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Show Page B2 THE DAILY HERALD, (www.HaricTheHerald.com), Provo, Utah, Friday, October 18, 2002 WORLD 2002: SAN FRANCISCO VS. ANAHEIM SERIES MEANINGFUL BONDS V'- -' t Baseball's best player finally in World Series Nikolai, who poured a little water over his head. Bonds didnt get angry but he let his son know that he wasn't ready V to indulge. "Now's not the time," Bonds said. "When we win the World Series, 111 celebrate." For all his 613 home runs and pages of records, his four MVPs and eight Gold Gloves, Bonds has always longed to be known as a champion. Some may see him as robotic and remote, his face impassive at the plate, his right elbow armored with a large black guard, his massive body making the bat seem small in his hands. He can be aloof, grouchy, reclusive before games, wearily seeking silent refuge afterward. He has three lockers, not one, and a huge recliner and TV in the clubhouse. Bonds can also be buoyant, joking and shouting with his teammates, kissing his son sweetly after homers. He has brown eyes as lively as some of the colorful shirts he favors. His smile can be as bright as the gold and diamonds adorning his fingers, neck and left ear. He grunts through hours of workouts, pumping iron and stretching, building his body through honest effort, he insists. As big as he's become, as gaudy as his records are, he's never been e character like a By STEV E WILSTEIN AP Sports Writer Bonds has arrived where the game of as new to him as it is old. He is coming into his first World Series with the joy of a kid who always imagined he would be there, and all the seriousness of a man who appreciates playing in one at last. When he leads his San Francisco Giants into Game 1 on Saturday Bonds in Anaheim, the will ascend a stage grander than any he has occupied in his 17 seasons. He might be the greatest player since Babe Ruth, but Bonds has never had a chance to show it to as large an audience as he will have over the next week. "It's a feeling I can't explain," Bonds said. "Maybe in a few days Fll be able to tell someone how I feel." On the night the Giants won the National League pennant, Bonds bolted out of the dugout and sprinted across the diamond ahead of everyone else to hug Kenny Lofton after his winning hit. Yet moments later, Bonds sat in v his corner of the dressing room, away from his teammates and Barry their big-scre- en celebra- g champagne-splashin- self-center- ed tion. He didn't take so much as a sip and no one came over to douse him, except his son, larger-than-lif- Ruth and never endeared himself to the public. In an age of athletes who preen for the cameras in all sports, Bonds is more a throwback to a tune when most ballplayers who weren't the Babe deflected praise and showed respect for the game. To understand Bonds, it's important to remember that he was born into baseball, the son of a great player, Bobby, and the godson of one of the greatest, Willie Mays. Skinny little Barry darted around the Giants' clubhouse as a child and shagged flies in the outfield with Mays. Along the way, he picked up a kind of code about how ballplayers are supposed to act. Mickey Mantle, Mays' rival in New York, was one of Bonds' ' biggest heroes even if he was too to have seen him play. In young both of those players, Bonds admired men of superior strength and varied talents. During his first season with the Giants in 1993, when Bonds hit .336 with 46 homers, 123 RBIs and 29 stolen bases, he thought he was at his peak and might have only a few years left at that level. "If I can't run and I can't hit for power and average, then I don't want to play no more," Bonds said at the time. "Or I've got to work harder to do it. One of the two." Bonds chose to work harder. NOTEBOOK favorite to win World Series over Giants Angels SERIES LEAGUE Ulrti 1) (AnihelM 3, N New Yortt 8, Anaheim 5 Anaheim 8, New York 6 Anaheim 9, New York 6 Anaheim 9, NewVbrkS 7, NATIONAL LEAGUE (Sm Frandm 