Ever since the Braves finished off their season, I've had little reason to talk about baseball in this blog. I told myself I wouldn't write about the play-offs because, as I've said many times before, it's really not worth discussing until the Braves win game 4 of the World Series. This season, their 12th without a World Series ring in the last 13, ended par for the Braves course: a stellar 162-game performance celebrated with champagne which, when shaken and uncorked, failed to provide the satisfying pop and fizz one expects from a good bottle.

Barry Bonds, however, is providing me with some good post-season material. I'll admit, I've never really liked the guy much. He strikes me as overly arrogant, fan-unfriendly, and just-in-general unpersonable. Sure, the media gets to him. Sure, maybe he's a little misunderstood. Sure, his success is of Babe Ruthian proportions. So, maybe he is entitled to be aloof, brooding, and arrogant. Still, I can't stand seeing his smug after-the-smack-of-the-ball-on-bat antics, the statuesque self-reflection as he watch his umpteenth homerun land in McCovey cove...

Steroids? Yeah, I think he took 'em. Yeah, I think he's lying about having taken 'em. Maybe it's Schadenfreude, maybe I want him to be a doper because it will knock him off his pedastle, bring him down a notch or two, put an asterisk next to his record-setting 73 homer season in 2001.

I was talking to my dad about Bonds about a month ago, debating whether he actually took steroids. We were (and are) both in awe of the stats he's put up this year, with his record number of walks, other-worldly bating average, and the consistent homerun totals. I expressed my incredulity at these figures and brought up the drug question. Dad responded by saying, "Maybe he was doping, but even with the drugs in his system, he still has to be able to hit the ball."

I agree that steroids are unlikely to improved one's eyesight and hand-eye coordination, but I stil think Bond's in getting by on enhancements. Let's actually look at that season in 2001. Bonds hit 73 homeruns. 73! Prior to that season, his highest total was a "mere" 49! In fact, that was in 2000. Bonds has never had another season in which he's hit over 50. That means Bonds improved by 24 homeruns in one year! Dad, I grant you, the skills have always been there, but the strength -- I don't think so. I think if Bonds hadn't been doping so heavily in 2001, those extra 24 homeruns would have fallen for 16 doubles, 1 triple, and 7 outs, putting a normal Bonds back below 50.

And let's not forget yet another artificial body enhancement tool: the arm guard. For some reason, Mr. Bonds gets to bat with a medieval piece of armor strapped over his right elbow, thus making it difficult for pitchers to pitch him inside. The man can stand there, daring a hurler to bring the heat while he just waits for it to painlessly carom off his bumper pad. Like steroids, that hunk of hardened plastic should be banned from the game and Barroid's arm. Let Bonds take his lumps like every other power hitter...

Bonds was doping. That one inhuman season in 2001 pretty much drives the nail home. I think he got off the 'roids soon thereafter, realizing that a media storm was brewing, especially with the Balco proceedings under way. So Bonds had a "normal" season for all practical purposes this year. He hit a typical collection of 45 homeruns, while walking an unprecedented 232 times (nearly as many walks as Ichiro had hits). Again, Barry's a hitter, with or without the performance enhancements, and the batting average proves it.

Final thought: Bonds should retire before breaking Aaron's record. Aaron, who came by his total honestly, deserves to hold that record until someone can play 20 seasons and hit 40 in each of them without mucking around with body chemistry.

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A brief excerpt from an ESPN article which points to further (suspect?) evidence that Barry was, in fact, doping:

In an article published Saturday, the Chronicle reports that Greg Anderson, Bonds' boyhood friend and a defendant in the BALCO steroids conspiracy case, provided Bonds with steroids that could be taken the day of a test and still not be detected.

The Chronicle reports that it received the recording from a source familiar with Anderson who asked not to be indentified, and that two people who know Anderson listened to the tapes and said the voice is his.