SAN FRANCISCO -- San Francisco Giants left fielder Barry Bonds plans to rejoin the team Friday after straining his back last week in Colorado.
After a workout in San Francisco on Wednesday that included extensive batting practice and running down balls in the gap, Bonds said he is fit to play.
|  | | Bonds injured his lower back in the ninth inning Saturday and had to be helped off the field. |
The swiftness of Bonds' recovery after being injured Saturday was a surprise to the Giants.
"If you had told me he'd be on a plane to Milwaukee when he was lying on the field at Coors Field, I would have said that was not a
possibility," said head trainer Stan Conte, who had predicted at least two to three weeks off for Bonds.
Conte cautioned, however, that back injuries such as Bonds' can
recur quickly.
The eight-time All-Star flew back to San Francisco on Sunday for
an examination that showed no disc damage.
"I thought, 'This year's gone,' " Bonds said Sunday. "I didn't think
my career, just the season, I thought it was gone. The pain was so
severe in my spine, I was like, 'Wow!' It was weird."
Bonds left Saturday's game against Colorado in the ninth inning and has not played since.
Bonds, who missed 47 games last season while recovering from
elbow surgery, said he started feeling pain in his back in the
early innings of San Francisco's 10-9 loss to the Rockies.
Showing no sign of discomfort, he hit a 457-foot homer into the
upper deck at Coors Field in the seventh, and continued to play
after the Giants erased a five-run deficit to tie it at 9.
"You know me. I'm not coming out," Bonds said. "I would have
been mad if I would have come out and then nothing was really
serious and I gave up on my team. That's just not my style."
Bonds said he thought about bunting when he came to bat in the
ninth, but decided to swing away when he got ahead in the count.
The swing produced a ground ball and Bonds looked like a gunshot
victim as he fell along the first-base line.
"I couldn't move my legs or nothing," he said. "Pain was
shooting right up my back and into my neck. I thought maybe I
slipped a disc or something. They (the trainers) didn't want me to
get up. They said, 'Just in case, let's carry you (on a
stretcher).' I'm like, 'No way. I've got to walk off this field on
my own. If it's over, I at least want to walk off this field on my
own.' "
Bonds, who has won three MVP awards and is the only player in
major league history with 400 homers and 400 stolen bases, leads
the NL with 15 home runs this season.
| |
 |
