Around the Cactus League
San Francisco Giants: Barry Bonds lost a fly ball in the sun
and struck out swinging at a high pitch well out of the zone.
Not the best spring debut for San Francisco's slugger.
"Get all the good stuff out of the way early," Bonds said, laughing.
He went 0-for-2 with the four-pitch strikeout by Milwaukee prospect Yovani Gallardo, a 21-year-old right-hander who led all minor leaguers with 188 Ks last year, and grounded out on the first pitch he saw to end the first inning.
Bonds then described his day at the plate in the Giants' 21-2 loss to a Brewers split squad by using a profane adjective.
Bonds, who said he would not play in Saturday's road game against the Brewers, spent most of his time running around in left field, but said he felt fine afterward thanks to his successful winter workout regimen. That's a far cry from the exhaustion he typically complains of all year long.
Bonds carefully adjusted his protective body armor and walked out to a loud ovation. The Brewers shifted their infield as most teams do and Bonds grounded out to second on the first pitch from Carlos Villanueva in his initial at-bat.
Bonds, who complained about the sun after the first inning, fielded Bill Hall's leadoff single in the second off one bounce. Bonds lost Mike Rivera's looping fly ball in the sun and dropped the ball, and the play was ruled a double.
"I couldn't see it," Bonds said. "I just lost it in the sun."
Elsewhere around the Cactus League:
Texas Rangers: Sammy Sosa went 0-for-3 with two
strikeouts and a walk Friday in his spring debut in a "B" game
for the Texas Rangers.
Fifth on the career list with 588 home runs and attempting a comeback after sitting out last season, Sosa swung at the first pitch he saw. The 38-year-old former NL MVP hit a weak fly ball down the right-field line that was caught in foul territory.
Sosa, the designated hitter against the Kansas City Royals, drew a walk in his second plate appearance. He struck out in his final two at-bats.
Rangers manager Ron Washington expects Sosa to be the DH in the main game against the Royals on Saturday. Sosa, who is in camp on a minor league contract, is scheduled to play in the outfield for the first time this spring on Sunday.
Kevin Millwood, the Rangers' No. 1 starter, pitched in the same game and threw 11 of his 14 pitches for strikes. He struck out two, recorded two other outs and allowed only one hit in an extended inning.
Oakland Athletics: Mike Piazza drove in two runs in his spring
training debut for Oakland and Milton Bradley had three hits to
lead the Athletics past a Milwaukee Brewers split squad 7-6 on
Friday.
Piazza, who signed an $8.5 million, one-year deal with the A's in the offseason, had an RBI groundout in the first inning and a run-scoring single in the third. The 38-year-old designated hitter did not play in Oakland's first Cactus League game but was in the cleanup spot for the A's in their first win of the spring.
Bradley was also playing for the first time this spring and had an RBI triple in the third. He later scored on Piazza's single to left.
Kansas City Royals: Gil Meche, signed to a $55 million, five-year contract this offseason, pitched three shutout innings in his spring training debut with the Kansas City Royals, allowing two hits in an 8-6 victory over the Texas Rangers on Friday.
Meche had compiled a 55-44 record with a 4.65 ERA for the Seattle Mariners.
"I feel like it is going to be a big year for me to go out there and establish myself to where I want to be," Meche said.
Meche faced 12 batters, struck out one and walked one.
"The biggest thing for me right now is to throw strikes," Meche said. "Last year my biggest thing was walking people. If I can get ahead of guys consistently, working the middle of the strike zone as compared to working corners, things will be a lot easier on me. Then you can go to your secondary pitch or third."
Meche was pleased with his fastball, which had the same velocity in the third inning as it did in the first, but not with his curveball.
"When a guy like that gets in trouble, he is pretty much wild in the strike zone, but he has ability because of his stuff to miss in the middle of the plate at times," Royals manager Buddy Bell said.
Seattle Mariners: Just two innings into a new spring
training, Felix Hernandez already has discovered the difference
from his underachieving 2006: Twenty pounds.
"Last year, I was FAT!" the young, laughing Mariners ace said on Friday, after he allowed one run in two uneven innings of San Diego's 3-2 win over Seattle.
Manager Mike Hargrove has all but announced Hernandez will start opening day -- he is only waiting on his 20-year-old to prove he is a changed, rededicated pitcher. Hernandez, down to 226 pounds, allowed a solo home run by Paul McAnulty, an infield single and a walk. Most of his 30 pitches were high, which Hargrove said was due to "overthrowing."
"He's young and exuberant," Hargrove said.
Hernandez did not immediately follow Hargrove's mandate to get first pitch strikes in 2007. He threw ball one on six of the 10 Padres he faced, many of them hard, neck-high fastballs.
But all Hernandez currently cares about is how he feels. The first teenager to strikeout 10 in a game since Dwight Gooden in 1984, Hernandez said he's in the best shape of his life. He spent his winter sprinting, lifting weights and eating better back in his native Venezuela.
Hernandez wasn't all smiles though. The Mariners renewed his contract and when asked about it, he said, "I don't want to talk about it."
Colorado Rockies: Forty-year-old former closer Dave Veres, who's been out of baseball for two years, passed his first big test Friday in his quest to become the
first major league pitcher to play with a prosthetic hip.
On the eve of the 1-year anniversary of his operation, Veres threw well, didn't favor his fake left hip, fielded a bunt cleanly and covered first flawlessly twice in an inning of work during the Colorado Rockies' intrasquad game.
"How about that?" general manager Dan O'Dowd said. "The very first play he's got to cover a bunt. Then he's got to cover first on the next one."
The only other player known to have played with an artificial hip was Bo Jackson in the early 1990s during an unsuccessful comeback from a football injury that cut short the two-sport star's career.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.




