Bonds Doesn’t Get Wild After Clincher

While the rest of the San Francisco Giants drenched each other with bubbly, beer and water, Barry Bonds stood quietly in a corner with a towel wrapped around his neck.

Although Bonds hit the splash homer that propelled the Giants into the playoffs with a 5-2 victory over the Houston Astros on Saturday at Pacific Bell Park, he is reserving all his excitement for a later date.

“I’ve been here, done it--seven times,” Bonds said. “I want to win the World Series.”

It was Bonds’ fifth-inning homer and pinch-hitter Tom Goodwin’s two-run double in the seventh that sent the Giants on their way to clinching the National League wild card with their seventh consecutive victory.

Bonds’ 46th homer and the 613th of his career landed in McCovey Cove.

Houston and San Francisco set a major league record for a nine-inning game by using eight pitchers apiece.

The Giants will play NL East champion Atlanta in the first round of the playoffs starting Wednesday at Turner Field.

Arizona 17, Colorado 8--Matt Williams and Steve Finley each homered twice at Phoenix, where the defending World Series champions hit five home runs to clinch the NL West.

Arizona will face NL Central champion St. Louis in the first round of the playoffs starting Tuesday. The Diamondbacks lead St. Louis by one game in the race for home-field advantage, but the Cardinals hold the tiebreaker if the teams finish with identical records.

St. Louis 3, Milwaukee 1-- Chuck Finley earned the 200th victory of his career and kept the host Cardinals in the hunt for home-field advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

The Brewers tied a franchise record with their 55th road loss.

Atlanta 5, New York 2--Chipper Jones reached 100 runs batted in for the seventh consecutive season, John Smoltz got his 55th save, two short of Bobby Thigpen’s major league record, and Vinny Castilla hit a two-run homer at New York.

Chicago 5, Pittsburgh 4-- Bobby Hill’s single drove in the winning run, capping a two-run, ninth-inning rally at Chicago.

Philadelphia 9, Florida 3-- Placido Polanco and Bobby Abreu hit consecutive doubles in a five-run third inning at Miami.

Montreal 6, Cincinnati 0-- Vladimir Guerrero had three hits but remained one homer shy of a 40-40 season when his third-inning drive landed directly on top of the right-field wall at Montreal before bouncing back on the field for a run-scoring single.

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AMERICAN LEAGUE

Oakland 10, Texas 8--Miguel Tejada homered twice and the A’s rallied from a five-run deficit at Arlington, Texas.

The A’s remained a half-game behind New York in the competition for home-field advantage through the American League playoffs.

New York 4, Baltimore 2-- Bernie Williams had three hits and two RBIs at Baltimore, and the Yankees won their fourth in a row.

Williams has 204 hits, improving on his team season record by a switch-hitter. He had 202 in 1999.

Cleveland 6, Kansas City 5-- Jim Thome tied the score with his 52nd homer, a three-run drive in the eighth, and Ellis Burks hit a grounder that went for an error and scored the winning run in the 10th at Cleveland.

Toronto 10, Detroit 2--Carlos Delgado hit his 10th home run in September, and the host Blue Jays won their sixth in a row, matching their season high.

Tampa Bay 9, Boston 6--Boston’s Manny Ramirez doubled twice at Fenway Park to improve his league-leading batting average to .349.

Minnesota 3, Chicago 2-- Bobby Kielty hit a two-run homer in the eighth to lead the Twins at Minneapolis.

Eddie Guardado earned his 45th save.

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As expected, Florida outfielder Tim Raines, 43, a seven-time All-Star, announced his retirement. He had 808 stolen bases in 23 seasons, eighth all-time.