Final thoughts on Barry

So, Barry Bonds has come and gone. A few random thoughts from a wild weekend.

* Lost in all the Bonds excitement, but hopefully not in my game story for Monday's paper, is that the Phillies have won eight straight games. It's their longest winning streak since 1991, when Bonds was just a skinny kid with the Pirates. The Phillies weren't panicking when they were 10-14, and to their credit, they aren't getting overly excited by this streak, either. But they finally are starting to play like some people thought they could when they broke spring training.

* Bonds went 3-for-9, the final two hits coming Sunday night. He hit No. 713, which was a majestic blast off the McDonald's sign on the facing of the upper deck. The estimated distance was 450 feet, but it's hard to believe it didn't travel farther. My colleague, Kevin Noonan, put it best when he said the ball probably burned up when it re-entered the atmosphere. Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said, "It almost took down those Golden Arches." And from center field, Aaron Rowand "just looked to see how far it was going to go."

* Actually, Rowand told me he had a hunch Bonds might hit a homer during that at-bat simply because of the way he laid off the first pitch from Jon Lieber. It was a sign, at least to Rowand, that Bonds was locked in.

* Bonds was here for three days and talked to the media for 20 minutes. All of his remarks came after Sunday night's game, and he was generally cordial and reflective.

* So, the Phillies are off Monday, which gives everyone just enough time to catch their breath before the Mets come to town. Personally, I'm looking forward to that series since I used to cover some of the Mets when they were in the minors (David Wright, Jose Reyes, Brian Bannister, Aaron Heilman, etc.). But, naturally, the story will be Billy Wagner, especially in light of his controversial comments this weekend about feeling like an "outsider" in the Phillies' clubhouse late last season.

Should be three more crazy days at the Bank.