Danger Zone

Baseball works in strange ways, especially in October. If Adam Kennedy was the unlikely hero of the American League championship series, how about Scott Schoeneweis as the unlikely hero of the World Series?

Kennedy bats ninth for the Angels, if he starts at all. He hit seven home runs in the regular season. But he hit three in the victory that propelled the Angels into their first World Series, the Hall of Fame called for his bat, and he emerged a star for the ages.

Still, when Kennedy plays, he plays nine innings. When Schoeneweis appears, he throws three or four pitches, then disappears. In baseball, heroes do not wear No. 60.

But, as the Angels and San Francisco Giants prepare to open the World Series on Saturday at Edison Field, those three or four pitches Schoeneweis throws could well determine the outcome of a game. As the Angels’ lone left-handed reliever, Schoeneweis is the antidote to Barry Bonds, a trump card available for Angel Manager Mike Scioscia to play once -- and only once -- a game.

Few pitchers handle this difficult chore so well. In seven at-bats against Schoeneweis, Bonds has one hit, a single. No home runs. No walks. Four strikeouts.

If Schoeneweis retires Bonds and the Angels win, Schoeneweis does not figure to account for the other 26 outs necessary for victory. The spotlight amuses him.

“It’s not like, if I get Bonds out every game and we win the World Series, they’ll vote me the World Series MVP,” he said.

There is no other player capable of the destruction that Bonds can wreak. In the National League, most teams simply wave a white flag and walk him, but Angel closer Troy Percival is not stocking up on white flags.

“We haven’t been scared of anything all season long,” Percival said. “I don’t see us being scared of Barry Bonds.

“A lot of teams we play have superstars on them. I throw quality pitches and attack those hitters.”

There is a time for bravado and a time for restraint, and Percival’s track record suggests he is well aware of the difference. He has faced Bonds four times, retiring him once and walking him three times.

“If I’m on the mound, we’re going after him,” Percival said. “If I’ve got an open base, he’s not seeing anything to hit. If there’s nobody on, he’s going to have to beat me.”

Bonds set a major league record last season by hitting 73 home runs. He set two more records this season, with 198 walks and 68 intentional walks. When he reached base on an intentional walk, he scored only three times.

“Watching National League games, the unwillingness of opposing clubs to pitch to the guy leads me to believe it’s the thing to do,” Angel pitching coach Bud Black said. “They all seem to do the same thing.”

And they are all home for the winter. Perhaps the conventional wisdom isn’t all that wise.

“I’m going to go after him,” Angel reliever Ben Weber said. “Why wouldn’t you, if it’s only going to cost you a run? He can’t hit a home run every time, can he?”

The best hitters make an out, after all, seven out of 10 times.

“With him, six of 10,” said Angel ace Jarrod Washburn, the Game 1 starter. “I like my chances. But I’m sure a lot of guys have said that and lost.”

The Angels plan to minimize their risk. If the Giants have runners on second and third base, the Angels intend to walk Bonds. If no one is on base, they do not appear inclined to walk him.

In the National League championship series, St. Louis Manager Tony La Russa ordered Bonds walked with two out and none on, an order Scioscia is unlikely to issue.

“I don’t think you rule anything out,” Scioscia said. “He’s a special player. It’s not just like he’s a good hitter you pitch around. You have to respect that, and we will.

“But it doesn’t mean you have a blanket policy of rolling balls four feet outside every time he comes up.”

Said Schoeneweis: “There are situations where you pitch around hitters of his caliber. The situation will dictate. But I don’t think we’ll be doing the crazy stuff I’ve seen done, like Buck Showalter walking him with the bases loaded.”

The Angel pitchers embrace the challenge of pitching to Bonds, with the appropriate disclaimer.

“I want to pitch to him, but I want a World Series ring too,” Washburn said. “If winning a ring means I have to pitch around him, so be it.”

The emergence of phenom Francisco Rodriguez offers Scioscia another option for countering Bonds in the innings before Percival. Scioscia could ask either Rodriguez or Schoeneweis to retire Bonds in the eighth inning, or he could use one against Bonds in the sixth inning and the other in the eighth.

“My personal feeling is that I would like to pitch to him,” Schoeneweis said. “If he beats you, he beats you.

“It’s like pitching to a modern-day Ted Williams, or Babe Ruth.”

Schoeneweis started against the Giants last year. He struck out Bonds three times, but he does not imagine Bonds will stay awake this week, worrying about facing him.

Said Schoeneweis: “I’m sure he doesn’t even know to pronounce my name.”

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Bonds at Edison

Barry Bonds’ career record at Edison Field:

*--* Year G AB R H BB SO HR BI BA 1998 2 7 2 2 3 1 1 2 286 2000 3 11 3 5 5 2 2 2 455 Total 5 18 5 7 8 3 3 4 389

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High Interest in Bonds

How Barry Bonds has fared against Angel pitchers:

*--* Pitcher AB H 2B 3B HR RBI BB SO AVG OBP SLG KEVIN APPIER 7 4 1 0 2 3 2 1 571 667 1.571 SCOTT SCHOENEWEIS 7 1 0 0 0 0 0 4 143 143 143 TROY PERCIVAL 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 0 000 750 000 BEN WEBER 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 000 000 000

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