Little Joy For Bonds, And Giants

SAN FRANCISCO, July 14 -- Before and after the San Francisco Giants' first two games of the season's second half, Barry Bonds could be spotted ambling slowly and silently through the home clubhouse at AT&T Park or out to the batting cage, a perpetual scowl on his face. In left field, he can be seen crossing his arms against his chest as more Los Angeles Dodgers base runners circle the bases. In seven official at-bats so far this weekend, he has produced 10 outs -- a trio of double plays, a pair of strikeouts and two ground outs -- without hitting a ball out of the infield.

This should be a joyous, fulfilling time for Bonds, who will turn 43 this month. He is five homers away from breaking the most hallowed record in baseball, if not all of sports -- Hank Aaron's 755 career home runs -- and this week he experienced a career-culminating tribute at baseball's All-Star Game here in San Francisco, where he remains a beloved figure.

But if Bonds appears joyless these days, there are any number of reasons why. The Giants are an expensive disaster (a $95 million payroll, a 38-50 record and a last-place standing), Bonds is playing as if injured or uninterested (hitless in his last 15 at-bats), and his record chase has been met with mostly ambivalence. Which, if any, of these matters is bothering him is something he is keeping to himself, as Bonds has not spoken to reporters since the second half of the season began Friday night.

On top of everything else, the Giants have begun making strong hints that the organization's blueprint for the future does not include Bonds. Though it would not be particularly surprising if the Giants decided to cut ties with him this winter -- his usefulness to the organization largely will have run its course once he breaks Aaron's record -- it is striking to hear it articulated, even implicitly, so far from the end of the season.

"It's a different philosophy, a different emphasis," Giants owner Peter Magowan told reporters in announcing a contract extension for General Manager Brian Sabean on Friday. Both men acknowledged the team needs to rebuild with younger players. "I think the emphasis is changing," Magowan said.

Some within the Giants' organization lobbied against signing Bonds for this season, but ultimately the top decision-makers wanted him to break Aaron's record in a Giants uniform.

However, Bonds disappointed Giants officials by declining to participate in the home run contest on the night before the All-Star Game. Magowan criticized him to radio station KNBR, saying Bonds "passed up a real opportunity to be able to thank the fans."

Though both Bonds and his agent have said the slugger plans to play in 2008, it is difficult to imagine another franchise willing to pay significant money for a player who will turn 44 in the middle of that season and whose total package arguably includes more baggage than any other player in history.

"My skills aren't that bad," Bonds said Monday. "I'm going to play. If I walk away from the game, knowing I can still play the game, I wouldn't have a happy ending."

Bonds entered Saturday leading the National League in on-base percentage (.511) and was fourth in slugging percentage (.584), but he has not been a productive player of late. He has not hit a homer since bashing No. 751 in Cincinnati on July 3, and he has had one base hit since then.

On Saturday, Bonds went 0 for 5 with a walk in the Giants' 12-inning loss to the Dodgers. In perhaps the most telling sign of his obviously diminished potency, in the bottom of the fifth, the Dodgers pitched to Bonds in a situation where he has been walked almost universally in the past -- runners on second and third, two outs -- and he grounded out weakly to second to end the inning.

"He can't hit good fastballs," said one NL scout in attendance Saturday. "He had pitches to hit that he would've hit two months ago, and certainly two years ago. The fact [the Dodgers] pitched to him in that [fifth-inning] situation says it all."

Bonds showed virtually no emotion Saturday until the bottom of the ninth inning, when, with the Giants trailing by a run, he drew a leadoff walk off Dodgers closer Takashi Saito, and eventually scored from second on Pedro Feliz's single. Despite scoring the tying run, Bonds walked slowly back to the dugout, betraying no emotion -- until just before he arrived, he clapped his hands emphatically twice.

The extra-inning loss, which came after they had erased a 6-0 deficit, drained the life out of the Giants, though it seemed to have already been drained out of Bonds. The team's third straight loss, it sent them back to a silent clubhouse, where Bonds dressed quickly and left, time running out on this phase of life together for player and team.

Box score, E9