In Major League Baseball, San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds drove in a run with a double in his team's 10-1 victory over the Houston Astros Monday in Houston.

However, Bonds' streak without a home run reached seven games, as he remained stuck at 713 career homers.  He is one shy of tying the legendary Babe Ruth for second place all-time.

In other National League games Monday, the Atlanta Braves beat the Florida Marlins 11-8.  The Los Angeles Dodgers defeated the Colorado Rockies 5-4.  And the Arizona Diamondbacks won 6-5 in 10 innings against the San Diego Padres.

In the American League, pitcher Freddy Garcia won his sixth straight decision, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 7-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins.

Garcia is 6-1 on the season.  The White Sox have the best record in Major League baseball at 25-12.

In other games, the Texas Rangers beat the New York Yankees 4-2, and the Boston Red Sox defeated the Baltimore Orioles 11-1.

Early-season phenom Brian Bannister will look for his fifth quality start in as many tries this afternoon when the New York Mets visit the San Francisco Giants in the final test of a three-game series at AT&T Park.

Bannister, the 25-year-old son of former major-league pitcher Floyd Bannister, has allowed just 15 hits and six runs in 23 innings over his four previous appearances. He's given up one run in each of the last three, including a four-hit effort over five innings on April 21 at San Diego.

The 6-foot-2, 202-pounder has never faced the Giants, but is 2-0 on grass fields and 1-0 on the road in his young career. In 12 innings away from home, he's surrendered just seven hits and two runs while compiling a 1.50 earned run average.

Veteran right-hander Jason Schmidt is still searching for a 2006 groove, having been touched for seven hits and five runs over seven innings in a no- decision against Colorado on April 21.

The 33-year-old has gone at least six innings in all four starts, but has also given up at least four runs in three of them. He was 12-7 with a 4.40 ERA through an injury marred 2005 season, one year after earning Cy Young votes with an 18-7 mark and a 3.20 ERA in 2004.

Lifetime against the Mets, Schmidt is 4-5 with a 4.26 ERA in 17 appearances - 16 starts.

On Tuesday, Steve Trachsel tossed six solid innings and Cliff Floyd hit a two- run homer as the Mets downed the Giants, 4-1.

Xavier Nady also homered and Paul LoDuca knocked in the other run for the Mets, who snapped a two-game losing skid. Trachsel (2-1) conceded just one run on three hits to pick up the win.

Barry Bonds homered in the second inning to provide the only offense for the Giants, who have lost two of their last three games.

Jamey Wright (2-1) was saddled with the loss as he allowed four runs on 10 hits in eight innings of work.

However, Bonds tied the game at 1-1 in the second as he led off the inning with an opposite-field homer, his second of the season and 710th of his career, leaving him four homers shy of Babe Ruth for second on the all-time list.

•Kevin Millwood, who could only attract a one-year contract the previous winter, commanded a $60 million deal from the Texas Rangers.

•A.J. Burnett (49-50) got $55 million from the Toronto Blue Jays.

•Jarrod Washburn signed with the Seattle Mariners for $37 million.

•Matt Morris received $27 million from the San Francisco Giants.

•Esteban Loaiza, who had spent the previous four years in four organizations, became an Oakland Athletic in exchange for $21 million over three years.

"You're always aware of the contracts being given to players in your position and even more when free agency is approaching," Los Angeles Angels right-hander Kelvim Escobar says. "Looking at the contracts this past offseason, wow, the pitchers' market really took off, and what better time to be a free agent?"

And the prices climbed before a solid free agent pitching class enters the market after this season.

• St. Louis Cardinals free-agent-to-be Mark Mulder has won 88 games the past five seasons. Only the Angels' Bartolo Colon has won as many games in that span.

•Barry Zito, Mulder's former Oakland teammate and a fellow left-hander, won the American League Cy Young Award in 2002. He has 87 career wins and, at 27, will hit the market younger than most starters.

• San Francisco Giants right-hander Jason Schmidt is 47-20 since 2003, and the team boasts a .685 winning percentage (89-41) in his starts.

• Houston Astros left-hander Andy Pettitte turns 34 in June, but he went 23-13 with a 2.80 ERA in 2004-05 and is 173-92 lifetime.

