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 The Giants celebrated the 50th anniversary of their move from New York without the player responsible for the bulk of the team's highlights the past 15 seasons. The team decided not to bring Bonds back after he broke Hank Aaron's career home run record last season, and the slugger remains unsigned.
So far, the post-Bonds era has provided few highlights for the Giants. While the fans were still getting settled following a pregame ceremony that honored Willie Mays, Orlando Cepeda, Felipe Alou and other members of the 1958 team that was the first in San Francisco, the Padres jumped out to an early lead against Matt Cain (0-1).
Tadahito Iguchi doubled with one out in the first and Gonzalez followed with his second homer of the season, an opposite field shot to left-center.
Jim Edmonds added his first of two RBI singles in a three-run third that gave the Padres a 5-1 lead and that figured to be more than enough support for Maddux (1-0) against a team that has only 16 runs and one win through the first seven games of the post-Bonds era.
Maddux gave up one run and three hits in seven innings, and has won six straight decisions against San Francisco since 2003. He retired 19 of his final 20 batters after giving up an RBI single to Bengie Molina in the first
-- the only run the Giants have scored before the fifth inning this season.
Khalil Greene drove in three runs for the Padres with two sacrifice flies and a single.
There was a different feel at the ballpark as the banners honoring record home run No. 756 and the Bonds home run counter were gone. In their place was a plaque honoring Bonds' record-setting homer and a tribute to the four Giants in the 500-homer club: Bonds, Mays, Willie McCovey and Mel Ott.
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The absence of Bonds must have been especially welcome for the Padres, who allowed 87 of the slugger's 762 career home runs
-- more than any other team.
"It's a different look," Padres manager Bud Black said before the game. "He's arguably the best player of all-time. You take him out of the lineup, it has an impact."
So far it's been a negative one as the Giants have struggled to score runs and have matched the worst start since the team moved here in 1958.
Cain allowed five runs -- four earned -- seven hits and five walks in 4 1-3 innings and fell to 0-4 in his last seven starts against the Padres.
Notes: Longtime Giants equipment manager Mike Murphy, who began his tenure with the team as a bat boy in 1958, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. ... Maddux is 29-14 in 50 starts against the Giants. ... Maddux walked two batters in the first, marking the first time he had a pair of unintentional walks in an inning since June 4, 2006, against St. Louis.
[Associated Press; By JOSH DUBOW]
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This
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