Northern California Baseball Blog and Q&A

Paul Gutierrez
Raised in Barstow, Calif., where he played community college baseball for two years, Paul Gutierrez has worked at Sports Illustrated and the Las Vegas Review-Journal, where he covered his alma mater's Runnin' Rebels at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. During a six-year stint at the Los Angeles Times, he co-authored Tommy Davis' "Tales from the Dodgers Dugout." He came to The Bee in October 2005 and is now a Bay Area sports features writer who concentrates on baseball during the spring and summer.

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July 15, 2007

Series an 'embarrassment' for Bonds

Barry Bonds hit a major roadblock on the road to becoming the all-time home run king, a Dodger Blue roadblock, and while Bonds might be just five homers from passing Hank Aaron, he looked utterly lost in a lost weekend against the hated Dodgers.

Bonds was a combined 0 for 12 vs. L.A., and he is 0 for his last 20, the fourth-such longest streak of his career.

"It's an embarrassment to me wearing this ... uniform the way I'm playing," Bonds told reporters in a hushed Giants clubhouse after they had been swept by their SoCal neighbors.

"There, that's it. Now go away."

And when reporters did not comply, Bonds continued.

"I'm embarrassed to have this ... uniform on, the way I'm performing," he added. "Now get out of here."

The Dodgers are only too eager to abide by Bonds' wishes. After all, they have dibs on naming rights here now, having won 11 in a row at AT&T Park, er, Dodger Stadium North. Yet rumors that they plan on renaming McCovey Cove as Koufax Kove (yes, we realize Sandy was a pitcher but with the Giants serving as the Dodgers' man-servants, the Dodgers can do whatever they want) might be a bit premature. Franklin Stubbs Bay has a nice ring, though.

"We have a lot of respect for him and we pitched him very carefully," Dodgers manager Grady Little said of Bonds. "That's all we're trying to do.

"(Catcher) Russell Martin and those pitchers did an outstanding job on him this series."

Dodgers left-handed reliever Joe Beimel, who grew up in Pittsburgh wanting to challenge Bonds when he played with the Pirates, also owns the impending home run king. Bonds is 1 for 14 against Beimel.

"Guys pitch around him and mentally, I think he can sense that (fear)," an unintimidated Beimel said. "I can't really explain the success.

"He's obviously not the same guy he was six years ago when he was hitting 73 home runs, but that's to be expected. He's still a great hitter and he can still change a game."

Giants fans are waiting. We're all waiting.

- Paul Gutierrez

Posted by Ahmed Ortiz, July 15, 2007 05:47 PM

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