Bond-Less Giants Sweep Marlins

Seems like Barry Bonds picked the right time to serve his suspension. Even without him, the Giants swept the Florida Marlins.

"We got the best of both worlds; we won without Barry, and he got a well-deserved and unplanned rest," San Francisco manager Dusty Baker said Sunday after San Francisco won 3-2 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Bonds served the suspension for charging the mound against Philadelphia's Ricky Bottalico Aug. 2.

"Fortunately, we don't have a penalty box in baseball," said Orel Hershiser (9-8), who pitched six strong innings for his first win since July 15. "Even without Barry, we're able to play someone else in right field. It's not like hockey."

Oddly enough, the Giants are 5-2 this year when Bonds is out of the lineup.

"I wouldn't want to play long stretches of time without him," Baker said. "It helped that we were in low-scoring ballgames. It starts with the pitching. It would be tough to win without him in an offensive ballgame."

Giants pitchers allowed just five runs in three games to the Marlins, who were 4-for-33 with runners in scoring position during the series.

"Terrible at-bats. Terrible," Florida manager Jim Leyland said.

It wasn't so bad in the first, when the Hershiser's first six pitches resulted in four hits, including an RBI single by Derrek Lee that put the Marlins ahead.

With the bases loaded, Hershiser then retired Cliff Floyd on a liner to right, got Kevin Orie on a popout and retired Gregg Zaun on groundout.

"When Foyd hit that ball," Hershiser said, "he probably hit it to the only point of the park where someone could catch it."

Hershiser survived 10 hits and a walk, allowing two runs in six innings with six strikeouts. He had been 0-1 with four no-decisions since winning July 15 at Los Angeles.

San Francisco took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half against Jesus Sanchez (6-7) on Jeff Kent's RBI double and Charlie Hayes' run-scoring single.

Sanchez left after 3 1-3 innings. He bruised a finger of his left half while fouling off a pitch in the fourth.

"I did it while I was trying to bunt," Sanchez said. "I could throw my fastball all right, but the curveball was a problem."

Singles by Stan Javier and Ellis Burks and another RBI double by Kent made it 3-1 in the fifth against Brian Edmondson. But the Giants missed a chance at a big inning.

Javier was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Hayes' grounder to second baseman Luis Castillo, Joe Carter popped out to second, and Rich Aurilia grounded out.

Kevin Orie homered leading off the sixth. Robb Nen got three outs for his 31st save.

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