Series Preview: San Francisco @ Sox

San Fran Giants (30-35)

NL WEST: 7.5 GB
STREAK: L-1 LAST 10: 4-6
AVG: .253 (10th) ERA: 3.73 (3rd)
HRs: 52 (13th) RUNS: 277 (t-11th)

Probable Pitching Matchups:

GM1: Zito (6-6, 4.02) vs. Tavarez (3-4, 5.25)

GM2: Cain (2-6, 3.31) vs. Matsuzaka (7-5, 4.52)

GM3: Morris (7-3, 2.56) vs. Wakefield (6-7, 3.92)

KEY PLAYERS:

Barry Bonds	.285/13/30; wonder if he'll get booed?
Randy Winn	.307/29R/21BI; leads team in avg, Ks
Dave Roberts	.216/19R/10SB; the hero returns!
Ray Durham	.250/35R/37; leads team in R & RBI
O. Vizquel	.229/23R/19; still fields like a whiz

The Giants make their first trip to Fenway Park since the early 19oo's and their main attraction/freak show/MLB pariah Barry Bonds is making his first visit to the historic ballyard in his 21-year career.

Hard to believe but it's true. The biggest name in the game over the last 7-8 years has never swung a bat competitively in Fenway, and you can be sure his first introduction to the Faithful will be a boisterous, sometimes blasphemous, and above all memorable experience.

The Giants come into this series at a crossroad in their season. With Bonds in the midst of chasing down Hank Aaron for the all-time home run record (he's now 8 away from tying the mark of 755), you get the sense that the entire team would like to put the controversial feat behind them and start concentrating on playing for a postseason berth.

It didn't help their cause when Bonds started out like gangbusters (.356/8/17) in April, then fizzled like a fuseless firecracker in May (.194/4/8), all the while navigating waves of speculation of when he would actually break the record.

When it was predicted that he might set it on this trip, then Curt Schilling had to throw his two cents in, saying Bonds cheated at everything but Scrabble and even though he issued a retraction/apology, the comments still make this series a little juicier.

Now it's obvious that Barry won't break the most hallowed record in sports in the most hallowed stadium in the game, so a little of the luster has worn off the series.

But even with Barry hiding behind the DH, the fanatics will find a way to get under his skin.

I remember sitting in the bleachers back in the day when another muscle-bound lightning rod of a player patrolled the area near the right field bleachers in Fenway and was booed and ridiculed mercilessly for his attitude, performance, and perceived artificially-enhanced physique.

His name was Jose Canseco, and he took the ribbing in stride, smiling and even flexing his muscles for the crowd.

Something tells me Bonds won't be doing much smiling this weekend.

Unless the Boston pitchers keep throwing like the starting rotation of the '62 Mets.

GO Sox!