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Bonds gets one more chance at tying homer mark vs. Dodgers

Aug 2, 2007 - 2:32 PM San Francisco (46-59) at LA Dodgers (58-49) 10:10 pm EDT

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- If Barry Bonds wants to match Hank Aaron's home run mark against the Los Angeles Dodgers, he will need to do it on Thursday as the San Francisco Giants wrap a three-game series with their archrival.

Bonds, who is 1-for-12 with eight walks since hitting homer No. 754 against the Florida Marlins on Friday, finished hitless in three at-bats with a walk in San Francisco's 6-4 loss on Wednesday.

It was just the second loss in the last seven contests for the Giants.

Due to his slump, Bonds remains one home run short of the 755 needed to tie Aaron.

If he were to tie the record against the Dodgers, it would be the 65th homer he has hit against Los Angeles, the second-highest number he has compiled against any opponent.

A home run by Bonds against Los Angeles would also give the Dodgers the dubious distinction of having two historic homers hit against them, as Aaron's 715th homer in 1974 that broke the record previously held by Babe Ruth came against Al Downing and the Dodgers.

Bonds is 6-for-22 with a homer against Brett Tomko (2-8, 5.57 ERA), who will try to secure a series win for the Dodgers in the rubber game of this series. The former Giant is already one of the 444 pitchers that have surrendered at least one home run to the seven-time National League MVP.

The righthander allowed five runs and seven hits with four walks over six frames in a 6-2 loss at the Colorado Rockies on Saturday. In 15 appearances - 11 starts - against the team he played for from 2004-05, Tomko is 4-4 with a 4.93 ERA.

Barry Zito (7-10, 5.28) desperately would like to turn around a surprising trend. The lefthander, who was San Francisco's prize offseason acquisition when he signed a seven-year, $128 million contract, has progressively seen his numbers get worse each month, going from a 3.73 ERA in April to 7.82 in July.

On Friday, the 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner absorbed a no-decision despite surrendering six runs and eight hits with four walks over just four innings of a 12-10 win over the Marlins. The Giants' offense scored 10 runs after Zito left to record the victory.

If Zito wants to start off August off on a positive note, he will need to improve on his 1-1 record with a 5.57 ERA in three career starts against the Dodgers.