Bonds out of lineup again, will he start Wednesday?
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by Silencer76
So Barry Bonds, mired in an 0 for 20 slump, pulled himself out of the lineup a couple hours before game time Monday night, a 3-2 loss to the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. Bruce Bochy promptly declared that Bonds would be IN the lineup Tuesday night.
This, once again, did not come to fruition.
Bonds was held out once again, as apparently his knees and ankles were not responding to treatment, though he did make a pinch hit appearance in the eighth, lining to left against Will Ohman, who he is now 0 for 5 against in his career. The Giants went on to win 4-2, no thanks to Bonds.
There is talk that Barry won't play in Wednesday's game against Cubs right hander Carlos Zambrano, who leads the NL with 11 wins and has been on fire since the fight with Michael Barrett. This is being attributed to the "Barry doesn't play day games after night games" scenario, but it could go a lot deeper than that. Bonds is hitting just over .100 in July, and facing a fireballer on a roll like Big Z could make for another long day.
Bonds still sits four homers off tying the record set by Hank Aaron, and after leaving Chicago, has a three game set with the Brewers at Miller Park before heading back to San Francisco. Is Bochy trying to save his superstar from a cascade of boos, or is he merely trying to salvage a lost season by keeping a defensive liability out of the lineup? We'll see if Barry is patrolling left this afternoon.
