It's shocking that pitchers continue to pitch to Sammy Sosa when he is on one of his home run binges. Hitting three home runs in a game twice in one month is an amazing feat. By comparison, Barry Bonds barely gets three at-bats in a game.

With runners on base, pitchers obviously have to pitch to the hitter. They never want to put extra men on base. However, pitchers very rarely pitch to Bonds. He has drawn 128 walks, far more than anyone in all of baseball, including Sosa, who is third with 91.

Sosa is more of a free swinger than Bonds. He is liable to chase more pitches out of the zone and get behind in the count. Then, the pitchers think they can finish him off. In most cases, they can. But if the pitcher makes even the slightest mistake, Sosa will drive the ball out of the park, as he has been doing a lot of in August.

SUNDAY NIGHT BASEBALL

San Francisco at N.Y. Mets 8 p.m. ET, ESPN Play-by-play: Jon Miller Analyst: Joe Morgan Is Rich Aurilia one of the game's most underrated players? Most people wouldn't realize that Aurilia is second to Bonds in home runs on the Giants with 26. They take it for granted that Jeff Kent is second, but he's not. Aurilia is also driving in runs (75 RBI) and hitting for the highest average on the team (.331). While Aurilia has had a fantastic season, Bonds makes Aurilia that good because he hits behind him. Moving from sixth to second in the order has really helped Aurilia, who has gotten a number of clutch hits this season. Aurilia is always going to be underrated playing on a team with Bonds and Kent, who have combined for four NL MVPs. I was in that same position when I first went to Cincinnati in 1972 and began playing with Pete Rose and Johnny Bench. It took a while for me to be mentioned with them. It was always "Rose and Bench." Then it was "Rose, Bench and Morgan." Eventually, it became "Morgan, Rose and Bench." The same thing is happening to Aurilia. If he continues to perform at a high level, he will get his accolades. He gets respect in the Bay Area because the Giants fans see him perform every day, but the people who don't see Aurilia figure the team is all about Bonds and Kent. Defensively, Aurilia is very good, but not great. He makes all the plays he's supposed to make, plus an occasional great play. He's an All-Star shortstop, the best in the National League, but who are the other great shortstops in the NL? Aurilia would compare favorably with Derek Jeter and Nomar Garciaparra in the AL, but not Alex Rodriguez. People want to call them "The Big Three," but it's really "The Big One" (A-Rod) and the two others (Jeter and Garciaparra). -- Joe Morgan

One reason pitchers will pitch to Sosa and not Bonds is that Bonds doesn't swing at bad pitches. While Sosa may fall behind 1-1 or 1-2 after swinging at a bad pitch early in the at-bat, Bonds will get ahead in the count 2-0. At that point, the pitchers won't give in, choosing to walk Bonds instead of pitching to him, as they would Sosa.

For pitchers, it's all about finding the holes in a slugger's swing. If a pitcher can pitch to a batter's holes, they figure they can get him out. For instance, even though Mark McGwire draws a ton of walks, they can pitch him up and in because he is a low-ball hitter. Pitchers can go after Sosa as well. Bonds, however, stands pretty close to the plate and gives a pitcher very little margin for error.

How to pitch to sluggers like Bonds and Sosa is a complicated issue for each manager. The Cubs and Cardinals meet this weekend, and Tony La Russa has already proven he will pitch around a slugger. When the Cardinals played a three-game series against the Giants, they walked Bonds six times in the two games he played. He finished the series with only two official at-bats. So I expect St. Louis to pitch around Sosa as well.

It doesn't make much sense to me that the teams fear Bonds more than they do Sosa. But I guarantee you Sosa is happy about it. Because pitchers are willing to challenge him, he gets to swing at more pitches. Ironically, Bonds' reluctance to swing at bad pitches can actually be a detriment. He doesn't help the pitcher out, so he gets fewer pitches to hit.

Amazingly, considering how much he walks, Bonds is still able to produce monster numbers despite having few chances to swing the bat. Willie McCovey was similar to Bonds as a hitter with tremendous patience and few holes in his swing, especially when he was at his peak from 1968-1970, when he led the NL three straight years in slugging percentage. McCovey didn't hit for as high an average as Bonds (.270 career for McCovey to .290 for Bonds), but he had more than 100 walks in a season three times. Ted Williams, however, may be the best comparison to Bonds, drawing more than 100 walks in a season 11 times.

People talk about protection in the lineup, something that is needed behind a great slugger so pitchers will think twice before walking him. But the only hitter who can protect Bonds is Bonds. Likewise, the only hitter who can protect Sosa is Sosa. Same thing with McGwire. No one hitting behind them is as good as they are. In that sense, protection is a bit overrrated.

But in Sosa's case, having Fred McGriff's presence behind him has helped. Sosa got hot after McGriff arrived. In the 23 games Sosa has played with McGriff behind him in the order, Sosa is hitting .409 with 14 home runs and 28 RBI. Although McGriff has failed to produce at the plate, he has protected Sosa well as a left-handed threat. Right-handed pitchers will pitch to Sosa because they think they can get him out before pitching to McGriff.

Every major-league pitcher has pride in his ability when he faces Sosa or Bonds. A pitcher is not supposed to be afraid when he is standing on the mound. He must always believe in his ability to throw his pitches and retire the hitter. If he doesn't, then he gets hit.

I remember something Rollie Fingers once said about being a closer: "Sometimes you tame the tiger. Other times the tiger eats you for lunch." And Bonds and Sosa have been eating well this season.

Is it a coincidence that the AL's two best leadoff hitters, Ichiro Suzuki and Johnny Damon, play for two of league's three best teams?
There aren't that many good leadoff hitters in baseball. Ichiro and Damon -- only in the second half -- have contributed to the Mariners and A's being two of the league's three best teams. But the way hitters hit now, there is no one who is a pure leadoff hitter in the mold of Rickey Henderson.

A pure leadoff hitter gets on base and is patient, giving his teammates a chance to see more pitches, especially in the first inning. Part of his job is taking pitches, something neither Ichiro nor Damon do. They hit well and get on base, but they aren't walking.

An effective leadoff hitter needs to have at least a .375 on-base percentage. Damon's season OBP is only .324, but his second-half OBP is .370; that means he's only been good, not great, since the All-Star break as the A's surged back into the AL wild-card lead. Meanwhile, Ichiro's OBP is .379 -- again, only good. Sure, Ichiro is hitting a league-leading .348. But if he were hitting .250 and walking more, he could be getting on base just as much.

Both Ichiro and Damon steal bases, but neither one is a great base stealer because they don't dictate the game like Henderson once did. There is a difference between players who steal bases and base stealers. The former ends up with big stolen-base numbers, but the latter steals a base in the ninth inning when everybody knows he's going. I have seen both Ichiro and Damon in that position, and their teams have bunted them over. Neither one stresses the defense and flusters the pitcher like Henderson could.

In other words, because neither Ichiro nor Damon gets on base at a .390 or .400 clip, they may not be as great as some people think they are as leadoff hitters.

What do you think about Mark McGwire being moved to sixth in the Cardinals' lineup?
There are a lot of reasons for La Russa to move McGwire down in the order. La Russa is trying to take some pressure off McGwire. He is a team player who will feel like he is letting the team down when he is slumping. La Russa may feel like McGwire is starting to press a bit as he continues to struggle, hitting only .194.

McGwire also isn't running well. If he hits the ball on the ground, it will be a double play. The more people the Cardinals can get on base in front of him, the more the pitchers will have to pitch to him.

Hall of Fame second baseman Joe Morgan is a baseball analyst for ESPN.