10 fastest marathon times in history, four of them are set to go in London. Two of the runners – Kenyan Paul Tergat and American Khalid Khannouchi – have run four of the top five fastest races ever.

In addition to Tergat, the greatest cross-country runner ever and the world record holder (a mind-numbing 2:05:55 at the Berlin Marathon in 2003), and Khannouchi, the naturalized New Yorker with all of the top American records, including a claim to the title of the greatest marathoner ever based on his times (three races in the top seven), the race features Stefano Baldini, the 2004 Olympic champion, as well as Moroccan Jaouad Gharib, the World Champion in 2003 and 2005.

Kenyan Evans Rutto, who ran a 2:05:50 in Chicago in 2003, and Felix Limo, a 2:06 runner, join the field with defending London champ Martin Lel.

If this race were a boxing match, it would be like putting Muhammad Ali, Joe Louis, Joe Frazier, Rocky Marciano, Mike Tyson, Jack Dempsey, Jack Johnson and Gene Tunney in the ring at the same time.

That’s a pretty impressive field right there, but it wasn’t enough for the directors of the London race. Oh no. They pulled out all the stops and passed out appearance money like those guys in Vegas who hand out those leaflets on the sidewalk. The real coup de gras is Haile Gebrselassie, the two-time Olympic champion and four-time World Champion, who Disney has made movie about, and is Africa’s Michael Jordan. He's going to show up in London next Sunday.

Regarded by some as the greatest distance runner ever, Gebrselassie has run two marathons, but started 2006 by demolishing – not shattering – three world records in distances and times that predict that it will likely take another record time to beat him on the pancake-flat London course.

Home for the summer In past years, it always seemed as if all the local teams found a way to get into the playoffs. Winning the playoffs? Well, that’s another story, but from the Flyers to the Sixers, to the Kixx, Phantoms, and Wings, the post-season was a given.

But this season, it appears as if the Phillies won’t be the only local club left out of the mix. Now that the 76ers have officially been eliminated from post-season action for the second time in the past three seasons, they join the Phantoms, Kixx, and Wings at home.

Piquing the interest away from pre-season football and the baseball season are the Flyers, who head to a probable first-round matchup against the Rangers next week.

Meanwhile, the next few weeks should be interesting for the 76ers as they decide on a plan of attack to get back the glory days. The biggest question, of course, is whether or not Allen Iverson’s future in the NBA will be in Philadelphia or somewhere else. That’s the story to keep everyone talking.

Monday, April 17 -- The Last day off

For the next three weeks, the Phillies will play 15 of their next 20 games at home with no days off. Of those 20 games, 18 are in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. So obviously, this is a big stretch for the Phillies. Needless to say, everyone will likely be sick of each other by the time the next day off on May 8 rolls around.

But how could anyone get sick of a 1-0 game at Coors Field? On the way home after a 4-2 road trip, the Phillies are 4 1/2 games behind the Mets in the East with six straight games against the two teams with a worse record.

What was that pithy saying on those old red t-shirts? Now is the time?

And now it's time to check out the latest scribblings on the local ballclub.

Marcus wrote about Brett Myers' gem at Coors Field in the 1-0 victory, as well as the struggles from the middle relievers and Jon Lieber's 0-3 record.

Chances are Marcus will make an appearance on Daily News Live this week, too.

With a pudcast, a reader mail column and a night club act similar to John C. Reilly's in Boogie Nights, Todd doesn't need the exposure from a regional sports cable channel. Instead, he exposed Myers' outing at Coors, and Ryan Howard's game-winning home run to end an 11-game homerless skid and how pleased Myers was with Mike Lieberthal's effort behind the plate.

In Radano's Monday minor-league feature, he wrote about Jason Jaramillo and Carlos Ruiz and how the Phillies hope they can catch on (get it?) and help the club in the not-so distant future.

The Daily Times at a full plate of Deitch on Monday morning. First, there was the chronicling of the heroics from Howard and Myers in Denver, plus, how Tom Gordon adjusted to pitching at Coors. Deitch also has a note on how crappy the official scoring has become around the league and Pat Burrell's bloody nose.

Scott Lauber wrote about Myers' win against the Rockies even though Charlie Manuel is a little concerned about the shaky middle relief.

Like wire copy? Then check out the Courier Post, PhillyBurbs, CSN and Allentown.

