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Bonds goes deep in third straight game Posted: Tuesday October 22, 2002 11:10 PMUpdated: Wednesday October 23, 2002 11:04 PM
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Once again, Barry Bonds hit a long home run and the San Francisco Giants came up short. Bonds set a pair of records with a 437-foot shot to center field Tuesday night, but the Giants lost 10-4 to the Anaheim Angels and fell behind 2-1 in the World Series. "Barry is doing his thing," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "He's doing what he's capable of doing. He doesn't surprise us because we've been watching him for a long time. Hopefully, we can get some other guys in on the hit parade." Bonds, putting his past postseason failures even further behind him, hit his record seventh homer this October and also became the first player to go deep in his first three World Series games. But just like Bonds' solo shot with two outs in the ninth inning off Troy Percival in Game 2, the Giants' pitchers created too big a deficit for San Francisco to overcome. "I don't keep up with records. It doesn't mean anything," Bonds said. "I just want to win the World Series. That's it."
With the Giants trailing 8-2 and a runner on in the fifth inning, Bonds drove a 1-1 pitch from Ramon Ortiz over the center-field fence to make it a four-run game. Bonds admired the shot and walked the first few steps to first base before jogging around the bases with another home run. The only other player to homer in the first three games of a World Series was Hank Bauer of the New York Yankees in 1958. Bonds homered in his first Series at-bat, connecting off Jarrod Washburn in a 4-3 win in Game 1. Bonds, who set a record with 73 home runs in 2001, had been a postseason dud until this year. He had lost all five series his teams had played in and his own performance was a big reason why. He came into this year hitting only .196 with one home run and six RBIs in 97 postseason at-bats. But he broke out of that slump with three homers in the division series against Atlanta, one in the NLCS against St. Louis and three in the World Series to break a tie with six others for the most homers in a single postseason. Bob Robertson (1971), Lenny Dykstra (1993), Ken Griffey Jr. (1995), Bernie Williams (1996), Jim Thome (Cleveland), and Anaheim's Troy Glaus (2002) all hit six homers in one postseason. "I don't think anyone really cares about that right now. We lost," Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia said. "This is not the time for individual statistics. It's about winning. Barry could have hit four homers and we still could have lost." When Bonds really could have done damage in Game 3, the Angels predictably pitched around him. With runners on first and third in the first inning of a scoreless game, Ortiz intentionally walked Bonds. Angels manager Mike Scioscia clearly didn't want the pitcher who allowed the most homers this season to pitch to the game's most feared slugger. The fans booed at the Angels refusal to pitch to Bonds as the scoreboard played the chicken dance. "I have the utmost respect for Barry Bonds' talent," Scioscia said. "I think we showed it in the first inning, when we walked him in that situation. Barry is the real deal. You can talk about any superstar you want to talk about in the game. Barry's the guy." It was the seventh time Bonds was intentionally walked in the postseason after setting a record with 68 in the regular season. By the time Bonds came up again, the Giants were trailing 4-1. This time, Ortiz challenged him with a runner on first base and one out. Bonds looked at a called strike before swinging through two more to strike out for just the fifth time this postseason. The Angels didn't challenge Bonds again after the homer, walking him on four pitches with two outs in the seventh inning. That was Bonds' 20th walk in the postseason, tying the record set by Gary Sheffield in 1997.
"I don't get frustrated," Bonds said. "I'm disappointed we didn't play better."
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