• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Padres pound Giants in Bonds' last home game in San Francisco

Sep 27, 2007 - 6:36 AM By Ryan McCrary PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) - San Francisco fans got their wish Wednesday night. So did the San Diego Padres.

With Barry Bonds in the lineup for his final home game as a member of the San Francisco Giants, the Padres remained at the forefront of the National League wild card race by rolling to an 11-3 blowout win in the Giants' home finale before a sellout crowd of 42,926 on Wednesday.

Fans saw plenty of highlights from the seven-time National League MVP on the scoreboard between innings, which helped since excitement was in short supply during a lackluster night for the Giants left fielder.

Bonds went 0-for-3 in his curtain call at AT&T Park. The all-time home run king gave the crowd one more thrill when he slammed a 2-0 pitch to deep right-center, but it did not have the distance as Brady Clark gloved it on the warning track to end the sixth.

"Jake (Peavy) pretty much told him he was coming at him and he did," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "Got behind him, but threw fastballs. Think he knew that was Barry's last at-bat. He had a comfortable lead, so he went after him with his best stuff, his fastball, and Barry just missed it."

"Obviously I've never wanted to give up a home run, but that would be the only instance that I would be OK with giving one up," Peavy said. "I thought he might have gotten it, but it's a big ballpark and it's the wrong place to hit it here."

After retreating to the dugout, Bonds stepped back on the field to acknowledge the fans for one last time and then headed into the clubhouse.

"I wanted to try and give Barry his bit of due," Peavy said. "Obviously I certainly have the utmost respect for Barry and I was trying to let him have his swings there. I got in this league when I was 20 years old and he was the best player in the game, and he still is in my mind. He's probably the best player I'll ever compete against.

"I've always tried to pitch to Barry and I've always tried to get him out and I think he respects that because back in the day, there was not a whole lot of guys giving him swings at it. I've just had a blast competing against him."

After a season full of Barry questions, Bonds' teammates answered them for the final time this season at their home park.

"It's just been an honor to play with him and being a part of it," Ryan Klesko said. "In my opinion I played with the best guy, the best player to ever put the uniform on."

"I think I pride our organization in knowing what our fans feel and there's no question that they have mixed emotions about Barry," San Francisco managing partner Peter Magowan said. "Barry did his part. We got what we could reasonably have expected and then some."

With the win, the Padres (87-71) remained one game ahead of both the Philadelphia Phillies (86-72) and Colorado Rockies (86-72) in the NL wild card chase. The NL West title is also very much in reach, as San Diego cut the deficit to just one game behind the Arizona Diamondbacks (88-70).

It was another strong outing for the Cy Young Award candidate Peavy (19-6). The righthander went seven innings, allowing two runs on five hits. He walked one but struck out just one.

"He didn't have his best stuff, obviously," catcher Josh Bard said. "I think tonight was a microcosm of his season compared to last year. I would say he had his worst stuff of the year tonight, but I think that the separator was that he's found a way to win games when he doesn't have his best stuff."

Trailing, 1-0, in the bottom of the second, San Diego built a 2-1 lead as Khalil Greene, Bard and Geoff Blum hit consecutive doubles against rookie lefthander Pat Misch.

The Padres then put the game out of reach with a six-run fifth inning. Peavy started the seven-hit parade with a leadoff single and advanced to third on a single by Brian Giles. Kevin Kouzmanoff slapped an RBI single and Adrian Gonzalez was intentionally walked to load the bases for Greene.

The Padres shortstop responded with a two-run single and Bard followed with another two-run single which eluded an awkward sliding attempt by Bonds to end Misch's outing.

"You could tell at the beginning of the game that there was a different energy in the ballpark, I think because of Barry's farewell," San Diego manager Bud Black said. "But our guys, from my viewpoint, knew what we had to do to achieve our goal. Around all the energy in the ballpark, our guys played good baseball."

Scott Munter came on in relief and surrendered back-to-back singles to Clark and Blum, which gave San Diego an 8-1 lead.

Misch (0-4) lasted just 4 1/3 innings and gave up eight runs and nine hits with two walks and one strikeout.

Randy Winn homered for the second straight day with a solo shot off Peavy in the first for his 14th of the season.

About the only exciting moment for Bonds came during the sixth inning when a fan got loose on the field trying to pay his respects to No. 25 before being tackled by three security guards.