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We've Met Bonds Before (Answers)

Without further ado, the answers to the questions posed here:

http://metswalkoffs.blogspot.com/2007/05/weve-met-bonds-before-questions.html

1- From the rooftops, shout it out, that the first pitcher that Barry Bonds faced in the majors was Orel Hershiser. Bonds went 0-for-5 that day. His first hit came the next day against Rick Honeycutt, who has no Mets connection and is thus rendered irrelevant.

Bonus: Joe Orsulak batted second and went 0-for-3 that day, so the Pirates table-setters didn't exactly have a good day in that contest.

2- On September 5, 1990, Barry Bonds had a walk-off hit against John Franco, making GEICO caveman lookalike (others have said far worse, I'm sure he's a good person...) Zane Smith a victor against the Mets. Another lefty, Neal Heaton, beat the Mets in the second game of that day's doubleheader, one pivotal to the NL East race that season.

Bonus: Bobby Bonds, then with the Giants, had a walk-off hit against Tug McGraw on August 11, 1973, pre-dating the Mets Amazin' run to the division title. The winning pitcher that day was Billie Jean King's brother, Randy Moffitt.

3- Barry Bonds has 100 career plate appearances against Tom Glavine. The lefty he's faced the second-most is Sid Fernandez (80 plate appearances) and the lefty he's faced the third-most is Bob Ojeda (69 plate appearances).

Bonus: The first pitcher listed alphabetically on the list of those whom Barry Bonds has faced is former Met Don Aase. Bonds never homered against Aase (3 career plate appearances), but Willie Randolph did, and I still don't like to remember that.

4- Chan Ho Park has pitched in only one game for the Mets and hopefully he won't be needed in this series. He's one of five pitchers to allow eight home runs to Barry Bonds.

Bonus: Terry Mulholland is the only pitcher we know who can say he's allowed eight home runs to Barry Bonds and thrown out Keith Hernandez by throwing his glove, with the ball wedged inside it, to first base.

5- Barry Bonds went homerless despite many attempts in the regular season against Rick Sutcliffe, Bruce Ruffin and John Franco (39 plate appearances) and we're quite thankful that Bonds went homerless against Franco in the 2000 postseason as well.

Bonus: Barry Bonds apparently struggled early in his career against pitchers who supposedly scuffed baseballs. He had 31 plate appearances against Mike Scott, but managed just five hits, two walks, and no home runs.

Comments

Stormy said…
That was tough. I was able to name Don Aase & Keith Hernandez. I'm sorry to say I didn't fare too well with the others.
Anonymous said…
I'm happy to say that, with some lucky guesses, I got five of the ten (Orsulak, Smith, Fernandez, Aase, Hernandez). Tough (but good) stuff!

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