Strange Brew

MILWAUKEE, July 20 -- It is not exactly a love triangle that binds Barry Bonds, Bud Selig and Hank Aaron together, although there certainly is some affection flowing in various directions between certain vertices.

Selig, the commissioner of baseball, unabashedly adores Aaron, the all-time home run champion, and Aaron presumably admires Selig, though less publicly so. Bonds, too, reveres Aaron and over the years has sought ways to gain favor with him -- attempts that, by all accounts, have failed.

Instead, as Bonds brought his pursuit of Aaron's record to Milwaukee -- Selig's home town and the city where Aaron's career began and ended -- it is not love but love's opposite forces that are under scrutiny within the Bonds-Selig-Aaron relationship.

On Friday night, the 31st anniversary of Aaron's 755th and final homer, Bonds was in his customary cleanup spot in the San Francisco Giants' lineup, playing left field, as the team opened a three-game series against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park. Bonds entered the game with 753 career home runs, two shy of tying Aaron's hallowed mark, and went 0 for 4 with a walk in the Giants' 8-4 win.

In attendance Friday night, in a luxury suite he keeps all season but seldom uses himself, was Selig, his mere presence -- and what it might symbolize regarding his feelings toward Bonds -- causing a midgame stir in the press box.

"My office is four or five miles from here," Selig said, seeking to play down the symbolism. "And the best part of my job is being able to go to a ballgame. And it's a meaningful game, and I'm glad to be here."

Despite, or perhaps because of, a media contingent that has swelled in the aftermath of the two homers Bonds hit Thursday in Chicago, Bonds did not speak to reporters prior to Friday night's game. However, on Thursday, in response to a question about visiting Milwaukee, with its Selig and Aaron ties, Bonds said, "It doesn't mean anything different than anywhere else."

According to Giants Manager Bruce Bochy, Bonds is likely to play either Saturday or Sunday, but not both. The Giants then will return to San Francisco for a seven-game homestand beginning Monday night.

Selig, meantime, said he likely would attend the games Saturday and Sunday as well, but would not make a decision on whether to continue following Bonds until Aaron's record is broken.

Selig associates believe he has been withholding his plans because there always was a chance Bonds could fail to break the record -- whether because of injury, or a grand jury indictment or some other unforeseen development.

The New York Daily News, citing several sources familiar with the case, reported in Saturday's editions that the grand jury investigating Bonds has been extended for another six months, and that the U.S. attorney's office in San Francisco is confident it will have enough evidence to secure an indictment once it resumes in September.

Regardless, now that it appears inevitable the record will fall, Selig will soon make public that he will attempt to attend the record-breaker, schedule permitting.