Already en route to baseball immortality, Barry Bonds, in his second at-bat,
ended a three-year home-run drought against the Cubs on Saturday when he belted
his 728th career homer in the fourth inning against rookie left-hander Sean
Marshall.
Bonds' roughly 390-foot homer just inside the right-field foul pole was his
first against the Cubs since April 30, 2003, when he hit two against former Cub
Matt Clement. It was the San Francisco Giants' first run in their 4-2 victory
before a crowd of 40,135 at Wrigley Field.
''He's hot right now,'' said Marshall (5-9), making his first start since
coming off the disabled list Friday after recovering from a strained right
oblique muscle.
GIANTS
4
CUBS
2
''He's the one guy in the lineup that's really swinging the bat well. It was
a pretty good pitch I made [on a 3-2 count]. But he's Barry Bonds. If you throw
the same pitch twice, he's going to make his adjustments quick and punish me for
it.''
Bonds wasn't the only Giant swinging a good bat Saturday. After Marshall
walked Bonds in the fifth, Ray Durham and Moises Alou followed with back-to-back
homers to give right-hander Matt Cain (11-9) all the support he would need.
Cain pitched 72/3 innings, giving up four hits, one unearned run and two
walks while striking out seven. Marshall pitched 52/3 innings, giving up four
hits, four earned runs and two walks while striking out one.
''I've seen [Bonds] hit those [homers] many times,'' said Cubs skipper Dusty
Baker, who managed Bonds for 10 years with the Giants. ''He hit a pretty good
pitch off Marshall. Looked like he was out in front. But he kept his hands back.
He's swinging the bat pretty good right now, [and] his pitch recognition is
beyond compare.''
Bonds, 42, has hit 20 homers in his 20th season despite it being marred by
injuries and a steroid scandal. He needs 27 homers to tie Hank Aaron's
major-league record of 755.
''This guy is one of the greatest of all time,'' Baker said. ''You just hate
that it's marred by what's happening right now. But he's been great since he was
a little kid.''
The Cubs still had a chance to tie the game in the ninth, when Derrek Lee led
off with his fifth homer of the season and first since June 28.
''Home runs just come when your swing is there,'' said Lee, who went 2-for-4
and is 9-for-20 in his latest return from the disabled list. ''They kind of come
by accident. That's what happened. I was just trying to get on base and got a
good swing on it.''
The Cubs brought the winning run to the plate in Ronny Cedeno with Jacque
Jones on third and rookie Ryan Theriot on first with one out. But Mike Stanton
picked Theriot off first and then struck out Cedeno to end the game.
Baker charged the gaffe to Theriot's inexperience and Stanton's veteran
cleverness. Theriot admitted he was unfamiliar with Stanton's move.
''Stanton hadn't shown him the move the whole time, and he waited for the
perfect time to show it,'' Baker said. ''He just got picked off.''
It was unfortunate for Theriot, who has been playing well of lately. He had
gone 7-for-10 in his previous two games.
''The guy's just got a great move,'' Theriot said. ''I wasn't going anywhere,
and I wasn't lapsing. It's just I've never seen him before and I wasn't ready
for it.''
Theriot was barely five feet off the bag.
''But Stanton has one of the best moves in the league,'' Lee said. ''We
should have warned Ryan about that.''
