Bonds doesn’t disappoint in his long-awaited return

SAN FRANCISCO – He got 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 Giants 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.

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, and he pulled into second base with a ground-rule double.

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

Bonds, who has 703 home runs, resumed his pursuit of Hank Aaron’s career home run record of 755, with Babe Ruth’s mark of 714 in focus again.

Bonds flied out to center in the third and again in the fifth, this time driving Dave Roberts to the warning track in right-center 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, said his overriding emotion was that he didn’t want to let down his teammates or the city.

“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 second-place Los Angeles.

Giant Manager Felipe Alou said he had no game plan as far as using Bonds.

“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.

Alou said Bonds’ line drive that wound up as a double when it was grabbed by a fan 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.”