They always blame the messenger.

Barry Bonds is stuck on 39 home runs, and now his manager, Dusty Baker, is playing the sportswriter card. He says it might be our fault that Barry has no home runs in his last 30 at-bats. He says that ever since Barry started holding press conferences 11 games ago, he's been in a slump. He says he may rope Barry off from us.

And so here we go again. It's always us. We're bad for the game. When the going gets bad, blame us. When the going gets good, don't blame us. It always goes 'round and 'round like that. We're used to it. Billy Crystal skewered us in his movie, 61*, when he had sportswriters sabotaging poor Roger Maris, and now it's happening again in 2001*.

I love Dusty Baker. Anybody who's interviewed Dusty Baker loves Dusty Baker. He might just be the most affable and professional manager in baseball, but, if he doesn't relax a little, Barry's got no shot at 70, no shot at all.

The other day in L.A., Dusty said of the media: "I wish they'd leave [Barry] alone sometimes. Ever since he's gotten this scrutiny, he hasn't been as hot. I wish they'd leave him alone and let him play. I know that's not the way of the world. Sooner or later, I anticipate him or me getting you out of his face. We are a 'routine' breed. You get here at 2:30, stretch, take a whirlpool. It's part of the pregame routine. Part of this is taking us out of our pregame routine."

I certainly feel for the manager; he wants to win games. But if he's griping like this at 39, wait until Barry's stuck on 59. Or 69.

There's a long way to go, and half a season to get there, and trust me when I say the press conference route is the safest way to handle it all.

As of now, the Giants hold a Bonds news conference on the first day he arrives in an opposing city, and this way he can keep everyone the hell out of his locker. It's a superb idea. Anyone who has tried to interview Barry Bonds one-on-one knows how intimidating he is, knows that he's moody, knows that he has no problem embarrassing you in public. Before you can even get a word out, he'll say, "Nope." That's his prerogative.

But now Barry has an out. He can do one group interview every three days, and then tell each inquiring reporter: "You had your chance at my press conference." To me, this makes it easier on him, not harder. He'll still be asked the usual post-game questions, but, prior to games, he'll be able to take his whirlpool in peace.

This worked for Mark McGwire. McGwire was stuck on 48 home runs for a while, the year he hit 70, and I saw him do a slow burn every day. Reporters would want to speak to him after each game, whether he'd been a factor in the outcome or not, and he'd curtly point them toward other teammates. Before games, he began to hide out more, in the trainer's room, and most of us covering the story got the sense he was cracking. But he finally mellowed out after a trip to Chicago, and he began doing press conferences as he got closer to 60, and you could see the ice melt off him. The fact that Bonds is doing news conferences this early -- at only 39 homers! -- is brilliant.

It will help Bonds' image, too, because he won't have to curse as many of us out. It will give the public a chance to hear Bonds on TV. And this may or may not surprise you, but Bonds is a wonderful interview. You will want to hear him.

He is honest and forthcoming and wry in a news-conference setting, and that's a rare thing with athletes. Usually, even the best talkers go bland when the cameras and klieg lights surround them. Michael Jordan, for instance, was a far more reserved talker in a large setting. Shaq is better when it's just you and him. Dennis Rodman talked too fast, too softly in big groups. Only the great ones can let loose in huge news conferences.

In fact, my top 3 news-conference talkers of all time are:

1. Charles Barkley. Would even say, "You suck," into a microphone.
2. Magic Johnson. Tell him what you wanted him to say, and he'd say it.
3. Shannon Sharpe. Stole the show at three Super Bowls. His best quote: "Do I consider him a friend? No. Would I pick him up in a snowstorm? No."

But Barry, too, has press-conference potential. Just the other day, asked about the McGwire chase, Bonds said, "I'll find out when this is over who really liked me and who liked the home runs."

And he spoke of how he's jealous of his son Nikolai. "My son won his second [Little League] championship," Bond said. "He called me up Saturday after the game and said, 'Guess who won his second championship?' I said, 'That's great, son. I love you. Dad will get one sooner or later.' "

So, it is clear Dusty Baker should not yank him off the air. He'll get hot again. It's not our fault he's not hitting it to the moon anymore. Maybe they've finally stopped pitching to him. (I mean, the Dodgers walked him intentionally with runners on first and second the other night.) Or maybe because of the unbalanced schedule, the National League West has scouted him more and figured him out.

It's anyone's guess. But we sportswriters are not going to take the heat. Not now. Not at 39. When he hits 30 more, come back and we'll talk.

Tom Friend is a senior writer for ESPN The Magazine. E-mail him at tom.friend@espnmag.com.