Bonds’ Bat Looks Ready in Practice

The baseballs sailed into the right-field stands, three in a row, five in the span of several minutes. And even as the balls off the bat of Barry Bonds rattled around the empty seats in his early afternoon batting-practice session Tuesday, the speculation rattled around Dodger Stadium.

Would Bonds, who has sat out the season after undergoing three operations on his right knee, be activated?

Not Tuesday. Presumably not today. But probably in the immediate days ahead.

“The bat looks ready,” said San Francisco Giant manager Felipe Alou, after watching Bonds, who has 703 home runs. “The swing is there.”

Bonds was to be examined this morning by doctors after stretching his pregame routine to include two sessions of batting practice and extended fielding practice.

Asked whether Bonds might be activated as a decoy at first, Alou conceded, “That’s a possibility in the near future,” but Dodger Manager Jim Tracy said that, should Bonds be activated, he would regard him as more than a decoy.

“He may not have seen live pitching all year,” Tracy said, “but he’s the type of guy who wouldn’t take [long] to resurrect his hand-eye coordination. I don’t think he hit 700-and-something home runs by accident. I think you would have to be aware of him.”

Alou said he won’t be rushed into putting Bonds in the lineup, despite the fact the Giants are running out of time to catch the division-leading San Diego Padres.

“We’ve waited a long time,” Alou said. “If we wait another day or two or three, we will be fine.”

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The Dodgers purchased the contracts of outfielder Jason Grabowski and infielder Brian Myrow from their triple-A team in Las Vegas. Pitchers Eric Gagne and Kelly Wunsch were moved to the 60-day disabled list to make room for the new arrivals on the 40-man roster.

Tracy said he doesn’t expect any additional players will be called up from triple A.

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Shortstop Cesar Izturis, eligible to come off the disabled list today, isn’t sufficiently recovered from a strained lower back, and he has a new medical problem.

Izturis will have a precautionary MRI exam today to examine soreness in his right elbow.

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Times staff writer Tim Brown contributed to this report.