Right on the Mark

HOUSTON — Barry Bonds walked three more times Thursday night, but the San Francisco Giant slugger also had a parting and historic shot for the Houston Astros.

In the ninth inning of a game long over, with the disintegrating Astros having walked him eight times in three games and with no real alternative but to finally challenge him, Bonds demonstrated that he hadn’t taken on any rust from the forced inactivity.

He turned around a 95-mph fastball from rookie left-hander Wilfredo Rodriguez and planted it in the upper right-center-field bleachers at Enron Field.

The 454-foot blast, coming with three games left in a season in which he has also walked a record 175 times, enabled him to tie Mark McGwire’s major league record for home runs of 70, set three years ago.

“Electrifying,” Bonds said of his emotions after his first home run in four games capped a 10-2 victory and stunning series sweep for the Giants, who remained two games behind the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West but climbed to within two of the collapsing Astros in the wild card race.

Bonds and the Giants now return to Pacific Bell Park, where they will try to claim a playoff berth and Bonds will try to break the tie with McGwire against the hated Dodgers.

Does he expect the Dodgers to pitch to him?

“It doesn’t matter,” he said, “as long as we win.”

Peter Magowan, the Giants’ managing general partner, was more biting.

“What possibly could the Dodgers tell their fans for not pitching to him?” Magowan said. “The Astros, at least, could tell their fans they are trying to win their division. We might not have liked some of [the walks], but they are fighting for a pennant, at least. What would the Dodgers’ excuse be?”

The Dodgers have no chance to climb above third in the West, but Bonds, in this milestone moment of a remarkable season at 37, was too high on emotion and adrenaline to worry about how Chan Ho Park might pitch him tonight.

With his son, Nikolai, 11; his tearful daughter Shikari, 10, and his youngest daughter, Aisha, 2, at his side in a postgame news conference, the beaming Bonds said he was proudest that No. 70 came in a victory so that the whole team could share it with him and that his one thought as he circled the bases was of how proud he is to share the record with the man who “established the standard for power and strength.”

“He put the home run record at where it is, and I will always respect that,” Bonds said of McGwire. “I just feel proud to be on the same level, really proud. I don’t know how else to explain it.”

An announced crowd of 43,734, again hooting the home team’s caution with Bonds, was chanting his first name when he came to the plate in the ninth to face Rodriguez, a 22-year-old Venezuelan who spent the season in double A and was making only his second major league appearance.

Did Rodriguez consider walking him, as most of his colleagues had?

“No, no, no,” Rodriguez said. “It was 9-2. I’m out there to learn. I’m out there to get him out.”

Rodriguez blazed a mid-90s fastball by the swinging Bonds, threw another high for a ball, then sprained his neck as he spun to watch the flight of the towering drive.

Bonds raised his right arm exultantly as he rounded first base and was greeted by Nikolai, serving as bat boy, and the entire bench when he reached the plate.

The home plate reception when Bonds hit his 500th homer earlier this season was tepid at best, but No. 564, breaking a tie with Reggie Jackson at seventh on the all-time list, produced a mob scene. Bonds laughed later and said, “I think some of them got some cheap shots in on my rib cage. So many years of frustration, I guess, and they kind of took it out on me.”

The crowd brought Bonds out of the dugout for two curtain calls, and the San Francisco relief corps came out of the bullpen to congratulate him when the left fielder went to his position at the end of the inning. Manager Dusty Baker then removed Bonds so that the crowd could salute him again.

Jeff Kent, the next biggest San Francisco star and a player admittedly not close to Bonds, was asked about the difference in reaction between the 500th homer and 70th and said, “A lot of us can’t even fathom 500 and weren’t part of 500. All of us were part of 70.”

And, of course, part of history. Then again, Kent said:

“Well, this is my fifth year with the Giants and I feel like I’m part of history every time Barry walks on the field. I mean, I’ve stopped wondering anymore about the great things he does. I just sit and watch it, although what he’s done this year at his age is amazing. He’s put all those great years together in one year.”

Done it while challenging the major league records for slugging and on-base percentages. Done it while maintaining his focus and concentration amid that barrage of walks, breaking Babe Ruth’s 1923 record and setting a standard for patience.

In this game, for instance, he was even intentionally walked in the sixth inning with the Astros trailing, 8-1, after being walked in the fifth inning with runners at first and second, loading the bases.

