It’s not that the intentional walk isn’t sometimes a sound baseball strategy, but it’s always good to see a walk to Barry Bonds come back to haunt the manager who calls for it. Clint Hurdle had Jeff Francis walk Bonds with first base open in the fifth inning tonight. Good idea, except that the next batter, Ray Durham, has a history of hitting Francis well, and he did. He hit his second double of the game, this one for two runs, and the Giants scored three more times in the inning, on their way to a 9-0 win over the Rockies. Jason Schmidt pitched well for the sixth straight game and got his fourth victory in a row. Rookie first baseman Travis Ishikawa made his first major league start and had three hits and his first three RBIs. Omar Vizquel walked twice and had two hits and has now reached base in eight straight plate appearances. There is still bad blood between these two teams, after Jose Mesa made good on a threat to hit Vizquel during their last series in Denver, and Bonds was hit by the first pitch thrown to him by Francis tonight. It didn’t intimidate him, and it might have helped fire up the Giants (although it’s not likely it was deliberate).

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One year ago: Agenda
"I made a judgment call, but my judgment was a little off."

Two years ago: Lesson
"One of these days I'll learn. I just hope I don't cut my finger off first."

Three years ago: Memorial Day
"The greatest hope I have for the future is that the causes we fight for are worthy of the men and women we send into the battle in our name."

Four years ago: Ahead of Time
"The most unlikable characters in Mallrats are the ones played by Shannen Doherty and Ben Affleck, and I figure if they wanted you to like those characters they would have cast somebody else."

Five years ago: Independent
"I'm delighted that the president will have one more obstacle to prevent him from chopping down all the forests and strip mining the mountains in order to make guns and bullets and stuff."

Six years ago: Wracked Up
"I'm hoping for a restfully drug-aided night and a fresh start tomorrow."