SAN FRANCISCO – Barry Bonds had the Yankees on his mind and on his chest yesterday.
Bonds walked into the Giants clubhouse at 10:20 a.m. yesterday wearing a T-shirt with a large Yankees logo on it. The shirt featured a picture of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. wearing a Yankees hat.
Then Bonds settled into his chair and began flipping through channels of baseball games with one in mind he wanted to see. He stopped for a moment on the Red Sox-Devil Rays game.
“I don’t want to see Boston, man. I want to see A-Rod,” he said.
After a rain delay in Baltimore, Bonds watched Alex Rodriguez’s first at-bat and dissected the pitches the Yankees third baseman saw. Rodriguez struck out in the at-bat to remain at 499 home runs and Bonds did not fare much better himself against the Marlins yesterday afternoon. He went 1-for-4 and homerless in the Giants’ 8-5 loss, keeping his career home run total at 754, one short of Hank Aaron’s record.
Bonds and the Giants now hit the road for six games in Los Angeles and San Diego, beginning tomorrow in L.A. Bonds was clearly trying to tie the record at home yesterday, taking home run chops at every decent pitch he saw.
Bonds’ day had a bizarre beginning. When approached at his locker by reporters, Bonds played it coy.
“The focus is on the team,” Bonds said. “Don’t lie to yourselves or anybody else. Don’t write one thing one day and then another thing the next day.”
Bonds seemed to be referring to Giants owner Peter Magowan’s comments Friday that Bonds’ record chase has become a distraction to the team. When asked if that was the case, Bonds did not answer. He then told reporters to move away, but everyone stayed.
For the next 20 minutes, reporters watched Bonds watch TV. He made some idle chatter with the MLB.com writer who follows him around, but did not say much substantial. He did respond to a comment about pitchers John Smoltz, Tim Hudson and Dontrelle Willis challenging him with fastballs in recent days. He responded by pointing out his seven MVP awards.
“That hardware sits at my house,” Bonds said. “You can come and visit anytime you want. I tell you there’s a lot more in my house than there is in any of theirs.”
Eventually the Giants public relations staff tried to break up the TV session.
“We’re all here together having a slumber party,” Bonds said.
After talking about how much of a team guy he is, Bonds swung at a 3-0 pitch to lead off the second inning, grounding out to second. It was the first 3-0 pitch he put in play this season in 48 chances.
“You want him to for the team – to take one,” reliever Steve Kline said. “But he swung at it because he thought that was going to be the pitch that he was going to get the hit.”
He had a near home run in the fourth inning, hitting a broken-bat fly ball to deep right field. In the sixth, he grounded out to second again.
In his final at-bat, Bonds reached first after hitting a high fly ball between home plate and the pitchers’ mound in the eighth inning that dropped between catcher Miguel Oliver, pitcher Renyel Pinto and third baseman Miguel Cabrera. The play was originally scored an error, then ruled a single.