If the Giants sit Bonds for the series vs the Dodgers in LA so he can break the record at home, would the Padres have a gripe? I'd think so.
Well the Padres are in a dogfight with the Dodgers and I'm sure that they would like to see the Giants give a good faith effort to win games in LA.
The guys in a bad slump. The Giants are probably better without him right now. But the Pads need something to gripe about. I say blame Shottenheimer.
Bonds is not helping his team at this time. To suggest that sitting him helps the opponent is ludicrous. He is lame, in a slump, and 43 years old. With those circumstances, a smart manager is not going to put him on the field just because he is Barry Bonds. A position player is not going to make or break a team's fortunes.....or the opponent's. Whatever the reason for sitting him (break HR record at home, possible indictment looming, or honest-to-goodness injury), it's not going to make a difference in the NL West race. Now sitting out an ace SP under questionable circumstances......different story altogether. That's baseball.