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.
OUT AGAINST INDONESIA: Taiwan reached the semi-finals at the tournament for the first time by defeating Denmark, with Chou Tien-chen beating Viktor Axelsen Taiwan yesterday crashed out of the Thomas Cup team competition in Chengdu, China, but achieved their best result at the top-tier badminton event by reaching the semi-finals. Indonesia were too good in the semis, winning 3-0 to advance to today’s final against China, who eliminated Malaysia 3-1. In the opening singles of the men’s team clash at the Hi-Tech Zone Sports Center Gymnasium 2, Anthony Ginting defeated Taiwan’s Chou Tien-chen 21-18, 21-19 in 51 minutes, which put a huge hole in Taiwan’s aspirations to perhaps even make the final. In the men’s doubles, Fajar Alfian and Muhammad Ardianto downed Lee Yang and Wang
NO DOUBT: Spurs star Wembanyama was unanimously selected as NBA Rookie of the Year, winning all 99 votes to become the first Frenchman to capture the honor The Minnesota Timberwolves on Monday night produced a dominant defensive display to seize a commanding 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven playoff series against the Denver Nuggets with a 106-80 road victory. The third-seeded Timberwolves harassed Denver relentlessly to claim a second straight win over the NBA champions as the series heads back to Minneapolis for Game 3 on Friday. Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards scored 27 points apiece, but the star of the show was Minnesota’s suffocating defensive effort, which knocked Denver out of their stride almost from the tip-off. The Timberwolves finished with 11 steals and 12 blocks, in sharp contrast to
Top-ranked Iga Swiatek on Saturday came through “the most intense and crazy final” she has ever contested to avenge her loss to Aryna Sabalenka in last year’s Madrid Open final with a grueling three hour, 11 minute victory in the Spanish capital. Coming back from 1-3 down in the decider and saving three match points in total, Swiatek claimed a 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (9/7) victory to secure the Madrid Open trophy for the first time. “Well, who is going to say now that women’s tennis is boring, right?” Swiatek said. Swiatek, who picked up the 20th title of her career, and ninth at
One of Malaysia’s top soccer clubs has pulled out of today’s season-opening Charity Shield after a spate of assaults, including an acid attack, on players in the country. It leaves the kickoff of Malaysia’s season this weekend under a cloud following the unprecedented acts of violence against players, which have left the country shocked and angry. Authorities said they have imposed tighter security, but Selangor said that they would not play in the showpiece curtain-raiser against Malaysian Super League champions Johor Darul Ta’zim (JDT) citing “a series of criminal incidents and recent threats.” Selangor and Malaysia winger Faisal Halim is in intensive care