No way out of Bonds bind

It's not a done deal -- ''I've learned that leaks from the grand jury are not only unprofessional but unreliable," Roger Abrams said -- but the likelihood is increasing that there will be an indictment on perjury charges, and when it comes, Barry Bonds's day in court will ''put the Michael Jackson circus to shame," Abrams said.

A trial date will be set, probably a year from now, which may ultimately lead to Bonds being sent up the way Martha Stewart was. But in no way should an indictment impede Bonds's effort to hit more home runs than Babe Ruth and Henry Aaron, which would leave an alleged steroid cheat with sole ownership of baseball's most hallowed record.

That is the opinion of Abrams, an expert in sports law who has sat on baseball arbitration panels and this spring is teaching a course in the business of sport at Harvard Law School as a visiting professor.

Could baseball commissioner Bud Selig intercede and interrupt Bonds on the cusp of the record with a suspension, which would satisfy Bonds's harshest critics who claim the integrity of the game is at stake?

Possibly, Abrams said, but unlikely.

''I've given up trying to predict what our wonderful commissioner will do -- and in many ways, he's been OK," Abrams said, ''but he would not be well advised to do that. The union would jump all over him.

''This isn't just about baseball, but normal labor relations law. The only way you can suspend an accused employee is you have to show that his continued employment is dysfunctional for the company, and how do you do that with Bonds? I'd be surprised if the commissioner tried.

''Does he have the power to do something? Of course. He can invoke the 'best interests of baseball' clause. But I believe there is still a presumption of innocence for the accused in this country."

Abrams acknowledges he is not as agitated by the Bonds scandal as many. That may be due to research he is doing for his next book, in which he uncovered steroid abuse by a Hall of Famer -- in 1889. ''I have an article in the Washington Post from 1889 that shows Pud Galvin had a shot of testosterone -- a steroid," Abrams said, making no effort to suppress a chuckle. ''It's gone on forever, but no one really cared about it then."

Abrams said he does not excuse Bonds's conduct, especially as it pertains to perjury. He suspects, having read the excerpts from the damning book ''Game of Shadows," that there are grounds to suspect Bonds of using performance-enhancing drugs. But would there be such an uproar if this wasn't the imperious and intensely disliked Bonds closing in on the Babe?

Not a chance, in Abrams's view.

''It's a shame," he said. ''I feel the same way about work stoppages in baseball. But I think this really reflects what we are in America. That's the subtext of my book, that baseball is what we are. It's never perfect, it's never all good. There's always a slight tinge to it.

''It is Bonds in his confirmation year, when his whole career could be etched in immortality, and instead he is faced with these terrible but probably true accusations.

''There are a lot of difficulties ahead for him. But the man has faced challenges every day, more than he should. But he always has met them."

Abrams declared baseball's steroid era over. ''Anyone who even goes near steroids has to be crazy," he said. ''But that doesn't mean performance enhancement is gone. That's just beginning. Genetic doping. It's all in the genes. Steroids are history."

Bonds is without a home run this season. He is hobbled by bad knees, hounded wherever he goes. Plastic syringes are thrown from the stands, and the word on the lips of most fans outside of San Francisco may start with a ‘‘B’ but it isn’t ‘‘Barry.’’

''At some point this is all going to affect Barry," said Abrams. ''It might have already. Is it the stress? Is it the knees? When the end comes, it often comes quickly."

Abrams is no naif. He understands he is in the minority, expressing even a modicum of sympathy for Bonds.

''There are other issues involved, subtexts of race and arrogance," he said. ''It's America. It is what we are.

''I feel badly that we can't all just glory in this wonderful year for him, but we can't, because of who we are, and because of who he is."

Arroyo says he's no baby Ruth

The day after he was traded to Cincinnati, a reeling Bronson Arroyo said among the reasons he didn't want to leave the Red Sox was that he'd have to bat in the National League. ''I hate to hit," he said.

Try telling that to Glendon Rusch and the Cubs after Arroyo went deep against Rusch in each of his first two starts, both wins, hitting his second home run onto Waveland Avenue in Chicago.

''That's why you go to the park early," cracked Reds general manager Wayne Krivsky, laughing at the notion that he had picked up something watching a Sox batting practice that would have tipped him to Arroyo's prowess with the bat. ''I got a call this week from [scout] Squeaky Parker, and he told me, 'When I scouted Arroyo in high school, he tried to tell me he was a better hitter than he was a pitcher.' "

Until those two games, Arroyo did a terrific job of concealing his skills at the plate. He entered this season with an .073 career batting average, 4 for 55, and hadn't gotten a hit since his last appearance in the 2001 season, for the Pirates.

Now, he's making history. Crack Reds publicist Rob Butcher has produced a list of what Arroyo accomplished:

The home runs came in his first two official at-bats (he went homer, sacrifice bunt, walk, homer), making him the first pitcher in the live-ball era to hit home runs in each of his first two official at-bats of a season.

He is the first pitcher in major league history to hit a home run and earn a victory in each of his first two starts of a season.

He is the first Reds pitcher to homer in consecutive appearances since Dave Burba on July 14 and 19, 1996.

He is the eighth pitcher in the DH era to homer twice off the same pitcher in the same season, and the first since Mike Hampton off Wade Miller in 2001.

At this rate, Ken Griffey Jr. joked, Arroyo is going to ask manager Jerry Narron if he can DH in interleague games. Arroyo thinks the days of his mighty swings may be ending, however.

''Did you see my last at-bat?" he said to Hal McCoy of the Dayton Daily News. ''Slider, sinker, slider. I'm in trouble. No more fastballs. I might strike out 32 times in my next 35 at-bats."