3, Atlanta J) San Francisco 8, Atlanta 5 7, San Francisco 3 Atlanta 10, San Francisco 2 San Francisco 8. Atlanta 3 San Francisco 3, Atlanta 1 Atlanta (StLoob3,ArtnaO) Lous St. SL Louis St Louis 2 12, Arizona 2, Arizona 1 6, Arizona 3 LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES AMERICAN Especially for the Giants, who had 10 playoff games in 13 days and crisscrossed the country on redeye flights. "It's good as far as to have some time to start gearing up," Giants second baseman Jeff Kent said. "If the NLCS had gone seven games, we wouldn't have any 6--5 LAS VEGAS -- TtieAnaheiiii Angels, who opened the season a 75-- 1 pick to win the World Series in some sports books, are a slight favorite over the San Francis- co Giants. The Angels were 6-- 5 favorites over the Giants at most local sports books, which expect good betting on the World Series because both teams are from California. The odds vary at different sports books. At the beginning of the season, the Angels had 75-- 1 odds to win the world Series at Bally's and Paris Las Vegas sports books, while the Stardust had them at 40-l.TGiants began the year as 7-- 1 favorites at the Stardust and 25-- 1 at Bally's and Paris. "I think the Angels are more of a complete team," John Avello, director of race and sports book operations for Bally's and Paris, said Thursday. 'But anything could happen. Your bat could go cold, but I like the Angels." 3, Oakland 2) Oakland 5 Oakland 9, Minnesota 1 Oakland 6, Minnesota 3 Minnesota 11, Oakland 2 Minnesota 5, Oakland 4 Minnesota LEAGUE time." FOR SALE: When the Anaheim Angels raise the AL pennant at Edison Field, they can put another sign next to it For Sale. For the second time in six seasons, one of the teams playing in the World Series is on the market "Disney's been great" Angels first baseman Scott SpiezJo said Thursday. "But if they decide to sell, they're doing it for the shareholders The Walt Disney Co., which paid $140 million in 1996 to become the team's controlling owner, hired Lehman Brothers last month to search for buyers for the Angels and the NHLs Mighty Ducks. Michael Eisner, the company's chief executive officer, has said Disney may sell but keep a partial interest Angels general manager BID Stoneman, preparing for Saturday's start of the World Series against San Francisco, said the uncertainty about the team's future not clinching playoff berths until the final week of the season, and fighting through two tough rounds of playoffs, the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants are thankful for a little time off. Instead of worries about getting rusty or losing momentum, the two teams welcome this respite before Saturday's world Series opener. "I think both teams physically needed to get out of the grind," Angels manager Mika Scloscia said Thursday. This gives us a couple of days to heal up. There comes a time when you need to mentally refocus and . this gives us that time." The Angels won the AL pennant Sunday against Mim NEEDED TIME OFF: After Minnesota Anaheim Anaheim Anaheim Anaheim 2, Anaheim I 6, Minnesota 3 2, Minnesota 1 7, Minnesota 1 13, Minnesota 5 NATIONAL LEAGUE 4, St Lwk 1) (San Fraud San Francisco 9, SL Lours 6 San Francisco 4, St Louis 1 SL Louis 5, San Francisco 4 San Francisco 4, SL Louis 3 San Francisco 2, SL Louis 1 SERIES WORLD Satana Oct M San Francisco (Schmidt at Anaheim ) 6:04 p.m. Oct 20 San Francisco at Anaheim, 6:04 p.m. Timrlrn, Oct 22 Anaheim at San Francisco, 6:27 p.m. nesota, one day before San Francisco wrapped up the NL championship against St Louis. Both series ended in five1 games, leading to the break before the start of the Series. The break has given the players time to heal some minor injuries, including Angels outfielder Tbn Salmon, who was slowed by a balky hamstring in the ALCS. "All the guys are banged up," Scioscia said, "we had a tough season and two tough playoff rounds, we could use the time off. The layoff is good." ), Wrmar,Oct23 Anaheim at San Francisco, Tlmiiay, Oct 