Escobar, who held the New York Yankees to one run in his season debut Friday, has a dominant array of pitches if not the career achievements of the other pitchers. Angels teammate Jeff Weaver has 78 career wins and the sixth-most innings pitched (444) in 2004-05.

Numbers and talent

There's quality and limited quantity, which should mean big money flowing next winter and a mental challenge for the aforementioned pitchers to focus on balls and strikes, not dollars and cents.

"I think it's going to be similar to this year where the shortage of veteran pitchers — I don't know if it will approach the spending it did this year, but it seems to be that kind of trend," Giants general manager Brian Sabean says. "They're more valuable than ever, guys with experience."

Schmidt tested the market for the first time after the 2001 season and drew quite a bit of attention. Schmidt's final decision came down to returning to the Giants or signing with the Seattle Mariners, the team he rooted for while growing up in Kelso, Wash.

Schmidt says the Giants' close call in 2001 — they finished two games behind the eventual world champion Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West — convinced him to stay in the Bay Area, agreeing to a five-year deal worth $38 million.

In 2002, the Giants reached the World Series as Schmidt went 13-8 with a 3.45 ERA. "I thought it would be an easy choice," he says.

Schmidt's "walk year" comes on the heels of a season he'd just as soon forget. He said off-the-field distractions dogged him; the 6-foot-5 right-hander couldn't get his mind fully in the game — "I felt like I was on a different planet," he says — and tried to overcompensate for a loss of velocity. He was 12-7, but his 4.40 ERA was the worst of his Giants career.

Schmidt looked like his old self during a dominant spring, and he figures to have plenty of suitors if he can re-establish himself as one of the NL's top starters. At 33, he finds himself financially secure and less concerned with cashing in than the first time around.

"If the money's there, great," Schmidt says. "If it's not, you might be a little disappointed. But how much does a guy really need? It ends up becoming a point system for players. It's not about the money; it's about the points. You need to get past that."

Path well traveled

Across San Francisco Bay, Zito is staring at a path traversed by several ex-teammates.

Since the end of the 2001 season, the A's have allowed former MVPs Jason Giambi and Miguel Tejada in addition to Johnny Damon, Keith Foulke and Jermaine Dye walk away. Before last season they traded former 20-game winners Tim Hudson and Mulder, splitting the team's Big Three rather than risk them leaving as free agents.

Following this season, it will be Zito's turn to learn his market value, which will be considerable if he approaches his 2002 season, when he went 23-5 with a 2.75 ERA.

"Pitching's always been a commodity," Zito says. "I think in the last 100 years of baseball there's never been a time when pitching was too abundant."

Zito says it's not difficult to concentrate on his job and block out the potential for finding a pot of gold at the end of the season or the constant questions of whether he'll stay in Oakland.

"You finally get a choice of where you want to play," Zito says. "Hopefully something can work out with the A's, but if it doesn't, we'll just look then. I know it's only six months away, but it seems like it's six years away."

Weaver would have preferred the stability of a multiyear contract when he became a free agent this past offseason after proving his durability by pitching at least 199 innings in five of the last six seasons.

But negotiations with the Los Angeles Dodgers, his team for the last two years, dragged on until the Jan. 8 deadline. By the time they broke off, the clubs willing to spend big money had already made their moves. Weaver took a one-year, $8.325 million deal with the Angels, which allowed him to remain in his native Southern California.

"It's a lot of emotions," Weaver said of the negotiation process. "You hear one thing one day and maybe something different the next. You have to take a lot of things into account — where you're going to be comfortable, what league you're going to be comfortable in, does the team have a chance to win, are you close to home?"

Chances are Weaver will end up being a one-year rental, in part because the Angels have his younger brother, Jered, their No. 1 pick in 2004, waiting in the wings.

But Jeff Weaver, 29, could make their decision harder by exceeding his previous output.

Like Millwood, who signed a one-year contract with the Cleveland Indians and led the AL in ERA last year, Weaver hopes to re-establish his market value and parlay his one-year deal into a bigger offer.

"I'm trying to get over that hump of 13, 14 wins and get up there to 17, 18, 20 wins," he says, "and then there's no question."

This is no experiment. What Eddy Martinez-Esteve will go through this year playing left field for the Connecticut Defenders is more like a Broadway production. And that fits the former theater major quite well.

