Angels face prospect of facing Bonds

ANAHEIM, Calif., Oct. 16 (UPI) -- Faced with the prospect of pitching to Barry Bonds, the Anaheim Angels may now know how their opponents felt.

The hitting-happy Angels are three days away from their first World Series game -- and their first meeting this season with Bonds, the superstar outfielder of the San Francisco Giants and one of the most feared sluggers in major league history.

The Angels have put together 10-hit innings in each of their first two series, a feat accomplished just once in postseason history prior to this year. They have scored 60 runs in nine playoff games, battering the staffs of the New York Yankees and Minnesota Twins.

But now they meet Bonds, who has eradicated his past postseason failures and turned the staffs of the Atlanta Braves and St. Louis Cardinals inside out as they tried to avoid pitching to him at any cost.

Beginning some time during Game 1 on Saturday night in Anaheim, the Angels know they will have to pitch to Bonds, the National League batting champion who has 119 homers over the last two seasons. The question is, how do they approach it?

"He's got a great eye," Angels catcher Bengie Molina said. "He hits mistakes out of the park. You've got to go to your best stuff."

Injured Angels lefthanded reliever Dennis Cook has limited Bonds to two for 14 in his career. He has imparted some advice to the rest of the staff as to how to pitch to Bonds.

"If I'm called on to pitch against him, I'm pitching to him," said fellow lefthander Scott Schoeneweis, who has struck out Bonds four times in seven career showdowns.

Another lefthander, Jarrod Washburn, will start Game 1. He will be opposed by Giants righthander Jason Schmidt, whom Dusty Baker officially tabbed Wednesday as his starter.

"It's his turn in the rotation and I guess that that makes him our No. 1 for this series," Baker said. "It really boils down to the fact of how many times they have pitched."

"It's something I'll never forget, the chance to pitch Game 1," Schmidt said. "You never expect it to happen, but Dusty always has something up his sleeve, so you just wait until he tells you. It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience."

The Giants worked out Wednesday at Pacific Bell Park. They will fly to Anaheim Thursday and work out in the early evening at Edison Field, their first look at the stadium this year.

The Giants also did not play the Angels this season. They met a handful of times in Cactus League games during spring training, but Baker did not put too much stock in that.

"It's hard to prepare for a team you don't face in the regular season," he said. "But you have to talk to people that know them. We all have started to make calls to people that see them."

The is the first World Series between wild card teams. It is the fourth California World Series and the first since 1989, when Oakland swept San Francisco.

It is the first trip to the Fall Classic for Bonds. It also is the first visit for the Angels, who joined the American League in 1960.

The Giants have not won a World Series since 1954, when they were in New York. They moved to the West Coast four years later.

Game 2 will be Sunday night at Edison Field before the Series shifts to San Francisco on Tuesday.