Bonds Treatment returns; Cubs need home cooking

	Barry Bonds has regained his status as one of the most feared sluggers in the game. John Medina/WireImage.com

Barry Bonds is back, and if you couldn't tell that by his swing, or those rockets coming off his bat, or that unmistakable strut he's regained in this, his 22nd season in the majors, then tear your eyes off No. 25 for a second and look out into the field. To the teams playing against the Giants. They're scared out of their ever-loving new faux-wool caps.

Back in late February, we all caught a glimpse of what looked to be a stronger, healthier Bonds. By late March, it seemed a sure thing. He was turning on fastballs without a problem. His swing, from the legs up, looked powerful and fluid. Baseballs weren't just arcing out of the park. They were flying out again, in a hurry. He was even running -- such as it is these days -- without the pain that was so evident for the past couple of years.

But that was Spring Training. Now he's giving us every indication that his troublesome knee and his clunky elbow are fine and that everything that has made him the most feared hitter in the game since 1998 -- the power, the patience, the plate discipline -- are intact. More than half of his hits so far are for extra bases. He has four home runs, pulling him to within 17 of Hank Aaron's career home run record. He's struck out just four times.

But this is the most important evidence of Bonds' resurgence: In 12 games, Bonds already has walked 11 times. Only two of those have been officially intentional. But, in the last three games alone, he's been passed five times. When the Giants' opponents aren't intentionally walking Bonds, they're doing the next thing to it.

"I don't know that it makes any difference," Giants GM Brian Sabean told me from AT&T Park on Thursday. "But, yeah -- they're not going to let him affect the game."

Walking Bonds, as Sabean suggests, has been kind of a specious strategy, a gambit whose success depends largely on how those behind him hit. In 2004, Bonds walked a big-league record 232 times. The Giants in the No. 5 hole (Edgardo Alfonzo, Pedro Feliz and A.J. Pierzynski) hit .255 with 19 homers and 107 RBIs. Bonds scored 129 runs, tied for his career high.

Injuries limited Bonds to 14 games in '05, and walking him became almost passé last season, when he played in 130 games and was walked a comparatively sane 115 times. Most observers said his bad knee was hampering him last year, and opponents didn't have nearly the same fear of him as they did in '05. But Bonds started to come on in August and September, hitting 12 of his 26 homers in the last two months of the season.

This year, Bonds has come out strong, with Rich Aurilia often hitting in front of Bonds and Ray Durham behind him -- though new manager Bruce Bochy has tinkered some, even using Bonds in the No. 3 spot. Wherever Bonds is penciled in, the Nos. 3, 4 and 5 positions have accounted for 25 of the Giants' 45 RBIs. Bonds has scored eight runs.

You can argue the merits of walking Bonds or pitching to him all day. But in the National League West, the strategy already has become evident. As long as Bonds looks healthy and is swinging the bat the way he is, teams will not pitch to him if they have a choice.

"The last couple of years, he hasn't had his legs under him. This year, seeing him from the first day in Spring Training, he was much more confident," Sabean said. "He is, in everybody's minds, much farther ahead than he was [at the end of] last year ... and we felt good enough about him then to re-sign him."

Without Bonds in the lineup, the Giants aren't scaring anyone. They're one of the oldest teams in the game (an average age of 31). They're slow, and they don't have a lot of power.

With Bonds back again, though, the Giants at least have a chance. Maybe their only chance.

"You have to have a go-to guy. Everyone needs one," Sabean said. "And he's our guy."