In the battle of back spasms, Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa are even heading into Tuesday night’s opener of a three-game series between the Cubs and San Francisco Giants at Wrigley Field.
Bonds has missed the last three games with back spasms, but Giants trainer Stan Conte said he was much improved on Sunday, and the man chasing Hank Aaron and Babe Ruth could return to left field Tuesday night.
“You want to play Barry in that ballpark,” Giants manager Felipe Alou said. “Especially if the wind is blowing out.”
Dusty Baker managed Bonds in San Francisco and said the Giants’ slugger had suffered through back spasms before from “all the torque that he generates and the years of swinging hard.
“He’s going to leave something on the field,” Baker said. “I hate to see him hurt, because I like to see him play. I just don’t like to see him hurt us, that’s all.”
Sosa missed Sunday’s game with back spasms that originated with a sneeze. He could miss at least the first game of the Giants series.
Sosa’s sneeze has become international news, as evidenced by a BBC Web site that reported: “Sosa’s record with the Chicago Cubs is nothing to be sneezed at, but even the great man occasionally catches a cold.”
Sosa rested on Monday after sitting out Sunday’s game. With Todd Hollandsworth hitting so well, the Cubs might be able to rest Sosa until his back is 100 percent, as the Giants have been doing with Bonds.
When Bonds comes to town, people come out to watch him hit, as they do with Sosa. But opposing managers already have ordered 29 intentional walks for Bonds. Sosa has 21 walks total. Bonds is likely to break his own record of 68 intentional walks and could hit the previously unthinkable 100 plateau at his current pace.
Baker, who probably knows Bonds better than any other manager, said he doesn’t have a philosophy when it comes to pitching to his former star.
“I don’t know if there is a philosophy,” Baker said. “If there was a philosophy, somebody would have found it by now. The guy is a great hitter, one of the greatest hitters of all time, one of the greatest players of all time. You just hope it’s a situation where it’s not bases full, or first and second.
“I believe you’ve got to pitch to him sometime, because you’re cheating the people [otherwise]. It puts you between a rock and a hard place, between being competitive and also trying to win.”
Cubs starter Matt Clement, who opens the series against the Giants’ Jason Schmidt on Tuesday, discovered what not to do that the hard way last year at San Francisco.
Baker let Clement pitch to Bonds with first base open in the third inning. There were two strikes on Bonds when a runner advanced to second on a wild pitch.
“I wasn’t going to walk him with two strikes,” Baker said afterward. “To me, that’s not baseball. You still have to pitch to guys at certain times.”
Bonds homered to left-center on Clement’s 2-2 pitch, giving the Giants a 4-0 lead. He later hit another one off Clement, watching it land in McCovey Cove.
“I don’t think there’s any pitcher who wants to go out there and give him an intentional walk right now,” Clement said. “They know how dangerous he is. He’s hit some off me before. It’s part of the game. It’s just that of late, the last three or four years, he’s been in another world.
“To me it’s just good competition and a good test to face somebody who’s that good. At the same time, I think a lot of the walking is up to the manager, really. It’s not really up to me.”
Clement currently is at the top of his game with a 5-2 record and 2.78 ERA, and he could get a chance to face Bonds if Baker lets him challenge the star.
“If you ask any pitcher, they want to face him,” Clement said. “Sometimes the manager doesn’t want anyone facing him, or sometimes the situation doesn’t dictate pitching to him. He’s proved to be that good.”
During some road games this season, fans have booed the hometown manager for having his pitchers walk Bonds. People pay good money to be entertained, and watching Bonds trot to first base is far less entertaining than watching him take aim at the right-field fence.
“I just hope we have a big lead and we can pitch to him and everyone’s satisfied,” Baker said.
Bonds against Cubs starters
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Matt Clement (Tuesday)
AB HR RBI BB AVG.
17 3 7 4 .353
Carlos Zambrano (Wednesday)
AB HR RBI BB AVG.
1 0 0 2 .000
Greg Maddux (Thursday)
AB HR RBI BB AVG.
119 8 17 22 .286
Bonds vs. Cubs pitchers
PITCHER AB H 2B 3B HR BB SO RBI AVG.
vs. Borowski 4 2 1 0 1 2 2 5 .500
vs. Clement 17 6 1 0 3 4 1 7 .353
vs. Farnswort 6 2 1 0 0 1 0 1 .333
vs. Hawkins 1 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 .000
vs. Maddux 119 34 3 1 8 22 15 17 .286
vs. Mercker 35 9 3 0 1 0 6 3 .257
vs. Rusch 6 2 1 1 0 0 1 0 .333
vs. Zambrano 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 .000
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Giants at Cubs
Season series: Cubs were 4-2 in 2003, including 2-1 at Wrigley Field.
All games on WGN-AM 720
Tuesday: 7:05 p.m., WCIU-Ch. 26.
Jason Schmidt (3-2, 3.79 ERA) vs. Matt Clement (5-2, 2.78).
Wednesday: 6:05 p.m., Fox Sports Net.
Kirk Rueter (1-4, 5.52) vs. Carlos Zambrano (4-1, 1.82).
Thursday: 1:20 p.m., Fox Sports Net.
Dustin Hermanson (1-2, 4.67) vs. Greg Maddux (3-3, 4.44).
Who’s hot: Carlos Zambrano has not allowed an earned run in his last three starts, covering 24 innings. Jose Macias is hitting .333 after starting last week’s West Coast trip at .143.
Who’s not: Derrek Lee hasn’t driven in a run since his five-RBI game May 6. Giants closer Matt Herges has 11 saves but a 7.11 ERA.
