Barry Bonds is slated to make his season debut Monday against the Padres ? something Giants? fans have been pining for since his last official at bat. The wait has been excruciatingly long, but the fleeting exhilaration will return the smiles. The rub is that it probably is a couple of weeks too late. ?I?m BACK and I?ll see you on Monday when I take the field with my team,? Bonds wrote on his website. Let?s hope his next entry doesn?t say: ?I?m DONE?. With seven games remaining against San Diego, the Giants practically need to win all seven. And how exactly do you do that? Bruce Bochy isn?t likely to chain Trevor Hoffman to the bench. Guess they need to be sure they have the lead late in every single game. Good luck. Hoffman has converted 34 consecutive save opportunities, so when he gets in the game it?s pretty much lights out. Turn down the heat when you leave. Don?t forget to lock the door. Three things help the Giants, although they probably will require many more than that. Jake Peavy is apparently out for a week because of shoulder pain, and except for the early part of the season the Padres have shown little killer instinct. And of course, there?s Bonds. When the Giants recently won 7 of 8, it appeared maybe they didn?t really need the big lug ? maybe you just shouldn?t be messing around with chemistry anyway. Even Bonds stated he didn?t want to come back and screw things up. Well, all that is forgotten now as the team has started to tank once again. Two woeful losses to the pathetic Dodgers in games they certainly should have won, and two more to the Cubs have restored the Giants to their normal 2005 level of play. Welcome back to reality. Bonds has looked good doing his drills and peppering balls into the empty bleachers during batting practice. Scoring from second on a close play at the plate with the tying run will be a different matter, however. There?s gonna be lots of people holding their breath every time he runs. He might want to think about walking to and from the dugout to left field. Just in case. Most non-Giant fans will find the whole episode amusing, and even a bit annoying. Most will never admit to being the least bit curious. And sadly, most will never realize they are seeing one of the greatest players ever, steroids or no. Most will also not admit that if he were playing for ?their? team, they might have a different view of the man. Funny how that stuff works. As with great players in any sport, you gain a huge appreciation of their talent when you watch it daily. Barry has always had marvelous discipline at the plate, and great balance through his swing. He gets very few real pitches to hit, and never misses them. Never. Or so it seems. His battle with Eric Gagne last year was pure classic. He reversed a 100-mph fastball into the center field stands, after pulling a 100-mph fastball foul into the bay. Who does that? Awesome. Can you even imagine seeing that pitch long enough to hack at it? Generally, players will do a short stint in the minors before displaying an up-thumb. Not for Barry, and not for the Giants. No time for such barefaced silliness. Shake off that year?s worth of rust dude, and let?s get busy. Oh, and don?t get hurt either. The Giants? lineup will finally resemble the one on Brian Sabean?s original blueprint. Moises Alou takes his fair and anticipated place at number five behind Barry, and the powerful J.T. Snow unfortunately gets dropped to sixth. Maybe oodles of extra runs will be the resultant product. And will the walk parade begin once more? Seems likely. ?I?m sure someone is going to try to challenge him at the beginning,? Moises remarked, ?until he takes somebody deep, and that?ll be it. It?ll be back to the same old pitch-around, walk-him situation.? Is it too soon to get giddy?