Scoot over Hank and Babe - Bonds to join 700 Club

The Giants slugger's next home run will put him in neighborhood of baseball's all-time career record.

By Janie McCauley ~ The Associated Press

SAN FRANCISCO -- Barry Bonds always prefers to reach his milestones at home. With the San Francisco Giants on the road for the next three games, hitting his 700th homer in the city where Hank Aaron began his pursuit of the career home run record would be almost as special.

After hitting home run No. 699 in his final at-bat Sunday in Arizona, Bonds gets his first shot at 700 tonight when the Giants open a three-game series at Milwaukee.

"That would be nice," Bonds said. "I'll wait and see what happens. I've just got to focus on the next game against Milwaukee -- you know, kind of get a feel of what's going on out there first. I don't know what's going to happen."

The Brewers will start 11-game winner Doug Davis in the opener -- and the left-hander is one of 414 pitchers to surrender a homer to the 40-year-old Bonds during the slugger's 19-year career. Bonds is 1-for-3 with two walks against Davis.

As hard as it's been for Bonds to get hittable pitches lately, he's more focused on the wild-card race, which the Giants lead going into Milwaukee. Bonds keeps reminding everybody that his accomplishments are going to mean less to him later if he never wins a World Series ring.

The Giants fell six outs short in 2002, losing to Anaheim in seven games.

"The excitement is just the fact that we're still in this whole thing right now, and all of you guys voted us to be second to last. That's what's gratifying," he said.

Bonds is third on the career homers list behind Babe Ruth (714) and Aaron, who hit 420 of his 755 homers while playing for the Milwaukee Braves and Brewers.

Bonds has 41 home runs this season but getting them is becoming increasingly difficult as he sees fewer and fewer pitches to hit. He walked twice Sunday, upping his record total to 203 this year.

"If you don't start your car eventually, the battery goes dead," Bonds said. "I'm sitting over there just rooting for everybody and, hopefully, we're staying in this thing, but my car's got to start, too, once in a while."

Bonds has been so busy dealing with questions about his pursuit of Ruth and Aaron, it's almost as if everybody has forgotten about the steroid scandal that surrounded him when this season began.

Bonds' personal trainer and longtime friend, Greg Anderson, is one of four men charged in an alleged steroid-distribution ring that federal prosecutors say supplied dozens of professional athletes with banned substances. They have pleaded not guilty.

Giants manager Felipe Alou has praised Bonds for his ability to stay focused.

"This guy will never get out of his mood or his program or his way of doing things," Alou said. "Never. Nothing will move that guy."

Bonds wanted to get to 700 during the team's last homestand. He hit career homer No. 660 -- to tie his godfather Willie Mays -- and also 661 at home earlier this season. He also hit his 500th homer in San Francisco in 2001, and later that season broke Mark McGwire's single-season record by hitting Nos. 71-73 at home the final weekend of the season.

Aaron believes Bonds will pass him soon enough.

"I think it's just a matter of time -- maybe a year, two years," Aaron said. "I think he will. I'll be happy. Everybody will be after him then. They won't be involving me. Records are made to be broken."

Bonds has 19 career homers against Milwaukee, including four at Miller Park, which opened in 2001. He has also walked 52 times and has a .373 average against the Brewers.

If the Brewers don't pitch to him, Bonds almost certainly will do it when the Giants return to San Francisco on Friday to begin a nine-game homestand with three games against the San Diego Padres.

"He's got to take advantage of anybody who throws a strike, whether it's a Japanese, a Korean or an Iraqi," Alou said recently.

Opposing managers are asked daily whether they plan to pitch to the six-time NL MVP, and the answer is usually no.

Colorado skipper Clint Hurdle said he owed it to the men in his clubhouse to give them the best chance to win, and pitching to Bonds wouldn't do that.

Hurdle did allow the Rockies to throw a handful of hittable pitches to Bonds last week at Coors Field, but for the most part his club has been most successful this season by issuing free passes to Bonds and making the Giants' other batters beat them.

His teammates have been successful enough batting behind him that Bonds is second in the majors with 115 runs scored.

"Regardless if you do well or you don't do well, you want to participate in your team's success or failure," he said. "That's what's more important -- to go out there and compete and be able to take it on the chin or punch somebody on the chin, whichever one comes first. It's hard at times, and I think our team has been doing well and we've been handling it pretty well."

AP Sports Writers Ron Blum and Mel Reisner contributed to this story.