Bonds. Barry Bonds.

There's something about TV on a Wednesday night.

It's shortly after 10pm and I've just finished 3 hours of gruelling channel surfing. Season opener for the Maple Leafs. Some new Trek show not actually called Trek. And of course, that little Presidential show you might have heard about. Looking for something interesting I stumble across the Giants-Astros game in the seventh inning.

Houston is tied for first in the National League Central with the St. Louis Cardinals going into Wednesday night's action. They post identical 91-66 records. The Giants are 87-70 and are chasing the Arizona Diamondbacks for the National League West pennant. The Giants only real hope is to catch up with Arizona because it's pretty likely that whichever team gets edged out in the Central will pick up the wild card spot and slip into the playoffs. Needless to say the game has serious post-season implications.

The San Francisco Giants feature a certain slugger chasing down Mark McGwire's single season record of 70 home runs. Barry Bonds has 69 entering Wednesday's game.

As mentioned earlier it's the seventh inning. The score is 4-3 Giants; there are two outs with two men on and Bonds steps up to the plate. Bonds is 0-1 on the night. He struck out in the first inning and is walked, mostly intentionally, in the fourth and the sixth. After both walks earlier in the game Barry has come around to score. So what do the Astros do?

They walk him on four straight pitches. The last two intentionally.

The crowd starts to roar its displeasure. A large crowd of 43,360 are steamed that the Astros have had the nerve to pitch around the premiere hitter in the league this season. And then it strikes me.

The game is in Enron Field. The home park of the Astros! A club record crowd is angrily calling for the head of their own pitcher. This is the best player on the opposing team that could, theoretically, eliminate the home team from the playoffs. Everybody, and I mean everybody, has been talking about not letting Bonds be the guy that beats them. The fans simply don't care. They want to see Bonds hit. Even more so they want him to hit a home run.

Bonds has got to be the number one contender for National League MVP. Entering Wednesday's game he's hitting .321, he's scored 120 runs while driving in 132 and his on base percentage is a staggering .508. Earlier in the game he set the Major League record for walks in a single season. He has surpassed the mark of 170 walks in a season bettering the total of the legendary Babe Ruth. Pretty good company. He has been walked intentionally, although a lot of pitchers have never even come close to the strike zone on other occasions, a whopping 32 times this season alone. In his career, Bonds has been walked intentionally 352 times!

Later in the game, with the score 11-3 for the Giants in the top of the ninth, the Astros fans are screaming for Giants hitter Rich Aurilla to get on base. You see there are two outs and following Aurilla in the order is Mr. Bonds. A hit, a walk, a home run the fans don't care. They just want to see Bonds hit. Unfortunately for the Astros fans Aurilla grounds into a fielder's choice at second to end the inning. The Astros do their best to tie up the game in the bottom half of the inning but they come up short losing 11-8. Bonds doesn't get to hit in the 10th.

I realise a lot has been written and televised about Bonds and his lack of team play. He's infamous for the TV set in the Giants locker room he won't share with the other players. He doesn't stretch with the team and often stays in a separate hotel on the road. He has downplayed any media hype about chasing Big Mac's record and has stated frankly, that he wants nothing to do with the hype. He's been blasted for his lack of post-season success and even his own teammates state he's not the best guy in the clubhouse. But the bottom line is he goes out to play hard every day and simply wants to win. This is backed up with his 3 National League MVP awards, his 8 Gold Gloves and his 9 All Star Game appearances.

I know. He could run out the grounders to first with a little more enthusiasm. If you watch closely he does stretch on the close ones. He could smile a little more and trade high fives with the team on more occasions. After he hit his 500th career home run earlier this season only the next guy up was there to congratulate him. But Bonds doesn't care.

He appears to be a devoted family man. His wife and two daughters were in the stands. The girls were mugging for the cameras begging the Astros pitchers to "Please, pitch to my daddy!" His son was on the bench acting as the batboy. He comes from a remarkable pedigree of baseball talent. His father, Bobby Bonds is a former All Star. Willie Mays is his godfather and his cousin is Mr. October himself, Reggie Jackson. He seems to have avoided any major scandal and, for a superstar, avoids the usual mix of hawking underwear and breakfast cereal. He simply plays baseball and plays it very, very well.

Maybe that's all he has to do.