713*
1. Bonds blasts no. 713: Barry Bonds always has a knack for hitting homeruns in dramatic situations. So it wasn’t surprising when he hit his 713th career homerun on Sunday Night Baseball against the Phillies. His round tripper–in the sixth inning off Jon Leiber–traveled an estimated 450 feet to left and nearly went into the upper deck at Citizens Bank Park. This was one of many Bonds shots when you could tell it was gone the moment it left his bat, and it left him only one homerun away from tying Ruth on the all-time list. Of course, Bonds being Bonds, refused to sign the ball for the Air Force serviceman who caught it. Number 714 could come on the Giants’ upcoming homestand, in which they play Houston, Chicago, and Los Angeles over the next week.
2. Just what they needed: The Atlanta Braves have been struggling lately to say the least. After losing divisional series to New York and Philadelphia last week, they fell to nine games off the Mets’ pace coming into Sunday. But in their last game in the series against the Mets, they ran over the first place team like an 18-wheeler crushing a Kia. Mets pitchers Jose Lima and Bartolome Fortunato combined to allow all 13 of the Braves runs in the loss, including Fortunato’s 8 in only 1.1 innings. Every player in the Braves lineup contributed, with Jeff Francoeur and Brian Jordan hitting homers and John Smoltz even knocking in 2 runs. Smoltz pitched well too, striking out 8 in 6 innings. The Braves’ 13-3 domination proved that they could still defeat the Mets (many have been doubting), but they are still 8 games back of their heated rivals. While the Mets play Philadelphia next week, the Braves play the divisional weaklings in Washington and Florida.
3. Back in form: Johan Santana, after struggling through his first three starts, now appears to be in his top form. The ace won for his third start in a row against the Tigers, and even took a no-hitter into the 7th inning. He eventually allowed four hits–and two runs–but Santana proved that he can still be the dominating starter that he was in ’04 and ’05. Mike Maroth, the Tigers’ surprising new ace, was hit with the loss after allowing four runs through five innings. The Twins won the series over the second-place Tigers, but they are still 9 games back from the White Sox for the division lead.
4. THE Yankees win (for the 1,000th time): The Yanks completed a series sweep of the Rangers on Sunday, and gave Joe Torre his 1,000th win as manager of the Bronx Bombers. This places Torre fourth on the list of all-time Yankees managers, and it pushes him closer to 2,000 overall wins as a manger (combined with stints in Atlanta, St. Louis, and the Mets, Torre has 1894 wins). Torre’s team breezed through the Rangers 8-5 behind Hideki Matsui’s fifth homer of the year and Chien-Ming Wang’s excellent pitching. They are tied with the Red Sox for first place at 18-11.
5. Pitching problems: Many pitchers were injured over the weekend. The Mets’ Victor Zambrano is out for the season after tearing a tendon in his elbow. This led to bringing up Jose Lima from minors, who didn’t do too well in his first start. Elsewhere, Cardinals pitcher Sidney Ponson left the game against Florida because of problems in his elbow. The Cards still completed a sweep of the Marlins. Also, Ben Sheets, Milwaukee’s ace, missed his scheduled start against LA because of shoulder stiffness. Man, what is going on with these pitchers?
