| Bonds held out of lineup with shin splints |
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| Written by Admin |
| Tuesday, 05 June 2007 19:41 |
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PHOENIX (AP) -Barry Bonds was held out of the San Francisco Giants' starting lineup Tuesday night for the series opener against Arizona because of shin splints that have been bothering the slugger. Bonds' knees are aching, too. ``I'm all right. I feel better,'' Bonds said after the Giants lost 4-3 in 10 innings. Manager Bruce Bochy considered using Bonds to pinch hit in the ninth but instead went with Eliezer Alfonzo. When asked whether he will play Wednesday, Bonds said, ``I don't know.'' The Giants don't expect their cleanup hitter will go on the disabled list, which would disrupt his pursuit of Hank Aaron's home run record of 755. Bonds is 10 from breaking Hammerin' Hank's mark. ``Barry's legs are really sore right now. He has shin splints in both shins,'' Bochy said. ``He needs a day. He's going to get a day. We'll see how he is tomorrow. ... I'm not overly concerned. Again, we're talking about a 42-year-old man. He's played a lot of baseball. We knew there were going to be times like this during the season.'' It was an unfortunate development for fans eager to see the matchup of Bonds against Randy Johnson, who has allowed three homers to Bonds in 49 at-bats. Bonds, who turns 43 on July 24, worked out early Tuesday at an area health club with trainer Greg Oliver and could be seen walking gingerly in the gym. At the ballpark Tuesday, Bonds slowly made his way to the training room for treatment with black sleeves covering each shin. The seven-time NL MVP has one homer in 61 at-bats since connecting May 8 after beginning the year with 11 homers in 76 at-bats. He had already played in 51 of the Giants' first 56 games. Bonds is batting .270 with 12 home runs and 26 RBIs and has drawn 57 walks, 20 of those intentional passes. ``At his age, he has been out there a lot,'' Bochy said. ``This isn't a big surprise. I anticipated there were going to be days he needs a break. Here we are. ... I knew his legs had not been feeling great. You can tell when you watch Barry run.'' |
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