24 Anaheim at San Francisco. Srtmtaj, Oct. 2S San Francisco at Anaheim. Sunday, Oct 27 San Francisco at Anaheim, 6:35 p.m. 6:22 p.m., if necessary 5:58 p.m., if necessary 6:02 p.m., If necessary Cl Daily nHii'ni!HiiVflBinr. i ii 1 1 ii i iii iri ivm IlLJ! BfcN a FREE DISH fvork digital satellite fstem(MSRP J149) id FREE Standard 11 in Press native who moved to San By LYNN ELBER Associated Press Writer - To LOS ANGELES outsiders, the World Series is a California contest between Anaheim and San Francisco. To Californians, it's a north-sout- h grudge match, a showdown between darkness and light. At least that's the way Northern Californians see it. Their simmering, century-disdain for the south old boils up at times like this, when they can revel in the belief they inhabit their own superior state. y If a rivalry can exist, this is it. Southern Californians tend to be or blissfully unaware unconcerned that their neighbors think they are one-wa- d, smog-addle- d, cultureless who are less real than water-hogge- rs real- ity television. "I'm a little hurt. They don't even know me," said Marleen Madge, who works in Orange County, Anaheim Angels territory. Don't want to, say the hostile northerners. "I'm waiting for the earthquake down there that will split north and south perfectly," said a gleeful Jerry Klein, a New York Rafael in 1968. "We look down our nose at Southern California mostly because it's all style and no substance," said Carmel's Larry Gerbrandt, a lifelong Northern "It's all about how thin you are, how famous you are or how many famous people you know." Even the grand tradition Cali-fornia- fessional Installation becomes unbalanced here. The San . Francisco Examiner's John Crowley dissed Orange County as "a place more homogenized than a glass of milk" when compared to "cosmopolitan San Francisco." Dana Parsons of the Los Angeles Times defended the county's diversity and then fired back. Or tried to. "If it's a war of words John Crowley wants ... I give up. I can't think of anything awful to say about San Francisco. At least, nothing I'd really mean. Fact is, I love that town." Can the state's largely ignored midsection add to the debate? Turns out central California, America's most productive farmland, has little love for either north or south. in ID' - P$199).Thafsup h S348 value! ust tcribe to America's 50 for only $22.99 per month. mcrka's Top SO jhcludei these favorite channels: ESPN, MTV, Cartoon TNT, Network, Discovery Channel and CNN. Plus, dozens L vaUnpiTMarlMiI-a- I WMn J " Stellar Satellite 785-70- 34 898-017- 1 Ask for Richard Yoiv more! l.oc! Company GMn( Yoa Lool Scrrira MMmi Ivibt wtmajmnojixt mi wmtmm rmrukrtn er ftartnai t0m tmu on HWttf. dtfi NETjyO R K n. of newspaper columnists dueling over their hometeams baseball town i ir- -Jet II VAI CRAWFORD AGAIN: Jeny Crawford will umpire in the World Series for the second time in three seasons and will be the crew chief for the games between the Anaheim Angels and San Francisco Giants. veteran who is president of the Crawford, a 26-yeformer umpires' union, also worked the Series in 1988, 1992 and 1998. He will be behind the plate for the opener Saturday night joined by Angel Hernandez at first, Tim Tschlda at second, Mike Winters at third, Mike Rellly in left and Tim Mcdetland in right Hernandez and Winters will be umpiring in the World Series for the first time. The Associated he Associated Press Herald m tea-7-- had no effect on the club's operations. Former baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth has talked about assembling a group to make a bid, a lawyer familiar with the sale process said on the condition of anonymity. , MAKGOr Baseball's biggest stage: After being labeled as a player who can't get the job done in the postseason, Barry Bonds, left,; is f the World Series for the first time in his career. GLANCE POSTSEASON AN ERICA I '" Series: North-Sout- h feud, California style WORLD SERIES DIVISION "" APPEAR MONDAYS .dmlVheraldj |
