Good article. Occam's Razor: he made a bad pitch, and Bonds crushed it.

I'll never understand this need some people have to try to turn everything into a conspiracy.

I don't think he was being unsportsmanlike or traitorous. I think he was just being Mike Bacsik.

That's a good line to close a good write-up of the at bat. If Bacsik was going to "groove one" he wouldn't have wasted six pitches, three of them top shelf quality, to do so.

That's a good line to close a good write-up of the at bat. If Bacsik was going to "groove one" he wouldn't have wasted six pitches, three of them top shelf quality, to do so.

I like the way that underlines just how hard it is to pitch in the major leauges, and why you hear pitchers and pitching coaches talking so much about consistently repeating their delivery and the like. You can make mostly excellent pitches, and if you make one mistake every ten pitches--one fastball left over the heart of the plate, one hanging breaking ball--you'll get bludgeoned out of the major leagues, and that right quickly.

Mike Bacsik grooved the 7th pitch of the at bat to Bonds, and he assassinated JFK.

Occam agrees Redding's a dumbshit.

#3 I don't have the exact quote, but Billy Williams said something you see one cripple pitch every 20 or so at bats and the difference between a good season and a bad one is what you do with those pitches.

and he assassinated JFK.

That is a heady assertion, sir. I will need to see some proof.

I will need to see some proof.

Mound, knoll, same difference. What more proof do you need?

I can't imagine anyone who saw Mike Bacsik pitch (especially with the Nats) would think he would have to try to groove one.

Bacsik Twatted this:

For everyone on my page that needs a denial; I didn't try to give up the homerun. I was crappy enough to do it without trying.

I can't imagine anyone who saw Mike Bacsik pitch (especially with the Nats) would think he would have to try to groove one.

Exactly. It's not like we're talking about a pitcher like John Smoltz (who routinely refused to walk Bonds, battled him head to head and came out on top more often than not) or Curt Schilling (of the famous "Yes, Curt, if we all had your fastball we could just bust him inside and watch him swing through" quip) floating an straight, 86-MPH fastball through the zone for him. We're talking about Mike Bacsik who, after making three of the best possible pitches of his career to the most feared hitter in baseball, missed in the zone on a 3-2 pitch that was then summarily parked in the RCF stands. Parked, one might add, in much the same way SEVEN HUNDRED AND FIFTY FIVE PREVIOUS BASEBALLS HAD BEEN PARKED.

Let's be clear what this nonsense is really about. It's not about Mike Bacsik. It's about trying to undermine the pinnacle HR of Barry Bonds' career.

Some people really can't let go, can they?

#3 I don't have the exact quote, but Billy Williams said something you see one cripple pitch every 20 or so at bats and the difference between a good season and a bad one is what you do with those pitches.

From the NBJHBA:

When he was asked the secret of his success as a hitter, he said, "When the pitcher hangs a curve ball, hit it. The difference between a good hitter and an average hitter is just 20-30 hits a year. You hit those thirty hangers, you'll be up there in the paper."

In his career Bonds was 3-5 against Bacsik, with the 1 HR and 1 HBP.

It is suspicious, though. Only one home run against Bacsik in six tries? I think Bonds tanked his at bats for him.