Barry Bonds leaves Edison field after Game 7 of the World Series. (Julie Jacobson/AP)

He hides his emotions in public, speaks his mind only when he feels like it and shares his true thoughts with a select few of his close friends that surround him.

But it doesn't take X-ray vision to see through Bonds' facade Sunday night. After 17 years in the Major Leagues and individual statistics bordering on the greatest ever to have been compiled, his team came up short in Game 7 of the World Series, losing to Anaheim, 4-1, at Edison Field.

"You want the results to be different but what can you do about it?" he said, stoic as ever. "They outplayed us."

But there's more to the Bonds story than that. Though baseball is a team sport, there is no other game in the world that focuses so heavily on individual statistics and his were arguably the best amassed by anyone to have played in the Fall Classic. He batted .471 (8-for-17) with six RBIs and that was not even the half of it.

He set the Series record for highest on base percentage (.700), highest slugging percentage (1.294), most intentional walks (7) and most walks (13). He tied the Series mark for most homers (4) and most runs (8) while completely altering the seven games unlike any player before him. And when it was all said and done, Bonds took no solace in any of it.

"What are you going to write? 'He had a good postseason and they still lose?'" he asked. "Doesn't that just show you that it takes a team to win it?"

Nothing could be truer and Bonds knows it. With a team of veterans that are not getting any younger, the question was posed whether he felt that he just watched his best chance shot at that elusive World Series ring disappear before his eyes.

"Next question," he said. "Because that's stupid."

Barry Bonds   /   LF
	Height: 6'2" Weight: 210 Bats/Throws: L/L More info: Player page Stats Splits Hit chart Giants site

"It was great," he said. "I was more ready for it than ever. Unfortunately, I'm on the short end of the stick but I tip my hat to them, those guys played well. They played very well. [They had] luck on their side and good baseball."

That comment sound eerily similar to the one Bonds uttered before the playoffs began. He talked about being "man enough" to accept a defeat, shaking your opponents' hand and moving on. Now, that's exactly what he has to do.

"Today's over, they beat us, they're world champions," he said. "We get ready for Spring Training and try it again. ... It's tough every year, there's no difference."

If you believe that, you were probably the one person who saw this coming. You were "that guy" who turned to his friend when the Giants were winning by five runs in the seventh inning of Game 6 and said, "I'll bet you fifty bucks the Angels will win it all."

Bonds didn't see it coming. But maybe he should have.

And in the end, Bonds' best was not enough. When a sportswriter suggested that the Angels handled Bonds well in Game 7, he barely knew how to respond.

"One-for-three with a walk," he said, citing his line in the box score. "Doesn't seem like a bad day, does it? What am I supposed to do, go 3-for-3 with three home runs? What do you want from me?"

He then flashed a quick smile at the well-respected reporter because both of them knew there was little more he could have done. Bonds proved to all of his doubters that he does not always choke in October.

"He definitely put to rest a lot of things," said first baseman J.T. Snow. "But in the end we didn't end up getting the ring. I'm sure Barry would trade everything. We all would trade ... the successes we have to win."

Josh Rawitch is a reporter for MLB.com and can be reached at jrawitch@sfgiants.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.