As in the first two games of the series, Kent and others made the Astros pay for their caution, and Bonds insisted that he wasn’t frustrated because he was getting on base, scoring runs, and the team was winning.

He acknowledged, however, that it’s difficult to maintain a swing when not getting a chance to use it, and that he has never seen first-base coach Robby Thompson angrier than when the Astros walked him intentionally when trailing by seven runs, but “my father and godfather [Willie Mays] have been in my ear every day saying, ‘stay patient, don’t come out of your game, do other things to help the team. The main thing is winning, that’s always been your goal.”’

Indeed, Bonds reiterated that he wants the postseason, another chance to erase his poor playoff performances.

Maybe this home run on the fourth day of October means it will be a better October for him.

The homer finished the Astros, who have lost six in a row and eight of their last nine. After leading the Central Division by 51/2 games on Sept. 24, they now trail the St. Louis Cardinals by a game entering a three-game series in St. Louis tonight. In addition, they are only those two games ahead of the Giants in the wild card race.

Bonds acknowledged that his team has its work cut out, as he may against the rival Dodgers.

Will they pitch to him? How happy would the Dodgers be to watch their hated rivals qualify for the postseason at their expense while also yielding Bonds’ record-setting homer?

“That’s definitely a different story,” Baker said. “You know us and the Dodgers. What did he do, hit No. 500 against the Dodgers and they didn’t appreciate that and having the game stopped for so long, and they probably won’t appreciate it if he gets the record against them.”

But aren’t there different rules for a team that’s in the race and a team that isn’t?

“The rules depend on whatever rules you make for your team,” Baker said. “Whoever has the ball makes the rules. I mean, what do you do ... put a shock collar on your pitcher to make him throw a strike?”

In the ninth inning Thursday, Bonds finally found an Astro pitcher who didn’t need one.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

BONDS AT 70 / MONTH BY MONTH

APRIL 11

HOME RUNS

Games: 22

At Bats: 75

Runs: 13

Hits: 18

Doubles: 5

Triples: 0

RBI: 22

Walks: 13

Intentional Walks: 3

Strikeouts: 15

Batting Average: .240

On-base %.: 363

Slugging %.: 747

Giants’ Record: 12-12

*

MAY 17

HOME RUNS

Games: 27

At Bats: 84

Runs: 28

Hits: 31

Doubles: 5

Triples: 0

RBI: 30

Walks: 31

Intentional Walks: 5

Strikeouts: 24

Batting Average: .369

On-Base %: .547

Slugging %: 1.036

Giants’ Record: 14-15

*

JUNE 11

HOME RUNS

Games: 24

At Bats: 74

Runs: 22

Hits: 22

Doubles: 3

Triples: 0

RBI: 19

Walks: 34

Intentional Walks: 9

Strikeouts: 15

Batting Average: .297

On-Base %: .514

Slugging %: .784

Giants’ Record: 17-10

*

JULY 6

HOME RUNS

Games: 27

At Bats: 86

Runs: 17

Hits: 26

Doubles: 10

Triples: 1

RBI: 15

Walks: 30

Intentional Walks: 5

Strikeouts: 11

Batting Average: .302

On-Base %: .492

Slugging %: .651

Giants’ Record: 15-12

*

AUGUST 12

HOME RUNS

Games: 26

At Bats: 80

Runs: 21

Hits: 28

Doubles: 5

Triples: 1

RBI: 26

Walks: 31

Intentional Walks: 5

Strikeouts: 17

Batting Average: .350

On-Base %: .536

Slugging %: .888

Giants’ Record: 16-12

*

SEPTEMBER 12

HOME RUNS

Games: 21

At Bats: 63

Runs: 18

Hits: 23

Doubles: 4

Triples: 0

RBI: 20

Walks: 28

Intentional Walks: 4

Strikeouts: 10

Batting Average: .365

On-Base %: .565

Slugging %: 1.000

Giants’ record: 12-9

*

OCTOBER 1

HOME RUNS

Games: 3 150

At Bats: 6 468

Runs: 6 125

Hits: 3 151

Doubles: 0 32

Triples: 0 2

RBI: 2 134

Walks: 8 175

Intentional Walks: 3 34

Strikeouts: 1 93

Batting Average: .500 .323

On-Base %.: 786 .512

Slugging %: .833 .848

Giants’ Record: 3-0: 89-70