NATIONAL LEAGUE Next stop for Bonds: Milwaukee

The San Francisco Giants slugger is one home run shy of 700.
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Barry Bonds always prefers to reach his milestones at home. With the San Francisco Giants on the road for the next three games, hitting his 700th homer in the city where Hank Aaron began his pursuit of the career home run record would be almost as special.
After hitting home run No. 699 in his final at-bat Sunday in Arizona, Bonds gets his first shot at 700 tonight when the Giants open a three-game series at Milwaukee.
"That would be nice," Bonds said. "I'll wait and see what happens. I've just got to focus on the next game against Milwaukee -- you know, kind of get a feel of what's going on out there first. I don't know what's going to happen."
Tonight's matchup
The Brewers will start 11-game winner Doug Davis in the opener -- and the left-hander is one of 414 pitchers to surrender a homer to the 40-year-old Bonds during the slugger's 19-year career. Bonds is 1-for-3 with two walks against Davis.
As hard as it's been for Bonds to get hittable pitches lately, he's more focused on the wild-card race, which the Giants lead going into Milwaukee. Bonds keeps reminding everybody that his accomplishments are going to mean less to him later if he never wins a World Series ring.
The Giants fell six outs short in 2002, losing to Anaheim in seven games.
"The excitement is just the fact that we're still in this whole thing right now and [the media] voted us to be second to last. That's what's gratifying," he said.
Bonds is third on the career homers list behind Babe Ruth (714) and Aaron, who hit 420 of his 755 homers while playing for the Milwaukee Braves and Brewers.
Slim pickings
Bonds has 41 home runs this season but getting them is becoming increasingly difficult as he sees fewer and fewer pitches to hit. He walked twice Sunday, upping his record total to 203 this year.
"If you don't start your car eventually, the battery goes dead," Bonds said. "I'm sitting over there just rooting for everybody and, hopefully, we're staying in this thing, but my car's got to start, too, once in a while."
Bonds has been so busy dealing with questions about his pursuit of Ruth and Aaron, it's almost as if everybody has forgotten about the steroid scandal that surrounded him when this season began.
Bonds' personal trainer and longtime friend, Greg Anderson, is one of four men charged in an alleged steroid-distribution ring that federal prosecutors say supplied dozens of professional athletes with banned substances. They have pleaded not guilty.
Giants manager Felipe Alou has praised Bonds for his ability to stay focused.
"This guy will never get out of his mood or his program or his way of doing things," Alou said. "Never. Nothing will move that guy."
Home-park milestones
Bonds wanted to get to 700 during the team's last homestand. He hit career homer No. 660 -- to tie godfather Willie Mays -- and also 661 at home earlier this season. He also hit his 500th homer in San Francisco in 2001, and later that season broke Mark McGwire's single-season record by hitting Nos. 71-73 at home the final weekend of the season.
Bonds has 19 career homers against Milwaukee, including four at Miller Park, which opened in 2001. He has also walked 52 times and has a .373 average against the Brewers.
If the Brewers don't pitch to him, Bonds almost certainly will do it when the Giants return to San Francisco on Friday to begin a nine-game homestand with three games against the San Diego Padres.