Looks like Barry Bonds played his last game with the Giants.

I have to wonder if he will take the big pay cut and just go right across the bay and play with Oakland.

Bonds' S.F. saga comes to an end


San Francisco -- For 15 seasons in San Francisco, Barry Bonds was a loud noise that was impossible to ignore, melodious to his legions of fans, a cacophony to his detractors. There was no on-off switch. Whenever he was on the field, he was the "1812 Overture" with full cannon, a piece that by nature grabs your attention and won't let go.

When the end came Wednesday night, it was oddly muted, not only in his 0-for-3 at the plate but in the evening's tone. There was no pregame ceremony, no tearful news conference, not even a show of sending Bonds to left field to start an inning and having him immediately come off to one more standing ovation.

Bonds simply hit a 400-foot out to the warning track in right-center field in the sixth inning, waved goodbye as he returned to the dugout, took one curtain call and walked upstairs to the clubhouse one more time.

It was his 6,263rd and final at-bat as a Giant. Before the 11-3 loss to San Diego in the final 2007 game at China Basin, Bonds said he did not plan to play in the season-ending series at Los Angeles this weekend.

He gave the fans one more snatch catch, a few more chances to stand and cheer, one more curtain call, but no home runs. And let's face it: That is what the most of 42,926 fans wanted to see.

If Bonds is true to his word and does not bat in Los Angeles, he will leave with the major-league record of 762 home runs, the last in Denver on Sept. 5. Those in attendance Aug. 24 against Milwaukee saw his final homer in San Francisco.

Bonds' 586 home runs with the Giants is a San Francisco record. As for the franchise record of 646, well, that is one he could not snatch from Willie Mays.

Bonds grounded out in the first and fourth innings against 18-game winner Jake Peavy. Bonds stumbled out of the box after hitting his fourth-inning squibber to Peavy and limped back to the dugout, where he conversed with manager Bruce Bochy. It appeared Bonds might leave the game, but he stayed in - and probably wished he hadn't.

The Padres batted around against Pat Misch and Scott Munter and scored six runs in the fifth. Bonds not only had to stand on his sprained toe for an eternity, he committed an error when he bobbled Khalil Greene's single, allowing Greene to reach second base.

With two outs in the sixth, Bonds sent a long drive to the right of straightaway center. Many of the fans thought it was a Ted Williams moment - a homer in Bonds' final at-bat. But Bonds knew otherwise and immediately smacked his bat.

When Brady Clark caught the ball, Bonds walked off to his loudest cheers of the night. He greeted Peavy, pointed toward the San Diego dugout to acknowledge someone, then arrived to handshakes and backslaps in the home dugout. When Fred Lewis ran to left field, the fans knew the Bonds era was over. They demanded a curtain call and got one. Bonds seemed happy and at ease as he pointed to familiar faces in the crowd.

After the game, the Giants ran a video tribute to Bonds on the center-field board.

Bonds arrived for his last day of work at 24 Willie Mays Plaza about 4 p.m. Before he shooed reporters away from his locker one last time, he said his toe remained swollen, he had an MRI exam Wednesday morning, "and it's not broken."

Then, without prompting, he said, "This will be the only game I play," meaning those who bought last-minute tickets in Los Angeles to see him one more time had best read up on Lewis.

Shortstop Rich Aurilia, a teammate from 1995 through 2003 and in 2007, said it was appropriate that Wednesday be Bonds' final game with the Giants.

"I don't think he'd get cheered coming off the field his last game in L.A.," Aurilia said. "The fans here have loved Barry for the last 15 years, win, lose, draw or controversy. For him to finish here is fitting, and I'm sure the fans will send him off in a good fashion."

Three hours before the game, Bochy was unsure how many innings and at-bats Bonds would have, given his toe injury. As Bochy penned a lineup card that will be given to the Giants for their archives, Bochy recognized he was doing more than scratching words on paper.

"You realize you might be seeing this tremendous athlete just one more time," he said. "He's the greatest player of our era, and could be all-time. To write his name in the lineup one final time, you realize what you're doing, what's happening. There are different emotions when you do something like that."

If Bonds was emotional in the clubhouse, he masked it well. Had he not hugged media-relations manager Matt Hodson, nothing would have seemed askew. When the team took the field for batting practice, Bonds joined his mates for the final minute of stretching then jogged to short to chat with Omar Vizquel while awaiting his turn to hit.

After hitting, Bonds returned to the clubhouse. As fans filtered into the park, they saw video highlights of his career.

At 7:11 p.m., when the Giants took the field, Bonds scurried around a mob of photographers at the top step of the dugout and ran to his position, waving his cap to the cheering, standing crowd. At 7:13, when Misch threw the game's first pitch, Bonds stood just to the left of the "BONDS 25" stenciled in black in the grass.

After Misch threw a 1-2-3 inning, Randy Winn stole some of Bonds' thunder. As Bonds moved into the on-deck circle, Winn hit the ball the fans wanted Bonds to hit - a blast into the right-field arcade for a home run. The cheers for Winn morphed into a standing ovation for Bonds as he approached the plate.

He worked Peavy hard, making the 19-game winner throw eight pitches, rolling the last of them to first baseman Adrian Gonzalez.