Barry Bonds was back playing ball yesterday and, in what has become a typical fashion, provided the hit that won the game in late innings. This morning’s Chronicle devoted most of it’s story on the Giants to an interview with Bonds in which he described the physical symptoms which led to his overnight hospitalization, his reaction to what he was told by doctors treating him, and included a statement by trainer, Stan Conte, to the effect that Bonds “doesn’t need medication but will continue to be monitored and see a Bay Area cardiologist this week.”

Continue Below for more of Ed’s excellent perspective on this situation.Before the game, in an interview with sports writers, Bonds was quoted as saying, ” I have to go back to work…I have to get back in there….I have no choice….I’m not going to walk away from these guys. We’ve worked hard and the Giants gave me the opportunity to spend days with my father until the end, which is more than appreciated. I owe it to the fans of San Francisco to come back to work and finish what we started”. Bonds also stated that he had an irregular heartbeat. That he felt better and that ” he got it corrected in the hospital, you have to stay overnight to make sure it doesn’t come back. It could be life threatening.” Barry went on to say, “Broken bones …I can deal with. I don’t know much about heart problems…The doctor said this is more serious than you think it is.” The doctor’s last quoted statement undoubtedly defines exactly where Barry is right now. Upon his return to the Bay Area there is no question but that he will be receiving extensive lab tests and studies by highly qualified cardiologists, probably at a teaching hospital such as UC or Stanford. Whatever they decide respecting the level of activity Barry should be engaging in right now will be followed. There are more important things at stake than the outcome of a baseball game, a season or the playoffs. Atrial fibillation, if properly treated, need not be life threatening. But proper treatment, which Bonds will certainly receive, is the key. To what extent such treatment affects the outcome of baseball games remains to be seen. This is not a great consideration. It seems almost trivial, in light of the above, to reflect on what Bonds has meant to this team. His accomplishments these past four years have been unmatched by any player the game has seen. The Giants are twelve games in front of LA, the closest team to them. Their magic number is fifteen and they will get there with or without Bonds in the lineup every day. We have said, over and over again, that this is a good team, that it wins because it is better than the opposition. However, it is better than the opposition for two reasons only. One of those reasons is the presence of Bonds. The other reason is the very strong pitching. Schmidt and, now, Ponzon give them the best pitching duo around, better than Nomo and Brown, better than Schilling and Johnson. Additionally, the bullpen has more than done it’s job. No matter how strong the pitching, without Bonds the team is no better than a fifty-fifty club. The won-lost records when they play without Bonds prove that. Bonds makes this team, without a single outstanding player other than Barry, play better. If one were to ask why this happens, what is there about Bonds in the lineup which produces more accomplished play than would ordinarily be expected of the likes of Aurillia, Grissom, Santiago and others, one would be hard put, perhaps, to come up with a reasoned answer. It might be that, with Bonds in the lineup, they expect, somehow, to win. When Young joined the team recently he said as much. In the clubhouse , he said, there is an expectation that when they go on the field they will win. They believe in themselves. There is no reason for this collection of ball players to enjoy such a feeling other than that there is always Bonds to worry the opposition. That Bonds and the pitching will enable them to beat a team such as Arizona thirteen out of sixteen times, will fight off LA whenever challenged, will meet Atlanta head on and more than hold their own. Bonds is the catalyst. Our hope today however is that he remains healthy for his own sake. The baseball season will take care of itself. If it is necessary for Bonds to “walk away from these guys” then so be it. One thing he should know, without any question. His dedication to the team, to the game, will never be open to doubt. Irrespective of what the future holds, that is a given. He says that he “owes it to the fans to come back…”. He should know that anything he owes the fans has been repaid already, twenty fold, by what he has given the fans this season alone.