Tuesday, April 2, 2002
San Francisco Giants at Los Angeles Dodgers
recap | boxscore
Cleveland Indians at Anaheim Angels
recap | boxscore
LOS ANGELES -- Even after hitting 73 homers in 2001, Barry Bonds already is well ahead of schedule.
Baseball's single-season home run king began the new season in style, belting a pair of homers and driving in five runs to power the San Francisco Giants to a 9-2 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
Bonds belted a three-run homer in the second off ace righthander Kevin Brown and added a solo blast in the seventh off lefthander Omar Daal to give the Giants an 8-2 lead.
"It's not how you start, it's how you finish," Bonds said. "A lot of times on Opening Day you're a lot faster than you are in June and July. On Opening Day you see the ball a lot better. Tomorrow is another day."
It was the second straight season and fourth time in his career that Bonds has homered on Opening Day. But a year ago, Bonds did not hit his second homer until the Giants' ninth game on April 11 en route to breaking Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70.
"He was impressive today. He was pretty locked in," Dodgers outfielder Shawn Green said. "It's a pretty good message to us not to give him anything to hit. He's the best in the game at hitting the ball out of the park."
David Bell, acquired in an offseason trade with the Seattle Mariners, also went deep for the Giants, connecting off Brown for a solo shot in the third.
Brown (0-1) used to have his way with the Giants, but he lasted just four innings and was tagged for seven runs and nine hits.
He lost to San Francisco for just the second time in 10 all-time decisions. He won his first seven decisions against the Giants, but is 1-2 against them in his last five outings, allowing 17 earned runs in 21 innings.
Brown, who is 3-3 in seven Opening Day starts, was pitching for the first time since undergoing elbow surgery in September.
"Well if I had given up 27 line drives right to somebody, you guys would think I was doing great," said a frustrated Brown. "In my opinion, any time you are ready to go, why shouldn't you go?"
The Dodgers scored five times in the second, which was more than enough for Livan Hernandez (0-1), who took the first step toward putting a disappointing 13-15 season behind him.
Hernandez worked eight innings, retiring 14 straight batters at one point, allowing both Los Angeles runs and four hits. He walked three and struck out three.
"When they hit like that you've got a chance to win," said Hernandez, whose ERA in spring training was a whopping 10.50. "I know I never throw good in spring training, I don't care what they say about me in spring training. That's OK. They don't pay my bills."
Aaron Fultz pitched the ninth.
Brown ran into trouble in the second when he allowed consecutive singles to Bell, Pedro Feliz and Hernandez for the first run. Rich Aurilia singled home the second of the inning with one out before Bonds sliced a high 0-1 fastball the opposite way over the left-center field wall.
"I don't think Kevin really wanted to put it there," Bonds said.
Bonds belted a mammoth blast to right field in the seventh, becoming just the 10th player to reach the loge deck at Dodger Stadium. He also drove in a run with a single in the fourth and came out of the game after hitting his second homer.
The four-time National League Most Valuable Player became the 25th player to homer twice on Opening Day and second in as many days. Jacque Jones went deep twice for Minnesota on Monday.
Bonds posted his 57th career multi-homer game, a number that trails only Babe Ruth (72), McGwire (64), Willie Mays (63) and Hank Aaron (62).
The Giants won a season opener for the fourth time in five years.
Paul Lo Duca drove in the first Los Angeles run with a groundout in the first. The second came home when Lo Duca hit into a double play in the third.
Benito Santiago drove in the final San Francisco run with a single in the seventh.
Rookie Cesar Izturis started at shortstop for Los Angeles and had one hit in three at-bats.