The San Francisco Giants love the righthanded swing of Martinez-Esteve, but injuries have slowed his progress on the field. He played some left field last year in San Jose, but now he's really getting an education at the position.

"This is a good place to play the outfield," said Martinez-Esteve before Wednesday's win over New Hampshire that upped Connecticut's record to 5-1, "just because it's such a big outfield and you have a lot of room to run and to cover a lot of ground. But I feel comfortable and my confidence is getting better doing this, so that's always a good sign."

Martinez-Esteve's biggest ally this year will be Dave Machemer. The Connecticut Defenders manager has -- and will -- watch the top prospect's every step in the outfield.

"I watch him all the time and he wants me to make sure he's doing the right thing," Machemer said. "He wants me to tell him when I see something that I think he can improve on because he wants to improve. He's got to play defense. We're in the National League, there is no DH."

Martinez-Esteve's biggest problem in the outfield right now is focus. While he's not out there counting the blades of grass, Machemer said he often let's his mind wander. That seems to plague young players, especially in the outfield where they're not as involved. Martinez-Esteve was used to being in the middle of everything as a first baseman in college.

"(Machemer) wants me to be ready every single pitch and every single play so it doesn't allow me to lose my focus," Martinez-Esteve said. "It's been good help and it's been good that he's been on me like that. It's not only making me a better outfielder, but a better baseball player."

Martinez-Esteve delayed that process by a couple of years after he graduated from the Westminster Christian School in Miami, the same place where major leaguers Alex Rodriguez and Doug Mientkiewicz got their start. He was drafted by the Seattle Mariners in the third round of the 2002 draft, but decided to go to Florida State for two years instead.

"At the time I don't think I was ready to sign," Martinez-Esteve said. "Mentally I was still young and I've never lived away from home.

"I decided college was the best thing for me; (there are things) bigger than baseball and that's an education. You have to have an education no matter what. And I think I wanted to get my feet wet and start that path."

Martinez-Esteve still has plans to pursue his degree in theater and while he minored in English, physical therapy might be a more suitable field. While he's completely recovered from a variety of injuries (shoulder and foot), he still needs some extra preparation before a game. He works with trainer Anthony Reyes before each game to strengthen his right shoulder.

Martinez-Esteve's potent bat remained last year despite having offseason shoulder surgery. In fact, he greatly improved from 2004. He batted .313 with 17 home runs and 94 RBI with San Jose. There really wasn't much to that success except for hard work.

"Every time I get up to the plate, I try to have a quality at-bat," Martinez-Esteve said. "I don't have an at-bat to have an at-bat. I always try to work on something and have a quality at-bat while I'm in the batter's box and that's where the success comes from."

A sellout crowd hoping to see Barry Bonds play arrived to a soggy stadium Saturday and learned the Oakland Athletics' home Cactus League game against the San Francisco Giants was rained out.

The 41-year-old Bonds went through some conditioning work indoors in nearby Scottsdale, two days after making his first spring training appearance in two years in a loss against the Angels.

Bonds, facing further steroids scrutiny this week after the release of excerpts from an upcoming book detailing his alleged longtime use of performance-enhancing drugs, had said he hoped to play in left field for the first time Sunday against the San Diego Padres _ but that could change if the field is soggy and there's even the slightest chance he might slip on his surgically repaired right knee.

"We're going to see how the field is," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "(The rainout) is not going to hurt anything _ except maybe for Barry not DHing today. That might be the biggest loss when it comes to the rainout. ... The plan is to make sure he continues to feel as well as he's been feeling. We feel we have enough time for him to do what he needs to do under the best possible conditions."

San Francisco's Matt Cain will make his scheduled start against San Diego on Sunday, while slated Saturday starter Noah Lowry will pitch in a minor league intrasquad game Sunday instead.

The A's were expecting 7,500 people to pack Phoenix Municipal Stadium for the afternoon matchup, but instead were left to offer fans tickets to another exhibition game. With rain forecast for the entire day and into Sunday, there wasn't even a three-hour window to try to get the game played considering it would have taken at least an hour to prepare the field.

