Walk him? Maybe worse. Giants' batters, following a Bonds walk, are hitting .355 with six homers and 42 RBIs this season, which includes Ray Durham's two-run blast Saturday.
Three batters after walking Bonds in the sixth inning, Marshall was headed toward the showers, even though he had allowed only three hits over the first five innings.
But the story of the day was Bonds, with his 20th homer of the season and 728th of his career, leaving him 27 short of Hank Aaron's all-time record with 26 games to play.
"He has hit a whole bunch out of the park like he did [Saturday]," said Cubs manager Dusty Baker, who has seen more than a bunch of them as Giants manager for a decade.
"You just hate to have it marred by what's happening right now (with a grand jury investigation involving steroids, perjury and tax evasion). But this guy has been great all his life since he was a little kid. Yeah, I appreciate it, I just wish he wouldn't do it against us."
Actually, Bonds hadn't hit a home run against the Cubs since April 30, 2003, which is longer than it sounds because it covered only 11 games. The one Saturday came in the fourth inning, a mighty poke into the right-field bleachers that a fan returned to the field.
Actually, until falling apart in the sixth inning with the walk and home runs to Durham and Moises Alou, Marshall had done quite well in his first start since July 22 after three rehab starts.
This is cache, read story here