The San Francisco Examiner from San Francisco, California • 54

Wednesday, September 4, 2002 The San Francisco Examiner Baseball 7B Giants Notebook 3Lnaj Sm Pitcher is back in majors after arm problems BY RON THOMAS or The Examiner Staff It took two years for Joe Nathan to gain back his No. 36 uniform with the Giants, but the struggle became worthwhile when the right-handed pitcher was one of four minor-leaguers brought up from Triple-A Fresno on Tuesday. The hard-throwing Nathan was one of the Giants' best prospects when he went 12-6 in 39 games during 1999 and 2000. After the 2000 season, he underwent arthroscopic surgery on his right shoulder and hasn't appeared in the majors since. Last season was an ordeal as he went 3-11 with an ERA over 7.00 at Fresno and Dou-ble-A Shreveport.

He didn't put up great stats at Fresno this season, going 6-12 with a 5.60 ERA, but the Pacific Coast League is a notorious hitter's league. The Giants felt he had done well enough to return. "I was obviously thrilled to get the call," said Nathan, 27. "Last time (as a rookie), everything happened so fast you didn't have time to think. This time, you appreciate it more." Pitcher Kurt Ainsworth, who was 8-6 with 119 strikeouts in 116 innings in Fresno, and inftelder Cody Ransom (.207, 13 homers, 46 RBIs), also were recalled and the Giants purchased the contract of catcher Trey Lunsford and added him to the 40-man roster.

To make room, inftelder Nelson Castro was designated for assignment. Of them all, manager Dusty Baker most enjoyed welcoming Nathan. "I'm glad to see Joe back," Baker said. "It took him a while to get his arm strength back. He struggled a little bit with his control sometimes, which was to be expected.

The main thing is I don't think Joe will be nervous or intimidated because he's been here. Hopefully, the same applies with Ainsworth." Ainsworth displayed no signs of nervousness in three starts at the beginning of this season, going 1-1 with a 1.69 ERA. But Ryan Jensen got off to an even better start and secured the fourth spot in the rotation, replacing the injured Jason Schmidt. SHOCKED INTO SILENCE: When Fresno manager Lenn Sakata told Lunsford that he was headed to the majors for the first time, the 23-year-old was stunned. "I couldn't say anything," he said.

"I was kind of speechless." After all, Lunsford began the season at Class A San Jose, then got promoted to Double-A Shreveport. Just moving up to Triple-A Fresno surprised him, so "I couldn't imagine ending the season here," he said. Lunsford's catching ability is his strength. Overall, he batted .258 with 16 doubles, four homers and 34 RBIs. ALSO RETURNING: On Sunday, in the first round of September call-ups, the Giants reinstated pitcher Manny Aybar and outfielders Marvin Benard and Sha-won Dunston from the disabled list and recalled pitcher Aaron Fultz and outflelderTony Torca-to from Fresno.

BONDS HONORED: Barry Bonds was named NL Player of the Month for August and Player of the Week for last week. He bat- -V DINO HI UAMINtR Giants' Barry Bonds was named NL Player of the Month. The last week of the month, he hit .571 with two doubles, five homers, 10 RBIs, 11 walks and nine runs scored in seven games. E-mail: rthomasslexaminer.com ted .447 in August with 24 runs scored, six doubles, 11 homers, 25 RBIs and 37 walks (11 intentional). That's a .961 slugging percentage and a .621 on-base percentage.

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