Who’s afraid of the Big, Bad Barry?

You hate to say this when he stands on the brink of breaking Henry Aaron’s all-time record (eventually), but Barry Bonds simply doesn’t strike fear in the hearts of pitchers or opposing managers the way he once did. He came to the plate 10 times during this series when he could have either tied a game, put the Giants ahead or, in two cases, even given them a walkoff victory with career HR No. 752. And yet, he finished the series 0 for 12 with three walks, three Ks and three GIDPs. To me, the three walks are the most telling. Not one of them went into the books as intentional, and I honestly don’t think the Dodgers were pitching around him in any of them, either — not even yesterday’s walk to lead off the ninth inning against Saito, who ended up paying for it when Bonds came around to score the tying run. As usual, his Barryn-ness is the runaway major-league leader in walks with 94, but only 30 of them have been intentional. And while both those numbers put him well ahead of last year’s pace of 115/38, the more appropriate comparison is to 2004, when he set the all-time, single-season records for both with 232/120. He isn’t going to come anywhere NEAR that this year, and no one even pays any attention anymore to the rubber chickens they hang on the wall down the rightfield line here. The Giants play a three-game set at Dodger Stadium starting July 31. If this keeps up, Bonds may still be sitting on 751 when he gets to town.