Lenny Ignelzi / AP

Barry Bonds, sitting with his daughter Aisha, smiles as he talks about catching Hank Aaron with his 755th career homer Saturday.

Give credit where it’s due: Lefebvre had a point. The stadium was quiet and serene at that hour. There weren’t hordes of reporters and frauds milling about the field. There were no fans filing in, making with the smart-guy, let-me-impress-my-date remarks. Just the staccato percussion of Bonds’ bat sending baseballs hurriedly on their way.

It didn’t take long for the session to pay off. On the fourth pitch of his first at-bat, on his first swing of the game, Bonds ripped a drive to left field. So intent was he on keeping his head down that he said later that he wasn’t immediately certain where the ball was headed — only that he knew it was going a long way.

He was walked his final three times up. Interestingly, he was pulled in the eighth inning of a tie game. He isn’t expected to be in Sunday’s lineup, meaning he probably will return to San Francisco with seven games — against the compliant pitching staffs of the Pirates and Nationals — in which to set the record in front of the fans he refers to as family.

If that doesn’t work, the Giants are off for a nine-game-in-eight-day roadie. Ah, but remember, this right here is the easy part.

“Hopefully, I can go out there and not keep you guys around,” he said to the gaggle of media that has been job shadowing him for the past three weeks.

“Yeah,” he said smiling, “I’m rooting for it, too.”

Then it’s unanimous.