Historically, Bonds Is a Giant Among Giants

There is not much more he can do when the Angels allow him to do what he may do as well as anyone ever.

There are also not many more ways he can affect decisions on pitching and strategy than he already is and does.

Barry Bonds is having a postseason for the ages after another season for the ages, but in the context of the World Series there is this key question:

With the Angels judiciously deciding when and where to pitch to him, can he get enough help from his colleagues in the San Francisco Giant lineup or will he be simply out-manned by the deep and versatile Anaheim offense?

In Game 3, as the Angels continued their October onslaught, Bonds required so much help that he would have been justified calling in the Delta Force.

The Angels took a 2-1 lead in the Series with a 10-4 victory in which they out-hit the Giants, 16-6, and took the Giants and a Pacific Bell Park crowd of 42,707 out of it early.

It was much later, as he stood at a locker protected from the media rabble by his black leather lounge chair and personal television, that Bonds was asked if he could take any satisfaction from the home run records he is in the process of setting or tying in this Series and postseason?

“No,” he responded cryptically, turning then to what has been his mantra: “I just want to win, I just want a World Series ring.”

Asked then if he could take any satisfaction in the fact that he is responding to the critics and redeeming his previous postseason performances -- a .207 average for two division series appearances before this year and .191 for three trips to the league championship series?

“What critics?” he said. “You guys? You guys don’t bother me.”

Little does, of course.

Emerging from the first World Series game in San Francisco in 13 years with a two-run homer, two walks and a strikeout, this is where Bonds stands:

* His seventh postseason homer set a record for a postseason, and he became only the second player in World Series history, joining Hank Bauer of the 1958 New York Yankees, to homer in each of the first three games and the first in Series history to do it in the first three games of his career.

* With his two walks, one intentional and one unintentionally intentional, he tied Gary Sheffield’s 1997 record of 20 walks in a postseason.

With Angel Manager Mike Scioscia reluctant in the first inning Tuesday night to give Bonds “a chance early in the game to break it open,” he ordered Ramon Ortiz to walk him intentionally (his eighth intentional walk of the postseason) even though there was a runner already at first and another on third with one out.

“I’ve been intentionally walked since 1990,” Bonds would say later. “I’ve been pitched around for 17 years. There’s nothing new in it and nothing I can do about it.”

Ortiz would get out of the bases-loaded jam with minimal damage, giving up only a run on two infield grounders.

He then struck out Bonds in the third before grooving a fastball in the fifth that Bonds drove over the fence in center for a 437-foot, two-run homer.

“If he gets good wood on it,” said Angel shortstop David Eckstein, “the only reason to look is to see how far it goes.”

This one didn’t go as far as that 485-foot homer in the ninth inning of Game 2 at Edison Field, but it went far enough for Bonds to do what comes natural, which is to stand at the plate for a moment and admire it.

He was at the plate again with two outs in the seventh when Brendan Donnelly got behind in the count and walked him on four pitches before getting Benito Santiago on a pop up for the third out.

Said Donnelly, who spent so many years in baseball outposts, so many years watching the World Series on television:

“You throw him inside and he hits it out, you throw him outside and he hits in out, you throw him down the middle and he hits it out. What the hell are you going to do?”

Donnelly added that he was pleased to get the opportunity to go against “one of the best hitters ever” in the seventh, but “the only thing is he gets a lot of calls that he shouldn’t because he’s Barry Bonds. I was disappointed with a call early in the count, but all you can say is, ‘go to first, big guy, I’ll just get the next guy out.’ ”

Was the big guy frustrated by the results of Game 3?

“I don’t get frustrated,” Bonds said. “I’m disappointed we didn’t pitch better and didn’t play better. When you get behind in the count like our pitchers did, any team can beat you, and we just weren’t patient at the plate. But you can’t take anything away from the Angels. They took advantage of our mistakes, and you just have to tip your cap, dress up again tomorrow and try to correct it.”

He acknowledged that won’t be easy.

The Angels are assured of taking the Series back to Anaheim for a Game 6, if it’s necessary. Their victory in Game 3 should ease some of the pressure on John Lackey, who starts tonight.

They are batting .353 in the World Series after entering Tuesday night’s game with a .331 average for the postseason, and their assault in Game 3 came at the expense of a pitcher (Livan Hernandez) who had been 6-0 in the postseason

“They’re good,” Bonds said. “They put the ball in play and there’s not many holes in their lineup. We thought we had an advantage with the pitcher having to bat, but they have a lot of National League type players and they have guys like Mike Scioscia and Bud Black to tell them how the game should be play, how it’s played in the National League.”

For Scioscia, Bonds doesn’t have to say or do anything more ... please.

“You can talk about any superstar you want, Barry’s the guy,” Scioscia said.

“That’s saying a lot when you’re talking about guys like A-Rod and some incredible players in our league. To rank Barry a notch above

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Bonds in Postseason

*--* 2002 postseason statistics for Giants’ Barry Bonds through 13 games: At-bats 35 Hits 11 Runs 15 Batting average 314 RBIs 14 On-base pct 544 Triples 1 Home Runs 7 Walks 20 Strikeouts 5

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