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Bonds Stands Tall in Return to Giants

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Times Staff Writer

He received a standing ovation when the starting lineup was announced, another one when a video tribute was played before the game, a third when he took his position in left field, and you can only imagine what happened when Barry Bonds actually took his place in the batter’s box for the San Francisco Giants on a cool, breezy Monday night at SBC Park.

“Number 25, Barrrrrrry Bonds”!

And with that, he was back. The stands shook, the crowd of 39,095 stood cheering and Bonds was showered with applause as the Giant slugger played his first game of the season, a debut delayed by three operations on his right knee and tainted by leaked grand jury testimony of alleged steroid use.

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None of that seemed to matter this time in a 4-3 win over the San Diego Padres. Bonds, who last played 344 days ago, led off the bottom of the second inning against right-hander Adam Eaton.

After seeing 10 pitches and fouling off five of them, Bonds blasted a ball to the opposite field, off the wall at the 382-foot sign, and he pulled into second base with a ground-rule double. A fan reached over the fence and interfered with the ball, and it caromed off the stands.

The next batter, second baseman Ray Durham, lined a pitch into right field and Bonds scored without sliding.

So one inning into his belated comeback, Bonds already had made an impact and managed to answer a couple of questions, at least for a moment.

His knee held up just fine -- he even made two running catches in the early going -- but just as important for the Giants as they tried to stay close to the Padres in the National League West, there didn’t seem to be any problems with Bonds’ bat.

“I felt great,” Bonds said. “Just enjoying everything, all the fans out there, that’s an incredible feeling. There’s no place like home.”

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Bonds, who turned 41 in July and had not faced a big league pitcher until Thursday in practice and took no minor league rehabilitation work, resumed his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record of 755, with Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 coming into focus once again.

Bonds flied out to center field in the third and again in the fifth, this time driving Dave Roberts to the warning track in right-center field before he caught the ball. In the seventh inning, Bonds struck out swinging with runners on first and third and left the game in the top of the eighth, replaced by Jason Ellison in left field.

Bonds, who said he felt fatigued as early as the fifth inning, also said his overriding emotion was that he didn’t want to let his teammates or the city down.

“I have a short period of time to help as much as I can,” he said.

As far as comeback performances go, this wasn’t too bad, and neither were the Giants, who spotted the Padres a three-run lead after the first inning, then came back behind Durham and Edgardo Alfonzo. Once again San Diego fell below .500 while the Giants moved to within six games of the Padres, one game behind the second-place Dodgers.

Giant Manager Felipe Alou said he had no game plan as far as using Bonds, but figured he’d find out soon enough.

“It’s how he feels. I’ll check with him. I think he’s prepared himself real well for this. He’s worked hard,” Alou said.

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Alou said Bonds’ line drive that wound up as a double caused many to consider the possibilities that Bonds always seems to be able to manufacture.

“There were a lot of people wishing that ball went out,” Alou said. “It was like the old days.... everybody waiting for Barry’s at-bat. You think he’s going to hit the ball out of the ballpark.”

It was a cool evening as Bonds walked to the plate to bat for the first time this season for the Giants, after 142 games, 78 defeats and three operations on his right knee, his separation from baseball marked by ugly rumors that he might have taken steroids and allegations from a woman who claimed she and Bonds had a nine-year affair.

There are only 19 more games left for Bonds, less than three weeks to turn around a season, a career and a reputation. For the Giants, 19 games with Bonds in the lineup has to represent an improvement over 142 games without him.

But Alou said he isn’t sure he can count on Bonds to play every day.

“I don’t think he’s going to play every game. I don’t think he would want me to do that,” Alou said.

As for how long it will take for Bonds to rejoin the home run race, Alou said he wasn’t sure about that either.

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“I have no idea how they’ll pitch to him,” he said. “I predict they won’t pitch to him. I can’t count home runs for Barry. How many at-bats ... 50, 60? How many times is he going to walk? Maybe he’ll get 40 at-bats.”

Alou has handled the Bonds-less Giants with skill, wit and improvisation. He drew up his 120th lineup Monday night, but the first one that had the name Bonds on it. Alou pointed out that the Giants, through it all, are still making a run at the playoffs.

“We just don’t know which way we are running,” he said.

Many times during his lengthy absence from baseball this season, neither did Bonds.

His name was linked to a grand jury investigation into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative, known as BALCO, a major sports steroid scandal, that became public in September 2003. According to leaked grand jury testimony, Bonds had admitted to using two substances, one that he took orally and a second that he rubbed onto his body and had obtained from his personal trainer, Greg Anderson. Anderson, who was indicted in an alleged steroid distribution ring along with BALCO founder Victor Conte and another man, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute steroids and money laundering in a deal with federal prosecutors in July.

Prosecutors had said the substances Bonds used were performance-enhancing drugs called the “cream” and the “clear,” but Bonds’ lawyer, Michael Rains, said that Bonds used substances that he believed to be flaxseed oil and arthritis salve.

When prosecutors subpoenaed Kimberly Bell in March, the 35-year-old graphics artist from San Jose told the grand jury that she dated Bonds, who is married with three children, from 1994 to 2003.

Bell also testified that Bonds admitted he had used steroids in 2000 and that he gave her $80,000 in cash, a sum that she said came from Bonds’ sale of baseball memorabilia. Bell said the money was earmarked as a down payment on a house for her in Scottsdale, Ariz., where the Giants conduct spring training.

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Rains said Bonds had never made big cash payments to Bell.

And even though the BALCO case made it to Bonds, there was already fallout.

At an impromptu news conference at a picnic table outside the Giants’ clubhouse during spring training in Scottsdale, Bonds said the news leaks had taken their toll. He blamed the media.

“You wanted me to jump off a bridge, I finally did,” Bonds said. You brought me and my family down ... so now you go pick on a different person.”

Bonds was not called to testify before a Senate committee looking into the steroid controversy and Major League Baseball, an occasion that put both Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro in the national spotlight, but the debate seemed to focus public opinion on the issue again.

The result was that it became even more important to weigh the possible effects that players taking steroids would have on baseball’s most cherished records -- home runs -- and those directly involving Bonds.

He has 703 of them, the same number he ended the 2004 season with after clubbing 45 home runs and earned Bonds his seventh most valuable player award. It was the last year of a remarkable five-year span for Bonds that produced yearly home run totals of 49, 73, 46, 45 and 45.

It was Bonds’ 13th consecutive season of at least 30 home runs.

Bonds is under contract through 2006, which would be his 20th major league season. Last September, the Giants dropped a provision that would have allowed them to void Bonds’ $18-million salary for 2006 if he failed to reach 500 plate appearances this season or a total of 1,500 from 2003 to 2005, including at least 400 this year.

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Bonds won’t come close to that number, but this has been a foregone conclusion for months.

Besides, there are other more pressing numbers to consider, at least for a while, and on Monday night at SBC Park, they seemed to define the scene and dominate a simple baseball game, number 143 of a season.

The numbers ... 703, 714, 755 ... the counting began again Monday night, now that Bonds was back.

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