Hit and Miss for Bonds

HOUSTON —  Though Barry Bonds limps to the plate, shuffles on the basepaths, loiters in the outfield and turns 42 in July, pitchers routinely defer to his past and his occasional bat speed, which is what made Bonds’ few minutes against Houston Astros right-hander Russ Springer on Tuesday night so distinctive.

It went like this, from Bonds’ vantage point:

Cut fastball behind him, to the backstop.

Cut fastball near his knees.

Fastball up and in, so close it clipped his bat.

Fastball in again.

Fastball, at 93 mph, off his back.

Standing ovation for Springer.

In recent weeks especially, pitchers have worked Bonds and his unstable right knee away, the results of which have been more than passable. Since his May 7 home run in Philadelphia that brought him to Babe Ruth’s heels, Bonds has one extra-base hit -- a bad-hop double -- in 26 at-bats. He had two singles in four at-bats Tuesday.

Then arrived Springer, into the fifth inning of a blowout that would end in a 14-3 Giants win, and a sudden change in strategy, from the outside corner to target practice, fastballs hissing from all sides.

At the plate, Bonds reacted without expression. Plate umpire Joe West warned Springer and both benches after the first pitch, which nearly grazed the snuff tin in Bonds’ right back pocket. He ejected Springer after the last pitch, which Springer took with his eyebrows raised but without protest. Probably referring to the first pitch of the plate appearance, Springer appeared to say to catcher Eric Munson, “It was a slider,” which tracks similar to a cut fastball.

Bonds handed his bat and arm armor to a batboy, appeared to say nothing to Springer or the catcher, and walked to first base.

If there is a history between Springer, the veteran reliever, and Bonds, it is stretched over half a decade. Bonds homered against Springer, then with Arizona, on May 28, 2001, the 24th home run of his record-breaking 73. The next time they opposed each other, on Sept. 21, 2004, Springer hit Bonds in the shin. On Tuesday night, Springer made it two in a row.

Another possible motivation -- 10 runs against the Astros pitching staff on Monday night, 14 more runs Tuesday night, even though Bonds’ impact has been minimal. The Giants did not retaliate.

Asked what he thought of the plate appearance as he left the clubhouse, Bonds said, “I don’t know.”

Springer left the ballpark early to tend to his wife, who is scheduled to have surgery today. He also is excused from tonight’s game.

Munson said Springer intended to pitch Bonds inside but did not try to hit him.

“Everything we had thrown him [in the series] to that point was down and away,” Munson said. “We wanted to throw him some cutters inside. The first one he just kind of yanked.

“We weren’t trying to hit him. If we wanted to hit him, we would have thrown a fastball.”

Reminded that Bonds was eventually hit with a fastball, Munson shrugged.

“Obviously the situation, it’s Bonds, everything is magnified for what he’s trying to do,” he said.

After announcing Bonds would rest today after eight consecutive days on the field, Giants Manager Felipe Alou implied he believed Springer had achieved his goal.

“There were a lot of people watching the game, especially at-bats for Barry,” he said. “I’ll let all the people watching it with an honest heart, with honesty, say what they want to say and what they think about it.”

Then Alou suggested fans leave their signs and catcalls at home. “He’s not playing tomorrow,” he said. “People can stay home tomorrow. They can shorten up on the amount of beer and hot dogs and everything. Don’t load up the truck; he’s not playing tomorrow.”