Barry Bonds won his second National League batting title in three seasons and shattered the on-base percentage and walks records he set two years ago.
The 40-year-old outfielder hit .362 for the San Francisco Giants and finished with a .609 on-base percentage, topping his old mark of .582. Bonds walked 232 times, 34 more than the previous record, and his 120 intentional walks obliterated the old mark of 68, also set by Bonds in 2002.
PHOTO: AP
Bonds' .812 slugging percentage led the major leagues for the fourth straight season but fell short of the record he set at .863 in 2001. With 45 homers this season, Bonds raised his career total to 703, trailing only Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). Bonds matched Aaron's NL record of eight 40-homer seasons, trailing only Ruth's major league mark of 11. He also became the first player in major league history with 13 consecutive 30-homer seasons.
Cincinnati's Adam Dunn struck out 195 times, breaking the previous record of 189 set in 1970 by Bonds' father, Bobby.
Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki won his second AL batting title in four years with a .372 average, and his 262 hits broke the old record of 257, set by George Sisler with the 1920 St. Louis Browns. Suzuki had 80 mulithit games, topping the Yankees' Don Mattingly (79 in 1986) for the most since divisional play began in 1969, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Suzuki also set major league records for singles in a season (225) and hits (924) in his first four major league seasons.
Adrian Beltre of the Los Angeles Dodgers led the major leagues in home runs with 48, winning his first NL home run title. Boston's Manny Ramirez won his first AL crown with 43, the lowest total for an AL leader in a non-strike season since Juan Gonzalez had 43 for Texas in 1992.
Ramirez led the AL in slugging percentage at .613, and Baltimore's Melvin Mora led in on-base percentage at .419.
Baltimore's Miguel Tejada had 150 RBIs, the highest total in the AL since Gonzalez had 157 in 1998. Colorado's Vinny Castilla led the NL at 131. Milwaukee's Scott Podsednik led the NL with 70 stolen bases, and Tampa Bay's Carl Crawford topped the AL with 59.
Boston's Curt Schilling (21-6) led the AL in wins, Houston's Roy Oswalt (20-10) topped the NL and the Chicago Cubs' Greg Maddux (16-11) extended his major league record with his 17th straight season of 15 or more wins. San Diego's Jake Peavy (2.27) and Minnesota's Johan Santana (2.61) won ERA titles for the first time.
Arizona's Randy Johnson (290), who turned 41 last month, led the major leagues in strikeouts for the 10th time, topping the NL for the fifth time in six seasons. Santana won his first AL strikeout title with 265.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
Japanese players are moving to English soccer in record numbers and more look set to follow with clubs attracted by their quality, strong work ethic and value for money. Kaoru Mitoma is the standout talent of five Japanese players in the English Premier League, with eight more in the Championship and two in League One. Liverpool midfielder Wataru Endo, the captain of Japan, believes his compatriots are “being held in higher esteem” by English clubs compared with the past. “The staff at Liverpool ask me about lots of Japanese players, not necessarily with a view to a transfer, but just saying this or
Taiwan yesterday survived Bosnia and Herzegovina to win their Davis Cup World Group I tie at the Taipei Tennis Center. The tight series started on Saturday with world No. 123 Jason Tseng losing 3-6, 7-5, 6-4 to Mirza Basic in the opening singles matchup. However, teammate Tony Wu kept the tie even, dominating world No. 86 Damir Dzumhur 6-2, 6-1. Yesterday, 24-year-old Ray Ho and partner 25-year-old Hsu Yu-hsiou kept up the momentum, making short work of Basic and Nerman Fatic, winning 6-3, 6-4. Tseng then suffered another defeat, losing 6-4, 2-6, 6-2 to Dzumhur in a brutal match that lasted more than two