When Bonds trotted to left field in the bottom of the first inning Friday night, Randy and Rob shook their cups at Bonds. Randy held up one piece of white poster board, lettered in black paint:

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Friday's game

And so it goes for arguably the best baseball player since 1869. Or, as Barry Larkin described Bonds, "I watch him like I watched Michael Jordan, like I watch LeBron James. He transcends the sport. Baseball is not this boring sport when he's up."

An amazing thing happened in the second inning Friday, when Bonds came to the plate for the first time: Concession Row, down behind the left-field seats, emptied like a theatre in a fire. Reds public address man Joe Zerhusen announced Bonds, and 100 people broke from line to stand at the railing.

In batting practice, Bonds hit a ball to the top row of the Terrace seats in right. That's 462 feet. Nobody has hit one out of the yard and onto Mehring Way in GABP's short history. Bonds missed it by five feet.

You could watch Jim Brown off tackle or Michael Jordan from 20 feet away or Pele twirl a soccer ball on his toes. Or you could, right now, watch Barry Bonds hit.

Whatever Bonds has or hasn't done to violate the rules, it doesn't change his discipline at the plate. It doesn't affect his approach to hitting, or the seamless way, between the lines, he has handled the scrutiny.

Another day, another revelation/allegation. Suspicion cloaks Bonds like a shroud. There is no performance enhancer yet created that makes you mentally immune to that. But there he is. And there it goes, over a wall or a fence, into more and more history.

Even if you find Bonds' persona unfortunate, you must admire his ability to do his job. Even if you look at Bonds as the Human Asterisk, you must be awed by his show. At age 39, Bonds is Picasso in his prime.

How many pitches a game does Bonds get to hit? One? Two? Bill James has no statistic for this: Number of Good Pitches to Hit Per Game. Maybe he should.

"A couple," Reds manager Dave Miley said. "Maybe."

Kevin Mitchell used to say he hit "cripples." Mitchell was a great pure hitter, but you could get him out with good pitches. The Mitchellin Man drilled your mistakes. How many cripples does Bonds get a game?

The one leaving the park.

Giants' TV analyst Mike Krukow recalls this Bonds' at-bat, April 16 at home against Los Angeles:

"The Dodgers are ahead 3-0 in the ninth. We've got a runner on first base." L.A.'s Eric Gagne, the NL's reigning Cy Young Award winner, is pitching. He throws Bonds a breaking ball for strike one, a changeup for strike two and another breaking ball that just misses outside for ball one. Next, Gagne deals Bonds a 99 mph fastball under his armpits. "Thought it was going to take out a couple ribs," Bonds told Krukow later.

Gagne's 2-2 pitch came in at 101 mph, on the inside corner. Bonds pulled it . . . . and sent it 500 feet into McCovey Cove, and 50 feet foul. Call us when you see the next player who can pull a 101 mph heater 500 feet and 50 feet foul.

Gagne tried Bonds again, with another 100 mph fastball. Bonds drove it to deepest center field, a two-run homer. Said Krukow, who pitched 14 years in the majors, "It was the best at-bat I've ever seen."

A week later, Gagne faced Bonds again. He walked him intentionally with two outs and nobody on, in the ninth inning of a tie game.

The Reds did that Friday night, in the top of the seventh. It was Bonds' 25th intentional pass. That's 11 more than any other team in the majors. Pedro Feliz followed with a two-run homer. The Giants won. Bonds got the last laugh. He generally does.

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