San Francisco Giants

San Francisco Giants vs. Florida Marlins Starting lineup Barry Bonds is the heart and soul of the Giants' lineup, and he will be the preoccupation of every pitcher who faces the Giants in the postseason. But the fundamental nature of their lineup changed dramatically when power-hitting second baseman Jeff Kent left as a free agent last winter. The new Giants may be less potent at the heart of the lineup, yet they're far more balanced from top to bottom. Bonds missed nearly a quarter of the season for various reasons, which is reflected in a significant drop in his RBI total, but nine Giants hit at least 10 home runs, and the club won more games without Kent than in any season with him. The Marlins actually scored more runs than the Giants, but they lost big gun Mike Lowell late in the season and may not have him full time in the first round.

ANAHEIM, Calif. - What's cuter than a Rally Monkey and much better luck for the San Francisco Giants? Little Darren, the world's smallest bat boy, that's what. The word from Edison International Field yesterday was that Little Darren will indeed be back in the Giants' dugout tonight for Game 6 of this World Series. The Giants' good-luck charm - and son of manager Dusty Baker - is allowed. There had been some question about that. "I did have a conversation with Dusty over the occurrence," Major League Baseball's vice president of baseball operations, Sandy Alderson, said yesterday.

Batters...............Avg.........AB.... R....H....2B.....3B......HR....RBI......SB Lunsford.66730210010 Ransom.66732200010 Bonds.370403117149312461109 Kent.313623102195422371085 Torrealba.27913617381002140 Santiago.2784785613324516744 Benard.2761231634921135 Torcato.273110310000 Martinez.27118126491024252 Lofton.2671803048103397 Mueller.26236651961947380 Bell.2615528214429220731 Goodwin.26015423405211716 Aurilia.2575387613835215611 Feliz.2531461437412130 Sanders.25050575126236238518 Snow.

ST. LOUIS - The San Francisco Giants had to claw and scratch their way out of third place in the National League West to earn the wild-card berth that allowed them to keep playing this October. They had to go five games to outlast the 101-win Atlanta Braves in the first round of the playoffs to reach the National League Championship Series. Now, they're making it look too easy. Shortstop Rich Aurilia hit two home runs and right-hander Jason Schmidt dominated the potent St. Louis Cardinals' lineup for 7 2/3 innings as the Giants scored a 4-1 victory in Game 2 last night at Busch Stadium.

ATLANTA - The situation unfolded as the Atlanta Braves envisioned when they got Gary Sheffield to help exorcise their demons of Octobers past. Everything except the ending. Sheffield hit a towering home run to energize the Braves' late-inning efforts, but failed with the spotlight on him again as the San Francisco Giants held on for an 8-5 victory yesterday in Game 1 of their National League Division Series at Turner Field. Representing the potential tying run in the ninth with fans chanting his name, Sheffield, one of baseball's top clutch hitters, grounded into a game-ending double play against closer Robb Nen, enabling the Giants to finally finish off the Braves before what remained of a crowd of 41,903.

San Francisco Giants superstar Barry Bonds is staging the ultimate salary drive. He hit his 60th home run on Thursday and stayed on pace to challenge Mark McGwire's single-season home run record, which can only put his team in an unenviable position this winter. How would you like to be on the other side of the bargaining table after Bonds files for free agency in November? His agent is Scott Boras, whose top free agent last year - shortstop Alex Rodriguez - not only broke the record for the largest guaranteed contract in the history of professional sports, but also doubled it. The Giants want Bonds back, but club officials have to wonder just how far it would be prudent to go with a 37-year-old player who is likely to ask for the world ... and maybe a few of the other planets while he's at it. Owner Peter Magowan recently tied the magnitude of his club's effort to re-sign Bonds directly to the success of the team this season, which was a pretty wily move under the circumstances.

Barry Bonds is back. Now, the San Francisco Giants appear to be in perfect position to reassert themselves at the top of the National League West standings, not that they were ever far away.The Giants were a respectable 25-22 while Bonds was recovering from elbow surgery and lost only two games in the standings to the healthier Arizona Diamondbacks over that period. Now that Bonds is back -- three weeks ahead of schedule -- manager Dusty Baker has to feel good about their chances of upsetting the big spenders in the National League West.

FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The San Francisco Giants must have gotten lost in the free-agent free-for-all. They've won more games than any other National League West team over the past two years, but seemed to fall off the face of the baseball world after the Los Angeles Dodgers and Arizona Diamondbacks went spend-happy over the winter.They lost the National League wild-card berth in a playoff against the Chicago Cubs last year and have largely the same team back in 1999, but everyone is assuming that they'll finish well behind the Dodgers and D-backs, because each of those teams added a superstar pitcher to their starting rotations.

MIAMI -- The San Francisco Giants' bandwagon is not as full VTC now, after the Florida Marlins crafted two wrenching victories in their last at-bat in the best-of-five division series. That's just fine with Giants manager Dusty Baker."As an athlete -- and as a minority -- you're used to being told what you can't do a lot more than what you can do," Baker said after the Marlins outlasted San Francisco, 7-6, in Game 2 on Wednesday at Pro Player Stadium."People jump on and off the bandwagon," Baker said.

Like the man who pushed for it, the deal simply won't go away. Every day the San Francisco Giants look more like a contender because of the July 31 giveaway Chicago White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf mandated.The Giants won five of their first seven after securing pitchers Wilson Alvarez, Roberto Hernandez and Danny Darwin for the equivalent of a dime on the dollar while Chicago's South Side continues to seethe.Not only did the White Sox snatch a pennant race from fans, but they also destroyed any vestige of trust from a fan base that must brave a dicey neighborhood, punishing weather and a white-elephant ballpark to watch a team governed by whim instead of any organizational blueprint.