Kids can read up on the essential Manny Ramírez

Seeing as how he has basically maintained radio silence since his meet-and-greet with the media upon his arrival in spring training, we take our Manny Ramírez insights where we can get them. Which, in this case, means the May issue of Sports Illustrated for Kids, where Manny, pictured in a playful pose that captures the childlike charm that endears him to his teammates, is featured in a segment called ''Ten Things I Can't Live Without."

The Manny list:

1. Sushi. ''I love sushi. I could eat it every day."

2. My family. ''It's the most important thing in my life: My beautiful wife, Juliana, and children Manny, Manny Jr., and our new baby Lucas."

3. ''The Matrix" DVD.

4. My jeans.

5. Reebok sneakers.

6. My Cadillac truck. It's pearl white.

7. Focus at the plate.

8. Music. (He plugs a Latin band, Aventura.)

9. Jennifer Garner, star of his favorite TV show, ''Alias."

10. My high school MVP award.

Manny went light, as you can see, on anyone or anything connected to the Red Sox or Boston. Of course, that could be because he previously expressed a desire to live without both.

Etc.

Mark Rogers, the pride of Orr's Island and the first Maine native to be drafted in the first round (2004) since Billy Swift 20 years earlier, remains a work in progress for the Brewers. They're working on Rogers's mechanics, trying to get him to throw across his body less. Rogers went 26 appearances before winning his first pro game and was 2-9 with a 5.13 ERA with the West Virginia Power in the South Atlantic League last season, but he has moved up a notch to high A Brevard County in the Florida State League, where he was 0-0 with a 7.11 ERA after his first two starts. He's only 20 and his fastball still reaches the high 90s, so the Brewers remain very high on his talent.

Rick Asadoorian, the Whitinsville native and former No. 1 draft pick of the Red Sox, has opened this season in Double A Chattanooga, a Reds affiliate. Meanwhile, Brad Baker, the pride of Leyden (Pioneer Valley Regional High in Northfield), is now with the Triple A Richmond Braves after starting the season in Double A. Baker, a first-round sandwich pick by the Sox in 1999, the same year Asadoorian was drafted, signed with the Braves as a six-year minor league free agent after the Padres outrighted him last September. Baker had 27 saves for the Padres' Triple A team in Portland (Ore.) last season.

Early returns suggest this will not be a boffo draft for New Englanders. LHP James Gillheeney, from the same Warwick, R.I., high school (Bishop Hendricken) that produced Rocco Baldelli, is the only New Englander to crack Baseball America's list of top 100 high school prospects, and he checked in at No. 81. Two players from New England schools made the top 100 college list: RHP Adam Ottavino of Northeastern (No. 91) and third baseman Garrett Olson of Franklin Pierce College in Rindge, N.H. (95).

Kevin Millar's two-homer game against the Devil Rays last Wednesday came in his eighth game as an Oriole. In 432 games with the Red Sox, Millar had multihomer games four times, including his three-solo job against the Yankees on July 23, 2004. Millar hit two against the Angels last June 4, then went a DiMaggio-like 56 games before hitting his next one. Millar said he's trying to go the opposite way more after being too pull-conscious at Fenway; he hit just one home run on the road last season.

Tony Pena Jr., son of the former Sox catcher and Royals manager now serving as Joe Torre's first base coach with the Yankees, was called up by the Braves after Chipper Jones went on the DL with a sprained knee and ankle. Pena, 25, is an infielder. He came into the weekend still looking for his first big-league at-bat.

Former Sox pitching coach Tony Cloninger was among the headliners when the Braves observed the 40th anniversary of the first game played by the team in Atlanta. Cloninger pitched all 13 innings on April 12, 1966, but lost, 3-2, to the Pirates on a home run by Willie Stargell.

Texas GM Jon Daniels has a father named Mark and a mother named Mindy. His parents' best friends were Kenneth and Barbara. Yes, Daniels said, they used to go out on Halloween together as Mork and Mindy and Ken and Barbie.

Royals PR man Aaron Babcock says the right side of Kansas City's infield contains more letters than any other in big league history. That's what happens when you pair first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz with second baseman Mark Grudzielanek, whose surnames combine for 24 letters. The previous record-holders were Joe Cunningham and Red Schoendienst of the 1954 Cardinals, who combined for 22. Meanwhile, across the state in St. Louis, the folks at Stats Inc. have determined that the Cardinals' double play combination of shortstop David Eckstein (5 feet 7 inches) and second baseman Aaron Miles (5-8) is the shortest since Mark Lemke (5-9) and Rafael Belliard (5-6) averaged out as the same height (5-7 1/2) for the Braves in 1992.

Pedro Martínez, who in his first start this season looked to be far behind schedule because of his sore big toe, put the lie to that when he tamed the Nationals on three hits and a run in seven innings last week. The game attracted more than the usual hype because Martínez had hit three Washington batters in his previous start, including Jose Guillen twice. There were no hostilities last Wednesday, with Martínez at his most dominant. After loading the bases with no outs in the sixth, he whiffed Jose Vidro and induced Guillen to hit into a double play. After the game, he revealed to reporters that he had become a US citizen, recording a perfect score on the citizenship test.

Anyone who cares about the game owes a debt of gratitude to Allan Simpson, who is parting ways after 25 years with Baseball America, the invaluable trade publication he started in his garage in Kelowna, British Columbia. It is no exaggeration to state that Simpson revolutionized the coverage of the minor leagues, the draft, and college and high school baseball. He will be missed.

Material from personal interviews, wire services, other beat writers, and league and team sources was used in this report.