You can't get that from a little extra muscle. Third, Jeff Kent is slumping behind him, so pitchers are less apt to pitch around Bonds. During the nine homers in six-game stretch, eight of the homers were solos, and the Giants ultimately lost five of the six games. With nobody on base ahead of him and their teams leading, opposing pitchers had less to lose by throwing Bonds strikes. Fourth, and most likely, Bonds is just locked in.
Great hitters have stretches where everything they touch go a long way.
Bonds, a great hitter throughout his career, had stretches like that before. Now, though, when he connects the balls happen to leave the yard. . . . Despite Bonds' prowess at the plate, the Giants are in a terrible team slump. Their pitching has been awful, and so has their defense. Mueller provided rock-solid defense at the hot corner that the Giants now lack with Russ Davis .