Barry Bonds finished Friday's game going 0 for 3 with a walk. That game is typical of his recent performance. Through May 8th (the last time he homered), Barry was on fire, hitting .338 with a .527 OBA and an .805 slugging percentage. He drew 31 walks in 28 games; a lot but not outrageous for Barry. In his last 13 games, however, his walks are up. He's drawn 19 base on balls, but has done little else. His OBA is .436, but his batting average is just .139 and he's slugging a mere .167.

The change in walks actually started on May 4th. Barry has drawn at least one walk in seventeen straight games, leaving him one game short of his own National League record for walks in consecutive games. He may even reach the ML record of twenty two held by Roy Cullenbine, which has stood for sixty years.

So are the walks part of the cause of the slump? In early May, it was clear that Barry was as dangerous as any time in his career. It would make sense at that point for opponents to stop pitching to him, hence the rise in walks. But Barry doesn't know how much time he has left, either because his body burns out or the feds take him off the field. So he presses just a bit. He swings at borderline pitches that he'd normally take. Lower quality pitches, lots of walks, low batting average.

I haven't seen Bonds much in this stretch, but an NL scout confirms this theory. That and a sore hamstring:

In the 12 previous games, Bonds was just 5-for-33 (.152), with one extra-base hit -- a double. The scout, who keeps an eye on National League teams, said Bonds' sore hamstring is preventing the hitter from generating his usual bat speed. That means Bonds has had to start his swing earlier, sapping his power.

Moreover, the scout said it looks as if Bonds is overly eager to get going again, which is tough to do when pitchers remain reluctant to throw anything near the plate.

"He's expanded his zone a bit, because he wants to break out of this thing," he said, "But pitchers still aren't giving him anything to hit. But don't get carried away. The guy is still crushing mistakes. He hit a ball the other day that I thought was going to take someone's head off."

Maybe Barry would be better off taking a week off to heal the leg.