It was enough to take you back to ’04, when he homered in his fourth at-bat of the season, on his way to 45. Or ’03, when he homered on his ninth at-bat of the season, on his way to 45. Or ’02, when he homered twice on opening day, on his way to 46. Or ’01 … well, maybe not ’01. He hit 73 that season; he may not have 73 more left in him.

But presuming good health, you have to consider him good for at least the 21 he’ll need to stand as American baseball’s greatest home run hitter. He’s certainly got enough left so that you can’t discount the feel-good proclamation he issued on opening day.

"I'm going to have fun this year," he said. "I'm going to have a good time. I'm going to enjoy every day."

That’s not to be confused with a perfect world. Bonds made a nice running catch to end the third inning Wednesday, then hobbled through his painful deceleration process. He stopped short of the dugout, hands on knees, then squatted for a moment to compose himself. That’s just a fact of life at this point.

He doubts he’ll play more than the 130 games in which he appeared last season — if that. He’ll come out of some games early, as he did the Giants’ 7-0 loss in the opener. And he’ll walk a whole bunch if other teams are smart, given his lack of protection in the lineup.

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But as of Wednesday’s first inning, there is one less question than there used to be where Bonds is concerned. Namely, the notion that he might not be up to the task of putting Aaron’s record in his rear view mirror. Not that it was ill-considered. It was just hung where he could find it with the fat part of the bat.