Nationally, Jayson Stark offered his Rumblings & Grumblings on ESPN.com where he had an item on the Phillies. Jayson also penned a "More Rumblings" column for the ESPN's Insider with a note on Charlie Manuel's future with the Phillies:

In my chat for ESPN.com the other day, I was bombarded by questions from Philadelphia about why Charlie Manuel hasn't been fired yet as manager of the Phillies.

Simple answer: Because the new GM in Philadelphia, Pat Gillick, has seen Manuel manage for less than two weeks. And he knows the Phillies played their tailbones off for Manuel in the second half. And he understands nobody ever asked Manuel to turn himself into Tony La Russa.

Remember this: Charlie Manuel was hired, essentially, to not be Larry Bowa. And he still fills that role as well as ever, even if his game-management ambience is, to pick a word, unpredictable.

"Charlie is a very positive guy, and I think that's what this club needs," Gillick told Rumblings. "The one thing I've seen so far is that this club has played hard and hustled and hasn't backed off. ... And I think that's important.

"Charlie has a different style than Larry had, and that's OK. I think with certain players, Larry's style worked, and with certain players, it didn't. But the feeling I get, on the field and in the clubhouse, is that Charlie's got these guys in the proper frame of mind."

Two years ago, the Phillies started 1-6 with Bowa in charge, too. So if nothing else, the Phillies have proved they can get off to horrible starts no matter what kind of personality their manager has.

Nevertheless, Gillick is in this to win -- sooner, not later. So if this group doesn't win, nobody who plays a part in this season should forget that he has no allegiance to anything or anyone that was there before him.

Jayson also wrote about David Dellucci's role with the Phillies:

A scout who is a big David Dellucci fan says the Phillies are misusing Dellucci by not letting him start at least a couple of days a week.

"He has to play some," the scout said. "He has one of those swings where he has to get at-bats. He's got a little inside-out loop that causes him to swing through pitches when he isn't sharp. And he's very patient, which doesn't always bode well when you pinch-hit. And to take advantage of his best aspect -- his chemistry -- he's got to play more. You can't exert much leadership when you're on a new team and you're not playing."

Also on ESPN, Buster Olney wrote that Scott Rolen should get some pitches to hit if he remains in the order behind Albert Pujols. The reason is because Pujols isn't going to get anything to hit any more since Jim Edmonds just had a cortisone shot for his shoulder and Reggie Sanders and Larry Walker are gone ... then again, Brett Myers threw a pitch that was nearly over Pujols' head and he still knocked it into the left-field seats at the Bank.

FoxSports.com's Ken Rosenthal wrote about the amphetamine ban and how it will affect the game on Saturday. We missed it, so here it is.

*** This week's music choice: Les McCann & Eddie Harris "Compared to What" from Swiss Movement

David Byrne once wrote that lyrics and vocalists were the reason why people listened to modern, pop music even though they often ruined it. That was the reason why Byrne liked jazz so much -- the music spoke for itself.

Obviously, Byrne wasn't writing about Les McCann and Eddie Harris' "Compared to What," a song in which the lyrics are even more trenchant now than they were when the song was first recorded in 1969.

Anyway, right-click on this one and save it. It took me three years to locate a copy of the album, which was out of print for a while until the Beastie Boys started sampling from McCann and Harris and rhyming about them (... make you shake your ass like Les McCann... ), and Martin Scorcese used a couple of songs from Swiss Movement in Casino.

Of course, it's on iTunes now.

*** Apropos of nothing, here's the best email I received today. It's from Michael Wann, the neighborhood gadfly and master gardener:

The revolution is gaining momentum... The New York Times recently reported that--for the first time--a full-time worker earning minimum wage cannot afford a one-bedroom apartment anywhere in America at market rates. That means more and more people like Michelle Kennedy--a former Senate page and author of Without a Net: Middle Class and Homeless (With Kids) in America--are finding themselves homeless and living out of their cars.

At a town hall meeting in Ohio on April 2, Representative Sherrod Brown, a staunch advocate for social and economic rights (he and Bernie Sanders are the two best candidates running for Senate in 2006) railed against the economic hardship brought on by stagnant wages: "It is unacceptable that someone can work full-time--and work hard--and not be able to lift their family out of poverty." He blasted a system where a full-time minimum-wage worker earns $10,500 a year, while "last year the CEO of Wal-Mart earned $3,500 an hour. The CEO of Halliburton earned about $8,300 an hour. And the CEO of ExxonMobil earned about $13,700 an hour."