The Los Angeles Dodgers did their part to win the NL West, beating San Francisco 4-3 Sunday in what might have been Barry Bonds' final game for the Giants.
The Dodgers clinched at least a wild-card spot Saturday, and began Sunday tied with the San Diego Padres in the division race. The Padres played at Arizona, and held the tiebreaker over the Dodgers based on head-to-head record.
Ramon Martinez hit a tying, two-run double in the sixth inning for the Dodgers. Jason Repko stole a bases and scored the go-ahead run in the seventh on Julio Lugo's single.
Bonds made good with his final swing against the archrival Dodgers, hitting a double in the sixth and then calling it a day.
After his hit, Bonds raised his batting helmet in his left hand and waved it to the noisy crowd and hugged Dodgers third baseman Olmedo Saenz as he came off the field, lifted for pinch-runner Fred Lewis.
Bonds left to chants of ``Barry! Barry!'' and the cheers continued through Shea Hillenbrand's at-bat before the slugger emerged again from the dugout and waved, this time holding two bats in his left hand.
No. 25, always loved in San Francisco despite the steroids accusations and other personal problems, received a warm ovation when he took his spot in left field. The 42-year-old slugger finished 1-for-2 with a run scored to end his 14th season in the Bay Area and 21st of his big league career.
``Hey, Barry, we'll see you next year!'' one man hollered as Bonds stood in the on-deck circle in the third.
Bonds' US$90 million, five-year contract is up after the season, but the Giants are likely to do everything they can to bring him back.
Bonds has 734 career home runs, 21 from tying Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755 _ and San Francisco hosts the all-star game in its waterfront ballpark next July. Bonds is a big reason the team has drawn three million fans in all seven seasons of the stadium's existence.
The seven-time NL MVP waved to the crowd when he walked to the on-deck circle before leading off in the second. He backpedalled to make a nice running catch on a liner by starting pitcher Eric Stults in the third.
Bonds tied his godfather, Willie Mays, for the all-time San Francisco mark for runs scored with 1,480.
Chad Billingsley (7-4) replaced Stults and pitched the seventh for the win. Joe Beimel finished for his second save.
Jason Schmidt struck out seven in six innings in likely his final start for San Francisco after 5{ seasons with the Giants. He is one of 11 potential free agents on the club, which is expected to announce as soon as Monday that manager Felipe Alou won't return for a fifth season as skipper. His son, right fielder Moises, is another who might be gone _ and he received loud cheers as a pinch-hitter in the eighth.
Brad Hennessey (5-6) was the loser for the Giants, who missed the playoffs for the third straight year.
Stults, a rookie left-hander, made his second major league start and sixth appearance overall in place of Derek Lowe, who will be the Dodgers' Game 1 playoff starter. Stults allowed three runs and four hits in five innings, struck out one and walked two.
First-year Dodgers manager Grady Little, who has guided this team back to the playoffs after an awful 2005, rested many of his regulars. First baseman Nomar Garciaparra sat for the second straight day after tweaking his left side on a swinging strikeout in the eighth inning Friday night.
James Loney hit a solo homer onto the walkway beyond the right-field wall to give the Dodgers the lead in the second, then the Giants went ahead in the bottom half on Pedro Feliz's two-run double.
Notes: Kenny Lofton stole his 32nd base in the eighth, No. 599 of his career. ... Giants CF Randy Winn missed his second straight game with a strained left calf. ... Before his double, Feliz was 1-for-17 on the homestand and hitless in his previous three games. ... Stults singled in the fifth for his third hit in five career at-bats.
© The Canadian Press, 2007
