Bonds Overpowers the Cardinals

So far, the National League championship series rematch has been no contest.

Barry Bonds homered twice, leading rookie Jerome Williams (3-1) and the San Francisco Giants over the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-1, Wednesday night at St. Louis.

The NL West-leading Giants, who needed five games to defeat the Cardinals in the postseason, have won three in a row in a series that ends today. The Cardinals lead the NL in hitting but have been held to one run in each of the last three games.

“As long as the game’s been played, if you pitch well you stop the hitting,” Cardinal Manager Tony La Russa said. “That’s why people try to get good pitching, because that’s the most consistent part of the game. That, and defense.”

Bonds has 637 home runs, 23 behind Willie Mays for third on the career list. Bonds had his 63rd multihomer game, moving past Hank Aaron and tying Mays for third place.

Bonds hit his 460th homer for the Giants on a low liner to right leading off the fourth inning against Garrett Stephenson, passing Mays for second since the franchise moved to San Francisco. He pulled to within eight of Willie McCovey for first overall with a drive in the ninth.

“I can’t complain about it,” Stephenson said. “I thought he was out front a little bit at least, and he still hit a line drive that hit the back wall of the bullpen.”

Bonds didn’t have much to say afterward because he’s upset about critical comments he made about Albert Pujols last week. Bonds, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, said that Pujols was not the next Bonds because he doesn’t have good speed and hasn’t settled on one position.

“I didn’t like being misquoted on the Albert Pujols situation,” Bonds said. “That’s all I have to say.”

Chicago 1, Philadelphia 0 -- Sammy Sosa homered on the first pitch of the ninth inning at Philadelphia and four pitchers combined on a one-hitter to end the Phillies’ seven-game winning streak.

Matt Clement, Mark Guthrie, Kyle Farnsworth (3-0) and Joe Borowski teamed to stop the Phillies. Clement gave up a leadoff infield single to David Bell in the fifth inning.

Atlanta 2, Florida 1 -- Rafael Furcal’s leadoff homer in the 13th inning helped the Braves avert a three-game sweep at Miami.

Rookie left-hander Dontrelle Willis gave up only one run in eight innings, but failed to match a club record by winning his eighth consecutive start. He left with the score tied, 1-1.

Mike Lowell hit his 26th home run for the Marlins. John Smoltz, the sixth Atlanta pitcher, gave up a leadoff single in the 13th but earned his 30th save.

Montreal 11, New York 4 -- Brian Schneider and Edwards Guzman each drove in two runs at New York, where the Expos rallied with two five-run innings.

Livan Hernandez (7-6) settled down after a shaky start, holding New York scoreless over his final five innings to salvage the finale of the three-game series.

Colorado 6, Arizona 2 -- Jason Jennings (8-6) gave up two hits in 6 2/3 scoreless innings and Jay Payton had three runs batted in at Denver.

Colorado’s Todd Helton singled in the third to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, a personal best.

Arizona lost its second consecutive game after winning 12 in a row, the longest streak in the majors this season.

After the game, an escalator suddenly accelerated at Coors Field, injuring at least 20 people, fire officials said. None of the injuries appeared to be critical.

Cincinnati 4, Pittsburgh 3 -- Barry Larkin’s two-out single drove in the go-ahead run during yet another ninth-inning rally and the Reds -- twice within a strike of losing -- rallied at Pittsburgh.

Cincinnati won for a major league-leading 21st time in its final at-bat.

Milwaukee 5, Houston 3 -- Eric Young and Scott Podsednik each had run-scoring hits in the 11th inning to lift the Brewers at Houston.

The Astros dropped into a three-way tie for the NL Central lead with St. Louis and Chicago.