Bonds Left Five Homers from New History

The great record is at close hand.

`Slugger` Barry Bonds (37, San Francisco Giants) is running for the single season home run record. Bonds hammered two solo homers, victimizing a rookie pitcher Jason Middlebrook in game with the San Diego Padres on 24th.

With two solos, Bonds marked his 66th, just 4 behind the 1998 single season home run record of Mark McGwire (St. Louis Cardinals), 70 home runs. And he tied with the second most home runs set by Sammy Sosa (Chicago Cups) in 1998.

While McGwire reached 66 home runs in 161 games, Bonds recorded his 66th in 150 games. Thus, it seems that he will break the McGwire`s record in 12 remaining games without any difficulty.

And as Bonds blasted 34 home runs in away games, he broke the single-season record for most home runs on the road (32 homers) set by Babe Ruth in 1927 and McGwire in 1998.

Expressing gratitude to Gwynn for some pregame coaching, Bonds said that ``I have concentrated on maintaining my normal batting sense rather than the excessive confidence.``

Hitting a homer at 6.8 bats, Bonds is scheduled to play a three-game series with the LA Dodgers starting on 25th. Since Park Chan-Ho plans to start on 26th, a match between a big slugger and a great pitcher is likely to draw much attention.

With the help of Bonds` long shots, San Francisco defeated 11-2 San Diego.

Meanwhile, Sammy Sosa recorded his 58th with three homers facing the Houston Astros, running again the second place in the home run race following 1998.

In this game, Sosa became the first ML player who hit three homers in a game three times in a single season.

However, in spite of Sosa`s one-man show, the Chicago Cups was defeated 6-7 by Houston`s game ending two-run homer.

Kim Jong-Seok kjs0123@donga.com