San Fran @ Sox GM1

Zito (6-6) vs. Tavarez (3-4)
Fenway Park 7EST


Barry Bonds makes his first trip ever to Fenway Park, and Barry Zito makes his first start against the Sox since he swapped sides of the Bay as San Francisco plays in Boston for the first time in history.


But the Boston players have a lot more on their minds than how Bonds, who is just eight home runs shy of tying Hank Aaron's all-time mark of 755, is received in his inaugural trip to one of the most hostile enemy territories in all of sports.


Such as how they are going to deal with facing a real All-Star-caliber, not to mention Cy Young-winning, pitcher like Zito, since the team has had enough trouble scoring off has-beens and never-will-bes in the last couple of weeks.


Although Zito doesn't own a stellar career record against Boston, posting a 5-5 mark with a 4.78 ERA in 13 starts while with Oakland, and he hasn't gotten off to the start the team would have hoped after shelling out the largest contract ever signed by a pitcher (7-years, $126 million) in the offseason to lure him across the Bay, he is still a quality, dangerous big league starter.


And he'll always have that big-time yakker.


Once again Julian Tavarez will face another team's ace, and so far Julie has faired pretty well going up against the likes of Halladay, Santana and Mussina. As usual, you never know what you're gonna get with him, so the Sox hitters are going to have to break out of their run drought if they plan on getting a win tonight.


Oh, and old friend and Red Sox playoff legend Dave Roberts makes his return to Fenway for the first time since his steal against the Stanks in Game 4 of the '04 LCS turned the tide of the series and eventually led to the trophy coming to Beantown.


Needless to say the reception from the Faithful will be just as warm and heartfelt as that bestowed upon another longtime BoSox fave in his first trip back here, Trot Nixon.


Should be plenty of excitement in the air, especially as Bonds makes his way to the plate for his first at bat.


Something tells me the ovation for Roberts will be a little bit warmer than the one Bonds receives.


Go Sox!
score some bleepin' runs!

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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!

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