"It would have been a good day," said Oakland team president and partial owner Michael Crowley, who couldn't recall a spring training rainout for the club in the past two years. "Unfortunately, Mother Nature didn't cooperate."

A's right-hander Joe Blanton signed autographs for the few fans who did come into the stadium and were holding umbrellas and one player tossed a ball into the seats.

Barry Bonds laid down a bunt, then pointed to Texas manager Buck Showalter in a display meant for entertainment value.

Bonds has never given much credence to his spring numbers. Still, he has to be feeling pretty good about his swing so far — especially if he's engaging in a little small ball.

His last regular-season sacrifice bunt came in 1998 and he has only four in his 20-year career — and he's unlikely to do it again.

Bonds lined a first-inning single to the gap in left-center, then led off the fourth by sending a 1-2 pitch from 20-year-old John Danks over the wall in right and into the batting cage area to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Texas Rangers 3-2 Tuesday.

The bunt in the sixth drew a loud standing ovation, and Bonds chuckled as he jogged back into the dugout.

"I just pointed to him just to show him I've got more to my game than just swinging," Bonds said, laughing, recalling his gesture to Showalter.

Bonds blooped a broken-bat single to center in the eighth, his fourth plate appearance, then got lifted for pinch-runner Daniel Ortmeier — tossing his batting helmet to himself. On Monday, Bonds spent his morning batting practice session working to keep the ball inside the park.

It's been a week since the release of excerpts from an upcoming book detailing Bonds' alleged longtime steroids regimen.

"Game of Shadows," written by two San Francisco Chronicle reporters, is due out later this month, while another book on Bonds — "Love Me, Hate Me: Barry Bonds and the Making of an Antihero" — written by Jeff Pearlman is slated for release in late May.

When asked what he thought of another book coming out, Bonds said: "Why do we have to go over this every time? Can we just talk baseball, please, please, please?"

Meanwhile in nearby Peoria, a male fan sported a Bonds jersey and replaced the slugger's name with BALCO, the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative founded by Victor Conte.

Bonds sat in a folding chair near the on-deck circle in the first inning and was greeted by Hall of Famer Orlando Cepeda, then stepped into the batter's box and quickly singled. Lance Niekro followed with an RBI double to score Todd Linden, and a cautious Bonds held up at third rather than risking injury to his surgically repaired right knee by trying to score.

Had it been the regular season, he might have gone for it.

"I didn't like bounce up or anything. I have to be careful right now," he said.

The Giants needed approval from the Rangers to use Bonds as a DH because the game was in an NL ballpark.

Bonds didn't mind only batting, and said he could see himself being a DH for an American League team at some point.

"It wouldn't bother me at all," said Bonds, who begins the season with 708 home runs — seven shy of passing Babe Ruth for second behind Hank Aaron's 755.

Giants brass are brainstorming ways to honor Bonds if it happens.

"I would rather celebrate a World Series ring," he said. "(Getting the record) could be God's will. I could get hurt between now and that time. Right now I've just got to stay healthy."

D'Angelo Jimenez hit his first homer of the spring with a two-run shot off Matt Morris in the second, sending a 3-2 pitch over the wall in right for the Rangers.

Morris allowed two earned runs and six hits in five innings, then Jamey Wright — a candidate for the fifth starter job — got the win with three shutout innings.

"I'm throwing all my pitches," said Morris, who joined the Giants in the winter after spending his first nine seasons with St. Louis and winning 14 games for the Cardinals last year. "I'm trying to get into situations and out of situations. It's pretty close to a game situation.

Team USA baseball announced a 42-player provisional roster on Monday for the team that will participate in the inaugural World Baseball Classic in March.

The top players announced included San Francisco Giants slugger Barry Bonds, pitcher Roger Clemens and veteran outfielder Ken Griffey, Jr.

Currently, the US roster has 19 pitchers, six catchers, 10 infielders and six outfielders.

"We've got a roster of players on board who are committed to the team and I'm very pleased with that," said manager Buck Martinez. "Our position players and bullpen are very deep. This gives us a roster that's as good as any team."

A projected starting lineup includes the Cubs' Derrek Lee at first base; Philadelphia's Chase Utley at second base; Derek Jeter of the Yankees at shortstop; Atlanta's Chipper Jones at third base; Boston's Jason Varitek handling the catching; Johnny Damon of the Yankees joining Griffey and Toronto's Vernon Wells in the outfield. Bonds would serve as the designated hitter.

