Pitch to Albert; Pitch to A-Rod.

Who says baseball is doing nothing about the fact that Barry Bonds is thumbing his nose at its most hallowed record. The conspiracy theorist sees an organization hard at work.

Unwilling to punish, censure, or even reprimand Bonds for what everyone except die-hard Giants fans knows, baseball is working feverishly to ensure that Bonds’ place in the record books will soon be overshadowed.

Witness the deference that Albert Pujols is being given in his assault on the single-season home run record. As of May 11, Pujols had 18 homers in 34 games, a rate that translates into a full-season total of 86 homers. Now nobody expects Pujols to hit 85 roundtrippers, but baseball sure would be happy if he eclipsed Bonds’ 2001 mark of 73.

That year, Bonds was intentionally walked 35 times, a far cry from seasons since, in which he was given first base 68, 61, and a whopping 120 times. This year, he’s already been walked 15 times and hit five home runs. Some of that has to do with the fact that the Giants have nobody to protect Bonds in the lineup, so it makes good baseball sense to put him on, rather than give him the chance to hit one out.

Now look at Pujols’ line. He’s been walked intentionally only 6 times this year, and only 76 times in his entire career. That’s little more than a single-season stat for Bonds. Again, having Scott Rolen or Jim Edmonds or Larry Walker batting behind you makes pitchers less interested in putting you on first for free. But you don’t have to be a conspiracy theorist to wonder if baseball is somehow getting the message out: Pitch to Albert. Let him break Bonds’ record.

I have absolutely no evidence that this is the case, but wouldn’t baseball just love it if this problem went away?

Then there’s the all-time record. Bonds isn’t likely to make it to 755. But even if he does, it’s becoming apparent that A-Rod will break whatever record Bonds sets within just a few years. Rodriguez already has 436 home runs, or an average of around 40 per year. At this rate, he’ll reach 800 in 2015, or his 40th birthday.

Yet he too has been given the opportunity to swing in the vast majority of his at-bats. Rodriguez has been walked intentionally a grand total of 52 times in his career, or less often than Mike Matheny, a career .239 hitter. For sure, Matheny’s high number of free passes comes from hitting in front of the pitcher’s spot, and Rodriguez’s low number is influenced by hitters like Ken Griffey and Garry Sheffield hitting behind him. But still. Mike Matheny!

Orlando Merced has more intentional walks than A-Rod. J.T. Snow has more. Brad Ausmus too. Rey Ordoñez. Rey Ordoñez! Why on earth would you walk Rey Ordoñez? To get to the pitcher? Most pitchers hit better than Rey Ordoñez (.246). You’re doing him a favor by walking him.

Now, as long as we’ve got conspiracy theories floating around, look at the active leaders in intentional walks. Barry is number by a mile: his 622 is more than the next three guys combined. But who are those guys? Ken Griffey (210), Vlad Guerrero (171) and Frank Thomas (162). Aside from prodigious home run power, what do the top four have in common? They’re all black. So is #6 on the list, Carlos Delgado, and #8 Manny Ramirez.

That’s 6 of the top 8 who are black. In a sport where only about a third of the players are black. Does it prove anything? Of course not. Especially not when you realize that five of those six are also among the top 10 in home runs (Guerrero is 17th already; his high number of intentional walks can be traced to his years as Montreal’s lone power source).