ST. LOUIS (AP) -Barry Bonds pinched a nerve in his hip while swinging during Thursday’s series finale at Cincinnati, then had his back adjusted during the game to alleviate the problem. He played right on through it.
The San Francisco slugger reported feeling “good” Friday before the opener of a three-game series in St. Louis. He sat out Wednesday afternoon’s contest against the Reds to rest his sore legs.
“My body’s fine. My knees are fine,” Bonds said, leaning back in his clubhouse chair before batting practice. “I have no problems with my knees. People don’t understand the baseball grind.”
Bonds headed into the weekend series with 751 home runs, four from tying Hank Aaron’s record of 755.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he hadn’t spoken to his star player about the hip problem.
“I don’t know anything about it,” the skipper said. “I know that it’s flared up on him before.”
Bonds, who turns 43 on July 24, said he has been eating a lot and drinking plenty of water to deal with the heat and humidity during this Midwest road trip. He said he is even more “tired” than usual after having a night game Tuesday, the day game Wednesday and another night game Thursday.
But he could play all three games this weekend against the Cardinals before the All-Star break. It helps that one of his personal trainers, Greg Oliver, arrived in St. Louis to work out with Bonds, ice him down after games and generally just help him do things to recover faster and get loose.
Still, Bonds is as relaxed as ever and having a little fun as the attention surrounding his home run chase mounts by the day.
He joked Friday that National League manager Tony La Russa of the World Series champion Cardinals might bat him “eighth” in the All-Star game. Bonds also plans to “bunt more” to improve his batting average.
“I think I’m going to bunt from now on,” Bonds said with a grin. “I’ve got to get a couple hits. I’ve got to bunt more to see if I can run.”
Yeah, right.
He opted not to hold a formal session with the media in the dugout as he has done on the first day in most road cities. He also skipped it in Cincinnati on Tuesday.
“No mas,” Bonds said, which means “no more” in Spanish.
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