It's Rays' turn to be afraid. Barry afraid

Message to those who never have faced Giants slugger: Avoid him or pay the price.

By MARC TOPKIN, Times Staff Writer

© St. Petersburg Times
published June 18, 2002

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Rays have heard, read and, for those who glance at an occasional sports highlight show, seen plenty about him. They know that his one swing can spoil hours of good work. They know that he rarely misses a pitch, that they can't afford even the slightest mistake, that he's patient and knowledgeable of the strike zone, that it's vital to get the other hitters around him out to minimize the potential for damage.

They know all that.

But until tonight, the Rays won't really know what it's like to face Barry Bonds.

"I wish 'em luck," Padres pitching coach Greg Booker said. "We've tried it all. We've tried staying down and away. We've tried moving his feet by coming down and in. We've tried up and in. We've tried all breaking balls. We've tried all changeups. We've tried everything we can try.

"We end up continually making mistakes to him, and he doesn't miss mistakes."

Actually, as the Rays are about to find out, Bonds doesn't miss much.

If the beauty of interleague play is the matchups it creates, then pairing the game's most prolific home run hitter against one of the least experienced and successful pitching staffs has the potential to be one of the ugliest.

"There used to be ways to get him out back when I saw him in '96-97, but obviously he's taken it to another level," said Rays catcher John Flaherty, who played previously with San Diego. "Now from watching, if you don't throw the ball over the plate, he takes his walk. And if you do throw it over the plate, he seems to hit it into the seats.

"I don't know what our game plan is going to be, but hopefully we're facing him when we don't have to give him anything to hit. But if you watch SportsCenter enough you see that a lot of other teams probably have that same philosophy, but it doesn't seem to work out."

Manager Hal McRae said he will decide whether to pitch to Bonds or to walk him -- intentionally or unintentionally -- based on the specific situation, such as whether first base is open or if a home run could change the outcome of the game.

"I imagine we'll try to defense him like the National League clubs have tried to defense him," McRae said. "I imagine we'll try to pitch him the way the National League clubs have tried to pitch him. And I imagine I'll not pitch to him when the situation allows me to give him four."

In other words: "Avoid him when you can, keep it down when you can't."

Whether the Rays pitch to Bonds, who ranks fourth all-time with 589 homers, will be almost as interesting to watch as how they do it.

More and more teams, such as the Yankees a weekend ago, decide it's not worth the risk in even the most benign situations.

Bonds has been walked a major league-high 83 times, 28 intentional, most the other 55 all but.

He gets walked with first base open, and with it occupied. He gets walked when he's leading off an inning, and when there are two outs. Sunday, the A's walked him with the bases empty and one out in the eighth to protect a one-run lead. A few years ago, then-Arizona manager Buck Showalter walked him with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the ninth, then crowed when the D'backs got the next batter out to preserve a one-run victory.

The Rays don't have much first-hand experience with him. Paul Wilson faced him a couple of times in 1996 (allowing three hits but no homers in six at-bats), and Doug Creek got him out once in 1999.

The Rays players who have seen him more recently, such as Ben Grieve and Greg Vaughn, say it's not worth giving Bonds anything to hit.

"If you try to pitch to him and try to get him out, you're not going to do well," Grieve said. "There's no weaknesses. It's not those normal pitchers' meetings, where you say, "Oh, you throw him inside to get him out,' or, "You stay away.'

"The only way to get him out is when he gets himself out."

"You don't pitch to him," Vaughn said. "You do not pitch to him."

Kids, though, don't always listen.

Joe Kennedy, who was 7 when Bonds hit his first major-league homer in June 1986, said his plan is to go right after Bonds in tonight's opener of the three-game series.

"I'm going to pitch to him like I've pitched to every other lefty this year: tough, hard and whatever happens, happens," Kennedy said.

"I haven't (intentionally) walked anybody this year; I haven't thrown around anybody. I've always gone at people. That's how I was always taught and raised to play the game and that's what I'm going to do."

Can a young pitching staff -- three rookies and two others in their first full seasons -- survive three games with Bonds?

"It depends on if they're crazy or not," Dodgers pitching coach Jim Colburn said. "I don't think I've ever seen a hitter that was so locked in when we faced him.

"He seldom misses a ball in the zone. You have to make quality pitches and be aggressive. He's intimidating. It's a real challenge."

Because Bonds sees so few pitches to hit, he tends to punish the ones he does get.

"There's not a whole lot you can do," San Diego pitcher Brett Tomko said. "If he gets a base hit, you almost feel like you did your job. You're like, "Okay, that's good. I don't mind that.' "

Veteran Dodgers reliever Terry Mulholland said there is more to Bonds' success than power, a keen batting eye and a short, quick stroke. He said Bonds is also one of the most intelligent hitters in the game, going to the plate each time with a good idea of what the pitcher is going to try to do to him.

"The one advantage the Devil Rays have is that Barry's never faced those guys," Mulholland said. "So in a three-game series he might have to feel his way through the Devil Rays' pitching staff, too."

In reality, there are not a lot of good options. Put Bonds on and you still have to deal with the rest of the Giants' usually potent lineup. Pitch to Bonds and take the chance of ending up featured on the SportsCenter highlights.

"You better get the guys out in front of him so that when he comes to the plate you have some options, whether it's intentionally walking him or unintentionally intentionally walking him," Flaherty said. "But with young pitchers sometimes, that sounds easy to do and it doesn't end up being that easy to do."

-- Staff writers Greg Auman and Kevin Kelly contributed to this report.