Bonds’ Exit Is Quick; Bat Isn’t

Every day, it seems, Barry Bonds waves more people away, sleeps longer on the clubhouse couch, and tightens his posse.

By Sunday, Bonds’ personal website had not been updated since April 28 and he had gone five days without talking to reporters, so the conditions of his knee, elbow, stroke and psyche were a mystery.

Granted, judging by the results of his season, it hasn’t been that hard to guess. He has paused at 713 for a week, 27 plate appearances’ worth, admiring Babe Ruth from a home run away, his batting average falling to .217. On Sunday he walked twice, grounded back to the pitcher and popped to the infield, then coyly nodded or shook his head at a handful of questions before boarding a bus for the airport.

A few minutes earlier, Giants reliever Tim Worrell had strolled past reporters waiting on Bonds and remarked, “What’s everyone waiting for? He didn’t do anything.”

The seven-game homestand concluded with a 6-3 loss to the Dodgers at AT&T; Park, where the banners intended to celebrate Bonds’ passing of Ruth remained rolled and lashed to the outfield scoreboard.

It ended for Bonds in the eighth inning, on a Joe Beimel fastball, all of 87 mph. The pitch from the left-hander was designed to be away, but started in the middle of the plate and drifted toward Bonds’ hands. He popped it up.

“I gotta say the last at-bat, his bat looked slow,” Giants Manager Felipe Alou said. “I’m not going to comment about Barry any more today.”

Asked if Alou was accurate about his bat speed, Bonds shook his head.

Dodgers Manager Grady Little had instructed his pitchers to begin every count against Bonds as though they were already ahead, 0 and 2.

Bonds was hitless in the series, extending that streak to 15 at-bats, and the Dodgers were a ninth-inning meltdown from sweeping the three games.

Alou said he would consider resting Bonds tonight in Houston, where the Giants begin a six-game trip that will continue in Oakland.

Despite the team’s reluctance to stress his ailing right knee, Bonds played in a season-high six consecutive games, all of them at home, where the player and the organization would prefer he match and pass Ruth.

He hit one ball on the homestand with the lift and authority of a home run, however, and that was caught at the top of the wall by Chicago Cubs center fielder Juan Pierre on Tuesday night.