Bando's Bat Needs A Band-aid

Bando says he's in control, and his defensive game has been fine—throwing, handling the pitchers, calling the games. "I'm not uptight or nervous. I'm definitely relaxed."

"Chris doesn't take baseball home with him," says his wife, Mary Beth. "I think I take it harder than he does."

Bando's older brother, Sal, the former A, once had a similar slump—hitting .190 between Opening Day and mid-August 1975. "You feel as if you have no friends," says Sal. "Because you're not contributing, you feel like an outsider."

During the All-Star break Chris, Mary Beth and their 1�-year-old son, Ben, moved from their condo in Cleveland to a house in Scottsdale, Ariz. He said the heavy work made him feel good, and Bonds hoped the break would clear his mind. But The Slump continued. In the first game back in Chicago, Bando, starting out at .071, went 0 for 2 and heard a helpful voice from the stands yell, "That's oh-68 now." (Actually, it was .069.)

"They've been shouting my average all year in Cleveland," said Bando. "I'd boo me too if I was hitting .068."

But now he's hitting almost three figures. The sky's the limit.