Photo Giants bomb their way to victory, while Bonds dodges indictment

By Jeremy Harness

July 20, 2006
San Francisco Giants' Barry Bonds, right, rounds first base on his 722nd career home run off the the San Diego Padres' Brian Sweeney in the eighth inning of a baseball game on Thursday, July 20, 2006 in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
 



It was announced Thursday morning that Barry Bonds would not be indicted as scheduled later that day for perjury and possible tax evasion charges. He played that night’s series opener against the San Diego Padres as if he were relieved of the news.

The slugging left fielder belted his 722nd career home run, a two-run shot in the bottom of the eighth inning that all but sealed the Giants’ 9-2 win over the Padres at AT&T Park, and drove in another run earlier in the game with a sacrifice fly.

The Giants, who moved to 1 ½ games out of first place with the victory, were never really threatened. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning on rookie Chad Santos’ two-run homer, and then got three more runs in the fifth.

Meanwhile, Noah Lowry had his best outing in quite some time, not surrendering a single run over eight innings before giving up three runs in the ninth before Kevin Correia and Jeremy Accardo finished the game for him.

Moises Alou and Randy Winn each had two hits for the Giants, who hit four home runs on Thursday to improve their season record to 49-47.

As for Bonds, a new grand jury could be assembled to consider the charges against Bonds as prosecutors extended the investigation, according to the Associated Press.

His personal trainer, Greg Anderson, was released from a California prison on Thursday, where he spent the past two weeks after refusing to testify against Bonds. His attorney, Mark Geragos, told the AP that Anderson still doesn’t plan on testifying against his childhood friend.

At press time, even though U.S. Attorney Kevin Ryan said that the investigation against Bonds is not finished, the date of his indictment is still uncertain.

If he convicted of perjury charges that may come up against him, which would allege that he lied under oath during grand jury testimony in 2003 concerning his alleged steroid use, Bonds could face five years in prison.

He could also be indicted on tax evasion charges, which allege that Bonds used $80,000 for a down payment on a house for former mistress Kimberly Bell, money that he supposedly did not report to the IRS. If he is convicted on those charges, he could go to prison for another five years.

 

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