Sunday’s game between the A’s and Giants was
a showcase for the old baseball adage that your pitchers have to protect the hitters if one of your guys gets plunked. The 1st batter to get hit was
all world super star Barry Bonds. Mulder’s pitch
came in on Bonds’ hand as he turned to swing but couldn’t pull back fast enough. The park got very quiet as the thought that Bonds may have a broken hand went through the gathered throng. Bonds lucked out and was not hurt. Mulder later hit Ray Durham on the thigh as a pitch intended to be in got
away from Mulder and hit Durham on the thigh.
The A’s were leading by a scor of 5-3 when Mulder
came uo to hit and was promptly hit by Tyler Walker who was tossed from the game. He hit Mulder on the backside and the message was sent.
Felipe Alou was angry that his guy was tossed but
the umpires kept the game under contol.Eric Byrnes
then hit a 3 run homer that gave the A’s an 8-3
lead at that time. Byrnes was on fire. he had 2
home runs that drove in 6 runs and had scored a run earlier. When he came to bat against Felix
Rodriguez later, he was nailed. Not uncommon in baseball for a hitter to either take a pitch close to the chin or be hit for hitting a home run . However,
this was intentional and Rodriguez and Alou were chased. The dugouts did not empty but the point was made. Protect the hitters. Jerry F