The starting pitching staff shapes up with Clemens, Florida's Dontrelle Willis, San Diego's Jake Peavy and Houston's Andy Pettitte.

The Astros' Brad Lidge, Oakland's Huston Street and the Mets' Billy Wagner highlight the bullpen.

Alex Rodriquez of the Yankees was not announced to the team yet. USA Baseball has until 5:00 p.m. (et) on Tuesday to add players to the 60-man roster.

The final 30-man roster does not need to be announced until five days before the first game on Tuesday, March 7 against Mexico at Chase Field in Arizona.

The 16-team tournament that is sanctioned by the International Baseball Federation will feature the top baseball players in the world playing for their respective countries.

It was an American sporting year when records were broken, rules were broken and, considering that Giacomo, at 50-1 the second longest shot in the 131-year history of the Kentucky Derby, came flying home a winner, the hearts of many betters were broken.

It was a year where little changed, Tiger Woods gaining PGA Tour Player of the Year a seventh time. A year when a great deal changed, the Chicago White Sox taking the World Series for the first time since 1917. And a year baseball, the so-called national pastime, finally came to terms with a problem it blithely had ignored, steroids.

A year when Mike Tyson probably fought for the last time and Michelle Wie definitely played golf as a professional for the first time.

A year in which a woman college professor from Colorado, Becky Zerlentes, no Million Dollar Baby, died in a boxing ring, and a male golfer, Fred Funk, slipped on a skirt after he was outdriven in the Skins Game by Annika Sorenstam. And a year when pro ice hockey disappeared because of a labour dispute and then just as it seemed beyond resuscitation, made a comeback of remarkable proportions.

Lance Armstrong won his unprecedented seventh straight Tour de France and then pedalled off into retirement in Texas.

Rafael Palmeiro of the Baltimore Orioles became only the fourth person to get 3,000 hits and 500 home runs and then six months after telling Congress he never took steroids, was sent off into presumed retirement for using them.

The Black Sox finally turned into the White Sox, ending decades of embarrassment and frustration in Chicago only one season after the Red Sox ended decades of frustration in Boston.

It was in 1919 the White Sox were accused of taking bribes to throw the Series to the Cincinnati Reds and thus nicknamed the "Black Sox." It was in 2005 the White Sox clean swept the Houston Astros, four games to nil, and won their first Series in 87 years - 12 months after the Red Sox won their first Series in 86 years.

On the campus of San Jose State University, 50 miles south of San Francisco, a statue was erected to the two sprinters, John Carlos and Tommie Smith, who as protest to the treatment of African-Americans in the US wore black gloves on the victory stand in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics.

But another sprinter, Tim Montgomery, for a while the world record holder in the 100 metres, was suspended for two years because of steroids, stripped of his medals and marks and then declaring, "I don't want to be looked upon as a cheat," announced his retirement.

Montgomery was one of the many involved directly or peripherally with the notorious Bay Area Laboratory Co-operative, Balco, the firm 15 miles south of San Francisco created by Victor Conte which developed so-called designer drugs.

In October, Conte and Greg Anderson, the trainer for home run hitter Barry Bonds, were handed remarkably light sentences for scheming to give athletes performance-enhancing drugs. Conte got four months in prison, four of home detention, Anderson three and three. A federal judge scolded prosecutors for bringing to so large a case so small a result.

The result from the 89th Indianapolis 500 race was a victory by Britain's Dan Wheldon, but Danica Patrick, only the fourth woman ever in the event, and leader until slipping back to fourth, got all the attention, including the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine.

Jack Nicklaus waved farewell at the Masters for what he said would be the final time and then three months later did the same thing from the bridge over Swilcan Burn during the Open. Both those tournaments were won by Tiger of course, the Masters after that historic chip-in for a birdie at Augusta's 16th, the Open after another runaway at St Andrews.

The National Hockey League in October 2004, due to a labour dispute, became the first North American sports organisation to cancel a season without playing a game. Some thought it would be the end for a sport with low television ratings, but it returned in the fall with rules modifications designed to improve attacking play.

