"The baseball season will not open until next week. For a veteran prosecutor and a determined home run king, however, opening day was Monday, with the start of the long-awaited perjury trial of Barry Bonds.

On one side is the prosecution, led by Matthew Parrella, an assistant United States attorney. The federal government's pursuit of Bonds has been relentless, and at times it has seemed more like a persecution than a prosecution.

Then there is Bonds, 46, never a media darling and hardly a sympathetic figure, but a looming icon in this city.

Indeed, as both sides prepared for their opening statements Tuesday, one of the overriding concerns for the prosecution is whether it can get a fair trial here. That's a backward way to look at it, but a concern."