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June 16, 2007
BOSTON -- If one of the greatest sluggers in baseball history is going to make only one visit to Fenway Park in his fabled career, he might as well do something special.
That’s exactly what took place yesterday. Giants star Barry Bonds had a memorable at-bat, one that could go down as one of the top 10 highlights of the season. Unlike most of his visits to the other 39 Major League parks in which he has played, though, the magic moment at Fenway will be all negative for Bonds, all positive for the Red Sox.
In a game in which Manny Ramirez homered to provide the run in a 1-0 Red Sox victory; in which Japanese import Daisuke Matsuzaka turned in his best performance yet in a Boston uniform; it was Bonds’ eighth-inning at-bat against reliever Hideki Okajima that was most memorable.
With two on and no outs, Bonds never took the bat off his shoulder as Okajima poured in three straight strikes to whiff the man on the verge of breaking Hank Aaron’’s home-run record.
Okajima then retired Bengie Molina and pinch-hitter Kevin Frandsen to get out of the inning. When Jonathan Papelbon came on and pitched a perfect ninth, the Sox had the decision
Anyone who thinks 1-0 games are boring should be shown a tape of what happened yesterday. A glorious day filled with sunshine, the Fenway faithful and a national television audience were treated to a show that had all kinds of twists and turns.
The managers were called on to make tough strategy decisions. The Giants played their infield in with a runner on third and one out in the third inning. The Red Sox used two different infield alignments when Bonds came to bat with runners on first and second and no outs.
The pitching was fabulous. Main Cain, the 22-year-old righthander who is quickly becoming a star despite his 2-7 record, was outstanding for the Giants. But Matsuzaka was even better for the Red Sox.
``He pitched a great game,’’ San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said of Matsuzaka.
``Daisuke was really good and on a day when he had to be every bit that good,’’ agreed Boston manager Terry Francona.
Matsuzaka went seven innings and allowed three hits and three walks with eight strikeouts. Only two of the 21 outs the Giants made against him went to the outfield.
``He’s like an American League pitcher,’’ said San Francisco outfielder Dave Roberts. ``He’ll throw breaking ball, breaking ball, mix in a fastball and then another breaking ball. He did a good job of chahging speeds. . . He made the pitches he needed to make at the right time.’’
It was Ramirez who got Matsuzaka the run he needed. Ramirez had gone 51 at-bats over 19 days without a home run when he came up in the fourth.
``It was a spinning slider and he took advantage of it. That’s what he’’s known for,’’ said Cain. ``I wanted it down and away. It probably spun over the middle.’’ The pitch stayed up in the zone and Ramirez ripped it into the Monster Seats.
That was all the Sox could get against Cain. The young right-hander lowered his earned run average to 3.15. It is a sign of how many offensive problems the Giants have that despite his numbers his team is only 2-12 in his 14 starts.
Matsuzaka made the one run stand up with what he called his best day yet in a Boston uniform.
``This was the first time I was able to hold the opponent to zero runs and at the same time I was able to protect our slim an precious one-run lead, so in that sense I’m very happy with my performance today,’’ he said.
The one tough inning Matsuzaka had was the sixth when the Giants put runners on first and second with no outs. Matsuzaka made the Sox fans, who continued to loudly boo Bonds happy, when he retired Bonds on a ground ball, got Molina on a liner to short and, after hitting Nate Schierholtz on a 2-2 pitch, struck out Rich Aurelia looking on a full count cut-fastball.
``I felt I was able to reach back inside myself and show a side of myself I haven’t shown here yet,’’ Matsuzaka said.
His work was excellent. But it merely set the table for an even more exciting eighth. Matsuzaka was disappointed he did not get the chance to work the eighth. He was removed after throwing 112 pitches through seven.
``I felt the pitch count was a reasonable number, for me anyways, and when I came to the bench the coach (John Farrell) came up and asked me if I was prepared to go another inning,’’ he related. ``I told him I was. Soon after that the manager came over and told me Okajima would be going in the game.’’
When Randy Winn walked and Ray Durham singled to open the eighth, it looked like it might be a bad decision. When Okajima went 2-0 to Bonds, Farrell, the pitching coach, came out to talk to him. Okajima said he did not try to do anything special against Bonds.
``My approach was the same as other hitters,’’ he said. Farrell told him to challenge Bonds.
Okajima threw a curve for strike one, then two straight 87 mile-per-hour fastballs. All strikes. Bonds never got the bat off his shoulder. The boos Bonds had been receiving turned to rousing cheers.
It was a special moment in a terrific game. It will give the 36,381 fans a story to tell about how they were there the day Barry Bonds never got his bat off his shoulder in the clutch.
-- PAUL KENYON
Posted by Chris Venditto 
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