Barry Bonds, the San Francisco Giants outfielder mired in the Balco controversy, as well as into the record books, had his own vanishing act. Accused of steroid use, and in full denial, Bonds missed all but the last three weeks of the season due to knee surgery.

Some conspiracy theorists suggested it was an easy way to avoid suspension, but Bonds' return in September, and his five home runs that left him six behind Babe Ruth's total of 714 disproved that idea.

The idea baseball had been ineffective in dealing with drugs finally became a realisation. Former player Jose Canseco's autobiography claimed he not only took steroids but injected them into others, including former home run king Mark McGwire.

Subpoenas were issued by Congress. Commissioner Bud Selig imposed a 10-day suspension for first offenders and after threats from the government to take control, expanded that penalty to 50 days. The hypocrisy was at an end.

Also at another sort of end was the unbeaten streak of the NFL Indianapolis Colts. They won their first 13 games and were trying to become the second team to win 14 in a row and to go through a season unbeaten, as the 1972 Miami Dolphins. But in December, the Colts were upset, at home no less, by the San Diego Chargers.

Earlier, the Colts beat the New England Patriots for the first time in a while, an indication maybe the Patriots' dynasty was at an end.

New England's 24-21 victory over Philadelphia in the Super Bowl last February was the Pats' third in four years and gave quarterback Tom Brady a record of 9-0 in the post-season. Patriots owner Robert Kraft offered one of the team's championship rings to Russian president Vladimir Putin who quickly pocketed it.

The San Antonio Spurs, with a centre from the Bahamas, Tim Duncan, a guard from France, Tony Parker, and a forward from Argentina, Manu Ginobli, took the NBA Championship in seven games over the Detroit Pistons, the previous year's winners.

The San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals played the first NFL league game outside the United States, in Mexico City in October before 103,000 people at Estadio Azteca. There's supposed to be another game in 2006. In England.

Tyson's erratic and controversial career ended when he refused to come out for the seventh round against journeyman Kevin McBride in a June bout at MCI Center in Washington.

"You're smart too late and old too soon," Tyson mused. "I just caught up in that suction cup. I feel like Rip Van Winkle right now." The rest of us feel the sporting year of 2005 was here and gone in an instant.

Free agent pitcher Matt Morris agreed to a three-year contract with the San Francisco Giants on Monday, leaving the St Louis Cardinals after nine seasons.

The right-hander passed his physical in the morning, making the deal official after it had been speculated for weeks that he would be leaving the Cardinals for the west coast.

The 31-year-old Morris went 14-10 with a 4.11 ERA for the Cardinals last season, helping the team advance to the National League Championship Series, where St Louis lost to Houston.

He complied a 101-62 record and 3.61 ERA with the Cards in the past nine years, establishing himself as a dependable starter.

"Simply put, Matt Morris is a winner," San Francisco general manager Brian Sabean said.

"Matt will be a perfect complement to the top of the rotation and provide valuable leadership to our younger pitchers."

The Giants eagerly pursued Morris as soon as the 2005 season ended. His contract contains a club option for a fourth season.

The San Francisco 49ers have named Lennar Corp. to lead a venture that will study a potential mixed-use real estate development project anchored by a new NFL stadium at Candlestick Point. The football team says that it has asked Lennar to look into all options, including housing, retail, entertainment, commercial, residential, office developments and recreational space.

Considering the impact that stadiums have on surrounding neighborhoods, the team has asked Lennar to analyze the potential effects of development on those neighborhoods, including the creation of jobs, housing and improving access and use of the San Francisco Bay and the Candlestick Point State Recreational Area.

Among the factors that led the 49ers to choose Lennar, the team says, is that the developer's track record includes "extensive experience in complex mixed-use development projects and previous experience working in San Francisco." Lennar's major redevelopment projects in the San Francisco Bay area include work at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, Treasure Island and Mare Island.

The proposed new stadium and other uses at the site would take the place of a Candlestick Park location that was built in for the San Francisco Giants Major League Baseball team and has been the home of the 49ers since 1971. The naming of Lennar to lead the study of a proposed new stadium and related uses is the latest development in longstanding efforts by the team and the city to provide a new stadium for the 49ers and to create other uses at the same time.