One Out, One to Go for Bonds

Three at-bats into a new season and Barry Bonds was at it again, breathing down the neck of Rogers Hornsby and strolling closer to Rickey Henderson.

But doubles and walks are not what prompted 72-year-old Willie Mays to devise a unique ceremony, travel with his beloved San Francisco Giants and wear a sports coat on a warm Texas evening.

Bonds delivered the goods in his fourth at-bat Monday. Mays won’t have to wait much longer to pass the torch -- literally as well as figuratively.

With two runners on and the Giants trailing the Houston Astros by three, Bonds drove the first pitch from Roy Oswalt on a low line into the first row of the right-field bleachers for his 659th home run, keying a 5-4 victory.

The homer put him one behind Mays, and two from allowing his godfather and lifelong mentor to end what has amounted to a three-month road trip.

The next time Bonds homers, Mays will greet him at home plate and hand him the torch Mays carried before the 2002 Winter Olympics. The torch is encrusted with diamonds that form the number 660.

“I’ll give him the torch and let him carry it as far as he can,” Mays said.

Going the distance would mean becoming the all-time home run leader by passing Babe Ruth’s 714 and Henry Aaron’s 755. Bonds turns 40 on July 24, but the record is within reach.

“He’s got to hit 40, maybe 35, this year,” Mays said. “He said he can do it, and I’m not going to doubt it. It is important to him.”

Helping his godson any way he can is meaningful to Mays. He visited Bonds at spring training and ended up staying because he saw in the 39-year-old slugger the emotional fragility of the 5-year-old kid who sat at his Giant locker 34 years ago.

Bonds was grateful for Mays’ presence. He still hasn’t gotten over the death of his father, former major leaguer Bobby Bonds, in August. And trouble keeps piling up.

His trainer, Greg Anderson, was indicted on charges of illegally supplying performance-enhancing drugs from the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative. Bonds provided testimony to a federal grand jury and is under suspicion because the San Francisco Chronicle reported that federal investigators were told he and five other major-league players received steroids from BALCO.

His records and records-to-be are being openly questioned. Are they the product of cheating? Bonds denies taking steroids

“You hear things said about yourself and know they aren’t right,” he said Monday. “I just want to play baseball.”

The opening-day crowd of 43,351 at Minute Maid Park booed Bonds before each at-bat. After the home run, the crowd sat in silence.

The Giants won, 5-4, with a run in the ninth. Tonight and Wednesday the Astros will send Bronx imports Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens to the mound.

Not that Bonds is concerned.

“They are great pitchers, just don’t put it in the wrong spot,” he said with a wink. “I’ve got 161 more games, so I’ll get past [Mays] one way or another. Right now I just want to get out there and hit the ball like Willie taught me.”

That included making the Astros’ exaggerated shift to the right side appear foolish in his first at-bat when he smacked a groundball right where the third baseman normally plays for a double.

It also included a fly ball past left fielder Lance Berkman in his second at-bat, giving Bonds 536 doubles and moving him within two of Hornsby for 20th all-time. He walked in his third at-bat and trails Henderson, the all-time leader, by 118.

By Bonds’ fourth at-bat it was clear that it was a dangerous proposition for Oswalt to put a pitch in the strike zone. Astro Manager Jimy Williams went to the mound after Michael Tucker singled to put runners on first and second with one out.

“We talked about walking [Bonds],” Astro catcher Brad Ausmus said. “We didn’t want to give him anything to hit. He’s the best hitter in the history of the game.”

He’s a student of the game too. Bonds had noticed that Oswalt’s curveball was losing bite as the game progressed, so the first-pitch fastball did not surprise him. The only question was whether he had hit it too hard, with too much topspin, to clear the wall.

Now the only question is whether the landmark home run will be hit today. The Hall of Famer he would catch is his biggest rooter.

Mays had imagined a dramatic ceremony where, after the home run, the stadium lights would be turned off. He would light the torch at home plate and Bonds would circle the bases with it.

The commissioner’s office told him it wasn’t such a great idea.

“I told them what I wanted to do,” he said, “but they wouldn’t let me do it.”

No matter. Bonds would be the first to agree -- Mays already has done plenty.