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The NL wild-card leading
San Diego Padres
will probably be glad to finish up their season series with the
San Francisco Giants
on Sunday.
The Giants look to further cut into the Padres lead and win seven straight games over San Diego for the first time in 19 years
when their three-game series wraps up at AT&T Park.
San Diego (73-68) won five of its first six meetings with San Francisco (72-70) this season, but it has been all Giants since.
San Francisco has won six straight games and 11 of the last 12 in the season series.
San Francisco has not defeated the Padres seven consecutive times since April 6-June 11, 1987.
The Giants won Saturday 5-4 in 11 innings to close within 1 1/2 games of San Diego and move into a second-place tie with Philadelphia
in the wild-card standings.
Barry Bonds
hit his 731st career home run in the first inning on Saturday, before
Mark Sweeney
drove in
Ray Durham
with the winning run on a fielder's choice in the 11th.
''We make it exciting, that's for sure,'' Bonds said. ''We're a team of excitement at the end.''
The 42-year-old Bonds has 10 hits in his last nine games - six of them homers. He also has nine runs scored and nine RBIs
in that span.
''I'm swinging the bat good,'' Bonds said. ''I'm doing better. My leg's doing better. Things are getting better.''
The Giants are a major league-best 18-7 since Aug. 14.
Shea Hillenbrand
went 3-for-4 on Sunday, and is starting to turn things around after a slow start with San Francisco. Hillenbrand, who was
acquired from Toronto on July 22, is batting .310 (18-for-58) with five homers and 15 RBIs in his last 14 games, after batting
just .216 (24-for-111) with three home runs and eight RBIs in his first 29 games with the Giants.
Matt Morris
(10-12, 4.54 ERA) looks to put his first inning woes behind him when he takes the mound for San Francisco in the series finale.
Morris threw eight straight balls to open Tuesday's game against Cincinnati, and all three runs he gave up in the 3-0 loss
came in the first inning. Morris pitched six scoreless innings after the first, and finished the game giving up seven hits
and a season-high five walks.
''That's been something I've been dealing with since Little League,'' Morris said. ''I'm just having trouble making the transition
from warmups to the game. It was kind of a blur.''
The right-hander has given up six first-inning runs in his last four starts, and has allowed 26 runs in the first inning this
season, his most of any frame.
Morris is 6-2 with a 2.59 ERA in 16 career games against the Padres.
San Diego had its five-game winning streak snapped in Friday's 4-0 loss and looks to avaoid dropping the first three games
of its 10-game road trip.
The Padres still trail the first-place Dodgers in the NL West by 1 1/2 games after Los Angeles lost 3-2 to the
New York Mets
on Saturday.
Woody Williams
(7-5, 3.91) tries to avoid the sweep when he pitches Sunday.
The 40-year-old right-hander is 7-6 with a 4.00 ERA in 16 career games against the Giants.
After allowing two runs in each of his three straight wins from Aug. 13-23, Williams has allowed five runs in each of his
last two starts while posting an 0-1 record.
Padres third baseman
Todd Walker
had an RBI single on Saturday, and is batting .415 (17-for-41) in his career against Morris.
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