Bonds Hits 752, 753 Against Cubs

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jul 20, 2007 2:42PM

For the first three games of the Cubs-Giants series, slugger Barry Bonds kept himself planted to the visitors' dugout bench for the most part. Cubs fans got little chance to boo Bonds as one pinch hit at-bat was his only playing time.

For those who were patient, however, Bonds made up for his absence by putting on quite a show on Thursday. Mired in an 0-21 batting slump while racing toward Hank Aaron's all-time home run record of 755 homers, Bonds hit two homers on Thursday while going 3-3 against the Cubs. Not that they helped his team -- the Cubs still won 9-8.

The first blast came off Cubs starter Ted Lilly in the second inning -- a solo shot that landed on Sheffield. In the seventh, Bonds connected on a three-run shot off reliever Will Ohman that landed in the outfield wall basket in left-center.

That one put some Cubs fan into a difficult dilemma -- throw the ball back or not?

''I was just hoping they would throw the balls back like they said, but I guess they lied,'' Bonds complained. ''I was going to put them in my trophy room, but they lied.''

Did the fan keep the ball to keep it away from Bonds? Or because he thought it might cover the Old Style for the rest of the season if he put it up on ebay?

With his two home runs on Thursday, Bonds is just two homers shy of tying Aaron's record. Will he do it in Milwaukee, where Hammerin' Hank played much of his career? We certainly hope not. That'd be like spitting right in someone's face. Chicagoist is one who certainly doesn't want to see a 'roid riddled cheater break perhaps baseball's most prestigious record.

On the other hand, Milwaukee is also home of MLB Commissioner Bud Selig, who's non-committal answers about whether he'll attend Bonds' record breaking game or not has been irking us to no end. Will he stay away from his own (former) ball club to make a point? Will he claim his attendance is purely coincidental? Bud's comments this weekend should be interesting, to say the least.

Photo by AP Photo/M. Spencer Green