Series against Pujols is HR rated

Albert Pujols comes to San Francisco with 22 homers this season.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) -- Barry Bonds and Albert Pujols: The aging slugger against his heir apparent.
How about that for adding to the intrigue of Bonds' pursuit to pass the Babe?
Bonds' quest to move past Babe Ruth and into sole possession of second place on the career home run list is headed for San Francisco, where the Giants open a three-game series tonight against Pujols and the St. Louis Cardinals.
Bonds went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and an intentional walk and Matt Cain pitched a one-hitter in the Giants' anticlimactic 6-0 victory over the Oakland Athletics on Sunday. Bonds remained at 714 home runs a day after connecting for a solo shot to tie Ruth for second behind home run king Hank Aaron's 755.
Relief
"I'm just glad it's over with and you guys can watch Albert Pujols now, because he's doing some wonderful things," Bonds said of Pujols, who hit his major league-leading 22nd homer Sunday with a solo shot in a 10-3 win at Kansas City.
Pujols homered for the third straight game and reached 22 homers in only 44 games, the second-fewest in baseball history. Bonds did it in 43 games in 2001 on the way to 73 homers and breaking Mark McGwire's single-season record of 70.
The Giants are playing some of their best baseball -- and looked good through the rain that fell for most of Sunday's contest.
Mark Sweeney hit a two-run double, Randy Winn singled in two runs and Ray Durham drove in a run on a groundout to help Cain (2-5) end a three-game losing streak. Cain got his second career complete game and first shutout, and San Francisco took two of three in the Bay Bridge Series to win its second straight series after sweeping the defending NL champion Houston Astros last week.
Bonds was intentionally walked for the 20th time this season -- his 43rd free pass overall -- in the first with runners on second and third with one out, and he quickly shed his protective body armor and handed it off to his 16-year-old son, bat boy Nikolai.
Other at-bats
The slugger singled to center in the fourth and scored on Sweeney's double, grounded out in the fifth, then lined a single to right in the seventh. When he was lifted for pinch-hitter Dan Ortmeier in the ninth, the fans booed loudly and many made a mad rush for the exits.
The Giants' pitchers will have to try to slow down Pujols, who also is tops in the majors with 53 RBIs, 56 runs scored and 118 total bases. He already had a four-game homer streak this season between April 15-18.
It should be a fun series if Bonds keeps hitting.
Slowly, he seems to be finding his old stroke again -- so there's a good chance he will hit his next milestone home run at home after all as he has so many times before.
The 41-year-old Bonds has hit three homers in 14 career at-bats -- two homers in the last three ABs -- against St. Louis lefty Mark Mulder (5-1), who starts tonight for St. Louis.
Bonds has hit most of his other milestone home runs in San Francisco: 500, 600, 700 along with 660 and 661 to tie and pass godfather Willie Mays. In 2001, Bonds hit the final three of his 73 homers at home to break McGwire's mark.
Significance
Bonds and many others considered 714 a bigger accomplishment than actually passing Ruth, the same way the slugger treated 660 to tie Mays for third place on the career list two years ago.
"What I've seen so far, 714 is more important," Giants manager Felipe Alou said before the game. "To me, 715 because it might give us a win. All the expectations, all the articles -- I don't believe there will be so many articles and cameras for 715. If there are, I better find myself a place to hide somewhere. Everybody is talking about 714."
Copyright 2006 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.