Giants’ Bonds Has Plenty of Value

Barry Bonds keeps adding to his impressive power numbers. Then again, he keeps working at it too.

Bonds homered twice to reach 40 for the fourth time in his career Monday as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-0, for their sixth consecutive victory.

“He spent about an hour doing extra hitting before the game and it paid off,” Giant Manager Dusty Baker said. “September is Barry’s month. His physical strength is the difference. He’s in shape.”

Bonds hit solo shots in the third inning off Omar Daal (3-17) and in the eighth off Jeff Brantley to give him 41 homers for the season. Bonds has 45 multihomer games, 10th on the career list.

“It’s nice, but there’s a long way to go and I really don’t want to talk about it,” Bonds said.

Russ Ortiz (12-10) gave up two hits, four walks and struck out five in 6 1/3 innings to win his seventh consecutive decision. The right-hander extended his scoreless streak to 17 innings, dating to the second inning Aug. 25 at Philadelphia. He hasn’t lost since July 29 at Chicago.

“I’m confident in my ability and I never lost that,” Ortiz said. “We’re scoring enough runs and playing some defense and I’m just doing my job.”

Robb Nen pitched the ninth inning for his 34th save in 39 opportunities. He has converted 21 consecutive save chances to tie Toronto’s Billy Koch for the longest streak in the majors this season.

San Francisco has a major league-leading 13 shutouts, the most for the Giants since they had 16 in 1989.

The Giants lead idle Arizona by a season-high 5 1/2 games in the National League West.

“There’s still a lot of time left and we’re not taking anything for granted,” Bonds said. “It seems all our starters are locked in and we’re comfortable at home. When things aren’t going well, we come home and get it straightened out.”

The Phillies matched their season high with six consecutive losses.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Lumber Company

Players with at least four seasons of 40 or more homers:

11 -- Babe Ruth

8 -- Hank Aaron, Harmon Killebrew

6 -- Ken Griffey Jr., Willie Mays, Mark McGwire

5 -- Ernie Banks, Jimmie Foxx, Lou Gehrig, Junan Gonzalez, Ralph Kiner, Duke Snider

4 -- Barry Bonds, Hank Greenberg, Mickey Mantle, Eddie Matthews, Frank Thomas