In grand style

Bonds passes Robinson with 482-foot slam in Giants' rout

Barry Bonds has hit 66 career home runs against the Padres, his most against any team. AP

SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Everybody was awestruck with Barry Bonds' grand slam off Qualcomm Stadium's big scoreboard, except the slugger himself.

Bonds' homer, estimated at 482 feet, gave him sole possession of fourth place on the career home run list with 587 and led the San Francisco Giants to a 12-2 win over the staggering San Diego Padres on Wednesday.

The high-arching homer in the third inning hit the bottom left side of the scoreboard 29 rows beyond the right field wall.

Manager Dusty Baker called it both "monumental" and "a monster." Hitting coach Gene Clines compared it with some of the eye-popping shots he saw teammate Willie Stargell hit with the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Bonds' reaction?

"It just has to go over the fence. That's all that matters," Bonds said.

It went over the fence, all right. With the exception of Clines, nobody in the Giants' clubhouse could recall ever seeing a longer homer.

Being Frank ATLANTA -- The incomparable Barry Bonds continues to hop Hall of Famers on his trip up the list titled "Most Home Runs, Career." Frank Robinson, the only player to win the MVP award in both leagues, has fallen to fifth. It's not something Robinson enjoys, necessarily, giving up the No. 4 spot. But getting passed by Bonds, a young man he has watched since Bonds came into the league back in 1986, is not so bad. "I've seen a guy who's been very consistent over the years, had some tremendous years, then he had that lull in between and everybody kind of wrote him off, talking about the guys today, like A-Rod and McGwire and Junior," says Robinson, now the manager of the Montreal Expos. "They forgot about Barry until last year." Ah, but many fans have forgotten about Robinson for a lot longer than that. When it comes to fans' memories, three years seems to be the limit. "If it goes that far," he chuckles. • Click here for more.

"He killed that ball," Clines said, who scoffed at the estimate of 482 feet.

"It seems like it was 501," outfielder Reggie Sanders said. "That was an incredible shot."

In the 15 seasons that homers have been measured here, only Mark McGwire has hit one farther, a 490-foot line drive into the second deck in left-center on July 20, 1998. That homer was announced then as 458 feet but has been revised. The seat that McGwire's homer hit is painted white with a red circle in the middle.

Bonds' homer was just as impressive.

Bonds, whose next stop is Yankee Stadium and its short right-field porch on Friday night, hit the first pitch from rookie Dennis Tankersley. He took a few steps while watching it sail away, then began his home run trot.

Bonds was unimpressed with the distance, although he said he was told he once hit one farther off Robb Nen, the Giants' closer who once pitched for Florida.

"I marvel at wins," Bonds said. "Mark McGwire is the only one who ever put me in awe, as far as he hit the ball. He hit balls a lot farther than I do. (Willie) McCovey did it, too, when I was a little kid."

Longtime observers recall McCovey hitting a long home run in San Diego in the early 1970s, but no distance was available.

Bonds' 11th career slam gave the Giants a 4-1 lead. It was his 20th homer of the season, tying him with Chicago's Sammy Sosa for the big league lead.

"It was a big day, especially to do it on a grand slam, that's pretty awesome, especially that monumental of a home run," Baker said.

Tankersley (1-2) allowed a double to Giants pitcher Ryan Jensen with two outs in the third, walked Tom Goodwin and hit Rich Aurilia to bring up Bonds.

"I think I watched it longer than Barry did," Jensen said.

"I don't know if I've seen a longer home run in all the games I've seen," Padres manager Bruce Bochy said. "What's unfortunate is how he even got up there -- two outs, nobody on with the pitcher up."

Tankersley was gone by the time reporters were allowed into the clubhouse.

"I thought Tank was throwing pretty good up until he gave up that home run," Bochy said. "Then he just lost his composure a little bit."

Ranking Bonds Even before his 73-homer season, Barry Bonds had Hall of Fame credentials. Now he's closing in on 600 home runs. It's time to re-evaluate Bonds' place in history.

Bonds was tied with Frank Robinson since hitting No. 586 Sunday against Colorado. Next on the homer list is Bonds' godfather, Willie Mays, who is third with 660.

When Bonds set the single-season home run record with 73 last year, 11 of them came off the Padres.

Bonds has 66 career homers against the Padres, his most against any team, and 34 in San Diego, his most in any road ballpark.

Bonds batted with the bases loaded and two outs in the fifth but rookie Kevin Pickford got him to pop up to shallow left.

The Giants won their fourth straight game while extending San Diego's season-high losing streak to seven. The Padres have lost 16 of 20 games.

The Padres tied a club record by hitting four batters, three by Tankersley.

Tankersley lasted just 3 1/3 innings, allowing five runs on three hits, striking out three and walking three.

David Bell had three hits and three RBIs, and Jeff Kent had three hits for the Giants. Aurilia hit his fourth homer to lead off the seventh.

Jensen (5-5) allowed two runs on seven hits, struck out three and walked two. He gave up Bubba Trammell's solo homer in the second, his fifth.

Notes: In sweeping the three-game series, the Giants outscored the Padres 26-6. They beat the Padres 11-3 Monday night. The Giants have won four in a row by a combined score of 35-8. ... Padres pitchers also hit four batters on May 14, 1997, at Montreal. ... With the Giants ahead 12-2, Padres closer Trevor Hoffman pitched the eighth. It was his sixth non-save situation in nine appearances. Hoffman has only three saves since appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated on May 8.

 

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