``Who cares where it goes,'' the San Francisco slugger said. ``As long as they go over the yellow line.''
Bonds hit a pair of mammoth two-run homers giving him 696 in his career and went 4-for-5 with six RBIs Sunday night, leading the Giants to a 9-5 win over the Atlanta Braves.
The home runs that flew an estimated total of 929 feet were the second and third longest in Turner Field history. Bonds added a two-run single in the sixth inning to help end Atlanta's season-best, six-game winning streak.
Bonds had a chance for his first five-hit game in the eighth, but rookie right-hander Roman Colon struck him out with a sinker.
``I was tired,'' said a smiling Bonds, who spoke with reporters for over 10 minutes. ``I saw eight baseballs.''
He was not surprised that the Braves ignored a common trend and pitched to him.
``They're going to win their division so there's no need to walk me,'' said Bonds, who has drawn 183 walks 93 intentional this season.
``I don't believe they were trying to groove it, but they were pitching to him,'' San Francisco manager Felipe Alou said.
As Bonds trotted around the bases after ripping his first homer, a belt-high fastball from Russ Ortiz that flew 467 feet into the right field stands in the third inning, the partisan Atlanta fans stood and cheered. When he trotted out to left field after giving the Giants a 2-0 lead, fans seated there gave him another standing ovation.
The blast, the second longest ever at the stadium that opened in 1997, scored J.T. Snow, who had singled. The homer was bested only by a shot by Sammy Sosa that traveled 471 feet at the Atlanta park on Sept. 1, 2001.
Bonds hit his 38th in his next at-bat in the fifth inning, also after a single by Snow, who had three of San Francisco's 14 hits. Bonds drilled an 88 mph fastball from Ortiz into the same area. This one went 462 feet, gave the Giants a 5-2 lead, and produced another standing ovation.
``We wanted to pitch to him in those situations. But, certainly we wanted to make better pitches,'' Atlanta manager Bobby Cox said.
Asked about approaching 700 homers, Bonds replied: ``I haven't thought much about it.''
Ortiz can take some comfort in knowing he won't have to face Bonds again in the regular season. After Monday's finale, the teams won't meet again unless it's in the playoffs.
``The first one was a change-up that cut; the second one (fast ball) just didn't do anything,'' Ortiz said. ``Those two home runs are pretty much what lost the game for us.''
It was the fourth multihomer game of the season for Bonds and the 68th of his career, breaking a tie with Mark McGwire and placing him second only to Babe Ruth, who had 72. He has four career three-homer games.
Bonds, who leads the NL in batting at .368, also singled to left in his first at-bat in the second inning to go 3-for-3 against Ortiz. He had been 0-for-3, including a strikeout and three walks against his former San Francisco teammate.
The Braves lead the NL East by 8.5 games over Florida. The Giants trail Los Angeles by five games in the NL West but are one percentage point behind Chicago and San Diego in the wild card race.
Ortiz (13-7) hadn't lost in 12 starts, going 7-0 with five no-decisions before Sunday night. He left in the sixth after giving up a leadoff single to Marquis Grissom and a walk to Dustan Mohr.
Reliever Tom Martin came on and after a sacrifice, Ray Durham was intentionally walked, loading the bases. Snow struck out, but Pedro Feliz got an RBI infield single off Kevin Gryboski. Bonds followed with his two-run single to center and 88th RBI of the season for an 8-3 lead.
It was the third four-hit game this season for Bonds and 28th of his career. Bonds drove in a career-high seven runs on Oct. 1, 1993, at Los Angeles. His only other six RBI game was April 30, 1996, at San Diego.
Ortiz allowed nine hits, seven runs and three walks. He struck out one in five-plus innings.
The Braves scored two runs off San Francisco starter Brad Hennessey in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Johnny Estrada and an RBI double from Adam LaRoche. They added another run on in the fifth on an RBI single by Chipper Jones.
Atlanta added two runs in the seventh off Scott Eyre on an RBI grounder from Marcus Giles, and a run-scoring single by Estrada.
Hennessey allowed six hits, three runs and two walks in four-plus innings. He left after a leadoff double in the fifth by Rafael Furcal and a walk to Giles. Jason Christiansen (4-2) earned the win by getting three outs in the inning.
Dustin Hermanson got four outs for his seventh save in eight chances.
NOTES: Giants CF Michael Tucker, 0-for-25 in his past eight games, didn't start despite hitting .500 (7-for-14) against Ortiz. ... Cox needs 19 wins to become the ninth major league manager with 2,000 victories. ... Dustan Mohr went 1-for-1 with four walks. ``I think they had me mixed up with Barry,'' he said.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2004/8/153519