Bonds can't solve Petco Park; Hairston lifts Padres over Giants

Baseball Betting Lines

08/04/2007 - San Diego, CA (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - Barry Bonds has homered against San Diego more than any other club in his career, but he's had a difficult time sending balls over the wall at Petco Park, and that trend continued on Friday in a 4-3 10-inning loss to the Padres.

Bonds went 0-for-4 and remained stuck at 754 career home runs, one shy of Hank Aaron's record, and San Francisco's bullpen blew the lead for a second time in three nights. Scott Hairston tied the game with a three-run homer in the eighth and won it with a two-out drive barely over the wall in left-center in the 10th inning.

Despite having 86 of his homers against the Padres, Bonds has only three of them at Petco Park, which opened for the 2004 season. In fact, he's hitting .169 in 25 career games in the spacious stadium. On Friday he faced future Hall of Famer Greg Maddux, who fanned the Giants slugger on a called third strike in the first inning. Bonds grounded out to end the third, flied out to right in the sixth and grounded out again in the eighth before being replaced by Fred Lewis in left field.

Bonds is 2-for-18 with a pair of singles and 10 walks since moving within one homer of Aaron last Friday against Florida.

Hairston, in the game for an injured Milton Bradley, belted the tying three- run homer off Vinnie Chulk in the bottom of the eighth inning. Hairston then took a 3-2 pitch from Jack Taschner (2-1) barely beyond the glove of Rajai Davis and over the wall to send the Padres to their second straight win.

Heath Bell (5-3) struck out two batters in the top of the inning to get the victory.

Dave Roberts had four hits and two RBI for the Giants.

Matt Cain was on track to snap a three-game losing streak after striking out 11 over 7 1/3 innings, but the Giants bullpen coughed up the lead in the eighth inning, and San Francisco ended up losing for the second time in three games. They also lost 6-4 at Los Angeles on Wednesday when blowing another eighth-inning advantage.

Geoff Blum singled, and with one out Rob Mackowiak doubled in the bottom of the eighth. Chulk then came into the game and retired Mike Cameron on a foul pop, but Hairston then struck a first pitch over the wall in left field. It was his first homer in a Padres uniform, one week after being acquired from Arizona.

The Giants nearly went ahead in the ninth, but Mark Sweeney was cut down at the plate trying to score from first on Roberts' double down the right-field line.

The Padres had a golden opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the ninth, putting runners on first and third after singles by Blum and pinch- hitter Josh Bard. However, Steve Kline came in from the bullpen and fanned Mackowiak to send the game into extra innings.

Maddux, who was aiming for his 341st career victory, remained winless in his last seven outings as he gave up eight hits and three runs over 6 1/3 innings.

Roberts doubled with one out in the third and scored later in the inning on a Ray Durham groundout, but Bonds left Randy Winn at third when he grounded out sharply to second base.

The Giants expanded their lead to 3-0 in the seventh. Bengie Molina singled, and Omar Vizquel doubled with one out. Cla Meredith then replaced Maddux and retired Cain on a ground ball. However, Roberts followed with a two-run double to right field, as the ball short-hopped off the glove of first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.

Game Notes

The Giants have played in front of 24 consecutive sellout crowds, and this series is already sold out...Clay Hensley will pitch to Bonds in Saturday's game. Bonds is 2-for-11 lifetime against the right-hander with no homers and five walks...Bonds has connected for eight homers off Maddux, but none since May 1, 1998 at Atlanta...Bradley left the game with a strained right hamstring...MLB commissioner Bud Selig was in attendance...The Padres are 7-3 versus the Giants this year.

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Big East Conference odds

Work left to do: Villanova, Syracuse, DePaul, West Virginia, Providence

Notre Dame and Louisville appear to have done enough to make the move, so we'll make them locks. The Cardinals, despite a modest RPI, are trending way up and have clinched at least a tie for third in the Big East, which should be more than enough with their pair of big road wins. Villanova got back to .500 and gets back to more solid footing. Syracuse got a very important road win and crippled a fellow contender in the process. West Virginia's fate could be in its hands Tuesday at Pitt.

Work left to do:

Villanova [18-9 (7-7), RPI: 21, SOS: 5] Pounded Rutgers to get back to .500. If Cats can get their last two (at UConn, vs. Syracuse), that should be enough with strong computer numbers and a host of wins away from The Pavilion. The Cats have beaten Texas and swept the Big 5 (never easy in Philly), but have a couple of losses to bubble teams (Xavier, Drexel), too. I still think they'll be OK, possibly even at 8-8.

Syracuse [20-8 (9-5), RPI: 53, SOS: 62] History says 10 wins will be plenty, but it might be hard for the Orange to get that last one with a final two vs. G'town, which is trying to win the league title, and at Villanova, which will be desperate for a W. The relative lack of nonconference heft and the weak computer numbers are still concerns, but the Orange have won four in a row and got a very, very big win at Providence on Saturday.

DePaul [16-12 (8-7), RPI: 54, SOS: 18] Beat Cincy and should get past South Florida to get to 9-7, but then what? They have beaten Kansas and Cal (right after the DeVon Hardin injury) earlier this season, but also have lost to Bradley and Purdue, among others. They'll likely need a couple of BE tourney wins, too, but we'll see ...

West Virginia [19-7 (8-6), RPI: 58, SOS: 125] The game at Pitt on Tuesday night could decide the Mountaineers' fate (barring a deep tournament run). They can still get to 9-7 in the Big East without it by beating Cincinnati, but the nine wins would be against UConn, Villanova, St. John's, South Florida, DePaul, Rutgers, Seton Hall twice and the Bearcats. Beating bubble foes is fine, but where's the beef? Outside of beating PG-less UCLA in nonconference play (still a top quality win), there's not a lot to fall back on (besides maybe NC State). WVU vs. Syracuse would be an interesting debate, as the teams don't play in the Big East regular season. WVU has the best win, but Cuse has played the much better schedule.

Providence [17-10 (7-7), RPI: 70, SOS: 33] The Friars likely saw their at-large hopes die at home in the four-point loss to Syracuse, barring an unexpected run to the Big East semis or more. The RPI, bad already, won't be helped by playing St. John's and South Florida in the final two league games.

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