Giant Bats Lift S.F. Over Phils

Days like these might tempt Joe Carter to think again about retiring after this season.

"No, that's in stone," Carter said after going 3-for-5 with a double and home run to help the San Francisco Giants beat the Philadelphia Phillies 10-3 Saturday.

"I never said I was going to retire because I couldn't do the job anymore," Carter said. "I've won two championships, and I want one more, but I want to go home and see my kids."

Baltimore figured Carter wasn't going to do the job for the Orioles anymore, shipping him off to the Giants for a minor league pitcher.

"I picked up eight or nine games in the standings coming here," Carter said. "I went from 10 games out in the wild card in Baltimore to one or two games out here. That's an opportunity."

In San Francisco, Carter started in a 1-for-12 slump. But Giants manager Dusty Baker kept waiting for the right time to keep using him. With regular first baseman J.T. Snow nursing a sprained right wrist, now's as good a time an any.

"He's made a living driving in runs," Baker said. "It takes time to adjust to the philosophy of the league and to learn the pitchers. Fortunately, he's facing a lot of the teams that he faced earlier in interleague play."

Carter has two home runs, eight RBIs and a double in his last six games playing part time.

"We have 14 or 15 regular players here," Baker said, "and the only problem is finding enough playing time for them. We just try and go with the best lineup for today."

Phillies rookie pitcher Carlton Loewer (6-6) faced what looked to him like the best lineup he's ever seen. Carter, Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent all homered against him to run up an 8-1 lead by the fourth inning.

"They've got some real experienced hitters," Loewer said. "Some of those guys have really been around awhile. You can't really make a mistake there, especially when you're pitching behind in the count to those guys."

Mark Gardner (11-5) pitched his fourth complete game and is 3-0 in his last six starts since losing 8-5 at Montreal on July 30. He allowed three runs and eight hits, walked one and struck out five.

"We definitely have a lineup that can explode at any time," Gardner said. "I got a good lead early, and it was a matter of going right at people."

Wendell Magee homered in his first at-bat since rejoining the Phillies from the minors to put Philadelphia up 1-0 in the second.

But Carter tied it in the bottom of the inning with a leadoff homer off Loewer (6-6).

The Giants broke it open with five runs in the third.

Bonds hit his 28th homer of the season, a two-run shot that gave the Giants a 3-1 lead. Kent singled and scored on a double by Carter, Brent Mayne it an RBI double and Gardner had a two-out RBI single to make it 6-1.

Loewer was sent back out to pitch the fourth, but lasted only three batters. Mueller hit a leadoff double and scored one out later on Kent's 24th homer of the season, giving the Giants an 8-1 lead.

"Every time he (Loewer) goes out, it's a learning experience," Phillies manager Terry Francona said.

Loewer gave up eight runs, all earned, and nine hits in just 3 1-3 innings. He walked two and struck out one.

Rico Brogna drove in two runs for the Phillies on a solo homer in the sixth and an RBI double in the eighth.

Ellis Burks' sacrifice fly off Ken Ryan in the sixth scored the ninth Giants' run.

Notes: