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Star search Best hitter and best reliever both fail for Giants
NEW YORK (AP) -- Their best hitter went 0-for-5. Their best relief pitcher blew a save for the first time since July 2. Need a reason why the San Francisco Giants lost Game 3 of their division playoff series to the New York Mets? Look no further than Barry Bonds and Robb Nen. Before Benny Agbayani won the game for the Mets with a homer in the bottom of the 13th inning Saturday night, Bonds and Nen had opportunities to make sure it wouldn't last that long. Bonds popped out to second in the top of the 13th with runners on first and second to end San Francisco's final chance, and the Giants went on to lose 3-2 to New York to fall behind 2-1 in the best-of-five series. "We just need to go to bed and let it go," Bonds said. "Today is over with." Bonds, who ended Game 2 by being called out on strikes in the bottom of the 10th, came to bat in the top of the ninth with a chance to get a measure of revenge against the same pitcher, John Franco, who struck him out looking two days earlier. The only difference this time was the style of the "K." Bonds swung and missed at an 84-mph fastball from Franco to end the ninth, leaving a runner stranded on first. His at-bat in the 13th didn't last nearly as long. He swung at the first pitch from Rick White and got too far under the ball. "He was getting ahead of everybody 0-2," Bonds said of his decision to swing at the first pitch. "He made a good pitch. I tried to hit a line drive and it went straight up in the air." The popout capped an 0-for-5 performance by Bonds, whose history of postseason shortcomings has a new chapter in the works. The 0-fer dropped his average in this series from .375 to .231 and his career postseason average from .216 to .204. Nen, meanwhile, came into the game in the bottom of the eighth having converted his last 28 save opportunities -- a streak that dated to early July. Needing just one out to escape the inning, Nen instead allowed Edgardo Alfonzo to rip a line drive into the left-field corner, bringing home Jay Payton from second base with an RBI double that tied it 2-2. It was Nen's first eighth-inning appearance in a save opportunity since July 2, when he blew one against the Dodgers. "Seventh inning, fifth, first, it doesn't matter," Nen said. "I made a mistake and left a pitch up. It had nothing to do with the inning." Now, the Giants -- slumping slugger, clouted closer and the others -- are one loss from having the whole winter to think about where they came up short.
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