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4B – Daily News – Saturday, February 5, 2011 Sandoval ready to return to top form San Francisco Giants SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pablo Sandoval threw up regularly after run- ning up desert hills in Arizona this winter. He did sprint workouts on the track with Olympic decathlete Dan O’Brien. San Francisco’s slimmed- down third baseman even sought the hitting advice of home run king Barry Bonds. Sandoval is ready to save his job with the World Series champions. They challenged him to do so last fall — and are confident he has done the necessary work to return to top form in 2011. ‘‘I had to make a decision if I want- ed to keep playing in the big leagues,’’ Sandoval said Friday, a day ahead of the team’s FanFest at AT&T Park. ‘‘To save my career.’’ There has been no bigger mystery around the Giants this winter than Sandoval’s girth. What would he look like come the start of spring training later this month? He is fit and signifi- cantly lighter than a year ago when generously listed at 245 pounds, but that’s no guarantee the free-swinging slugger will be a hitting machine again right away. His 2010 funk wasn’t all about weight, either. He acknowledged his mental approach was off and he need- ed to just enjoy himself and have fun. ‘‘Kung Fu Panda,’’ as he’s called, is eager to start anew after batting .268 with just 13 home runs and 63 RBIs in his second full season in the big leagues. Only a year earlier, he was among the last players left off the All- Star team. The 24-year-old Sandoval has hired a personal chef to cook him three meals a day during the season in San Francisco. He hasn’t had soda or chips for 2 1/2 months and only picked up a bat last month after two months of only conditioning and weightlifting workouts. ‘‘We’re human beings. Things happen. It’s going to be my year. Last year was last year. This is a new year.” Pablo Sandoval Hitting coach Hensley Meulens gave Sandoval space this offseason to get right on his own. ‘‘I think he took it upon himself to get in great shape. He looks good,’’ Meulens said. ‘‘I’m sure he had a lot of thoughts himself. He didn’t need me in the offseason as well to be in his brain like we had the whole season. We took that approach with him this whole off- season, let him be himself. I think the one thing he needs to realize is this is a different year. We told him at the end of last year we know he’s important for the ballclub. We just needed to see if he learned a lesson from last year.’’ Sandoval worked with Bonds’ for- mer trainer, Greg Oliver, in the Phoenix area. There were hill work- outs on Thursdays and sessions in the pool on Fridays. And Bonds, what insight did he provide? ‘‘He told me to get patient at home plate,’’ Sandoval said. ‘‘And look for a pitch I can punch with my hands.’’ Sandoval had to take it upon him- self this offseason to make a transfor- mation that would stick, unlike the hyped-up ‘‘Operation Panda’’ pro- gram he endured last winter. He skipped winter ball back home in Venezuela this time, making a short trip back two weeks ago for his coun- try’s home run derby (he placed third). Sandoval started out well in spring training last year and even early in the regular season. Meulens believes he will be there again. And manager Bruce Bochy is heading into spring training with San- doval as his projected starter at third. ‘‘It’s great. I’m proud of how hard he’s worked to get to this point,’’ Bochy said. ‘‘There comes a time you have to take responsibility for yourself, whether it’s your actions or play. A lot has been done from the organization for Pablo. It was in Pablo’s hands and he took the bull by the horns, so to speak, and got himself in this kind of shape.’’ Sandoval acknowledges his weight yo-yoed all of last season and his hips hurt from the extra pounds. His defense suffered and he looked wind- ed on the basepaths. He played in only six of the Giants’ postseason games, including one appearance in the five-game World Series win over Texas. Sandoval com- mitted 13 errors and grounded into an NL-high 26 double plays. ‘‘We’re human beings,’’ he said of his struggles during a year in which he also went through a divorce and dealt with other personal issues. ‘‘Things happen. It’s going to be my year. Last year was last year. This is a new year.’’ The Giants sure hope so. Sandoval provided a glimpse of his untapped potential in 2009, when he hit .330 with 25 homers and 90 RBIs in 153 games. ‘‘Do we get the old Pablo back?’’ general manager Brian Sabean said. ‘‘That would be like making a trade within the organization.’’ Even Sandoval’s teammates look forward to seeing how he bounces back. ‘‘He has responded well. Obvious- ly he’s a huge part of this team and we need him,’’ outfielder Cody Ross said. ‘‘He’s put in some long, hard work, a lot of sweat. It’s nice to see him care and want to get back to where he was.’’ Gainey, Wilson lead frosty Phoenix Open Phoenix Open SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Tommy Gainey and Mark Wilson topped the Phoenix Open leaderboard Friday, reaching 11 under before second-round play was suspended because of darkness in the frost-delayed tournament that will finish Monday. Wilson played 14 holes in the second round, and Gainey finished nine. Frost delayed play until just after 11 a.m. — 94 minutes after the scheduled start that was already nearly two hours later than normal. Only half the field finished the first round Thursday after a four-hour morning delay. The delays — costing a total of 7 hours, 24 minutes of playing time — pushed more than half of the second round to Saturday. In announcing the Monday finish, PGA Tour officials said the cut will remain at the top 70 and ties. ‘‘In a perfect world, probably finish Monday, maybe four or five holes, best-case scenario,’’ said Slugger White, the PGA Tour’s vice president of rules. ‘‘So much depends on tomorrow morning and Sunday morning. ... It’s unbelievable how frozen these greens get and they just don’t thaw out.’’ On the sunny day, the temperature was 42 when play started, reached 52 and was 48 when play was suspended a little after 6 p.m. If the players started a hole before the sus- pension, they had the option of finishing it. Only six players finished the second round and 64 — the entire early wave from the first round — didn’t get on the course Friday. The temperature was expected to fall into the mid 30s overnight, cold enough to force another frost delay. It is sup- posed to be warmer the next three days, with highs of 65 Saturday, 68 Sunday and 73 Monday. Gainey, called ‘‘Tommy Two Gloves’’ because he wears golf gloves on both hands, birdied six of the final eight holes to take the first-round lead at 8-under 63, then had four birdies and a bogey on the first nine holes in the second round. He was asked if the extra glove helped in chilly condi- tions. ‘‘I don’t necessarily think it’s an advantage when it’s real cold, and I’ll tell you why, because when the temperature started dropping, I mean, my hands, even though I had the gloves on, they were still freezing,’’ Gainey said. ‘‘I didn’t have much feel in my hands at that time. Wearing a glove or not, it’s still freezing, and your hands are feeling kind of numb. And that’s the way my hands were feeling, kind of numb.’’ The 63 was his lowest score on the PGA Tour after miss- ing the cut in his first three events this season. MMAveterans Franklin, Griffin meet at UFC 126 By GREG BEACHAM AP Sports Writer Rich Franklin and Forrest Griffin are two of the UFC’s favorite veteran light heavyweights. Jon Jones and Ryan Bader are perhaps the top two young prospects in that weight class. Their bouts at UFC 126 on Saturday could establish a new order in the division, or they might simply be two highly entertaining brawls on the UFC’s stacked Super Bowl weekend card at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Franklin (28-5) and Griffin (17-6) are both former champions with devoted fan followings and similarly cere- bral approaches to a visceral sport, yet they’ve never met in the octagon. Franklin and Griffin even are mistaken for each other on occasion, but that might change after they trade punches. ‘‘Clearly, they’re not going to confuse us when we’re actually standing next to each other, because Forrest is much bigger than me in person,’’ said Franklin, the former math teacher from Cincinnati. ‘‘I don’t know what kind of fight to expect with this whole thing. You know me, I’m going to walk out and do my thing. I walk to the center of octagon and I start throwing punches and kicks, and For- rest is typically the same kind of fighter.’’ Franklin hasn’t fought since breaking a bone in his left arm while blocking a kick from Chuck Liddell last June, although he recovered to knock out Liddell, apparently ending the Iceman’s storied career. Griffin, a former policeman with a political science degree from Georgia, sat out the last 14 months while recovering from surgery on his right shoulder. He made the most of his down time, finishing his second book — a tongue-in-cheek survival guide for the apocalypse — and earning a black belt in Brazilian jiujitsu last November. ‘‘It’s a weird feeling,’’ Griffin said. ‘‘I’m a little more nervous than usual. The big thing will just be that first minute, making that adjustment, getting back in there. This is the longest break I’ve had from fighting since 2000, so it’s weird. This is the most ring rust I’ve ever had, I’m not excited about it. I definitely am going to fight more.’’ Griffin earned his fame by winning perhaps the most influential fight in modern UFC history — his knockdown, drag-out brawl with Stephan Bonnar in April 2005 that ended the first season of ‘‘The Ultimate Fighter,’’ the league’s then-nascent reality show. The tremendously entertaining bout attracted wide attention and secured Grif- fin’s reputation as a crowd-pleasing striker. Franklin has been a UFC regular since 2003, winning the middleweight title in 2005 before losing twice to Anderson Silva, who defends the title against Vitor Belfort in UFC 126’s main event. While the veterans’ bout is perhaps overdue, Jones and Bader are meeting on the upswings in two promising young careers. The unorthodox Jones is perhaps the most tantalizing prospect in mixed martial arts, while Bader is an unbeaten force. Jones (11-1) presents unique challenges for any oppo- nent, from his UFC-record 84-inch wingspan to his wiry athleticism. Less than three years after taking up MMA seriously, he’s rising up the pound-for-pound lists with an array of unusual kicks, knees and elbows to go with his wrestling background. ‘‘I really don’t even know how good that kid is,’’ Grif- fin said of Jones, whose only loss was a disqualification due to an illegal elbow blow. ‘‘Every time I say somebody is going to give him a great fight, he beats them in a cou- ple of minutes, so I’ve been surprised.’’ Bader (12-0) is a former winner of ‘‘The Ultimate Fighter’’ and a former wrestling teammate of UFC heavy- weight champion Cain Velasquez at Arizona State. He has progressed steadily through the lower ranks of the light heavyweight division, beating Keith Jardine and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in his last two fights, but realizes he could become an immediate title contender if he can solve Jones. ‘‘Everybody says he’s the next superstar, but what hap- pens if he goes out there and gets knocked out or gets beat?’’ Bader asked. 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