[ MAJOR LEAGUE BASEBALL ]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Waipahu alumnus Jerome Williams won his third straight start for the San Francisco Giants last night, beating the Cardinals 4-1.
Williams wins
third straight
ST. LOUIS >> So far, the National League Championship Series rematch has been no contest.
Barry Bonds homered twice and scored three times, leading rookie Jerome Williams and the San Francisco Giants over the St. Louis Cardinals 4-1 last night.
The NL West-leading Giants, who needed five games to defeat the Cardinals in the NLCS, have won three straight in a series that ends today. The Cardinals lead the NL in hitting, but have been held to exactly one run for three games in a row.
"As long as the game's been played, if you pitch well you stop the hitting," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "That's why people try to get good pitching, because that's the most consistent part of the game. That, and defense."
Williams (3-1), a 1999 Waipahu High graduate, has won his last three starts, the first two in interleague play, including a seven-hit shutout of Oakland in his last start on June 27. He had thrown 15 consecutive scoreless innings before the Cardinals scored in the seventh on two hits, a walk and Mike Matheny's double-play ball to cut the gap to 3-1.
Williams allowed four hits and struck out seven in six-plus innings.
"He did it again," manager Felipe Alou said. "He settled down after the first-inning jitters and threw some big, big corner strikes."
Tim Worrell got the last three outs for his 18th save in 22 chances.
Bonds has 637 career home runs, 23 behind Willie Mays for third on the lifetime list. Bonds had his 63rd multihomer game, moving past Hank Aaron and matching Mays for third place.
Bonds hit his 460th homer for the Giants on a low liner to right leading off the fourth against Garrett Stephenson, passing Mays for second since the franchise moved to San Francisco and pulling within eight of Willie McCovey for first overall.
"I can't complain about it," Stephenson said. "I thought he was out front a little bit at least, and he still hit a line drive that hit the back wall of the bullpen."
Bonds didn't have much to say after the game because he's upset about critical comments he made about Pujols last week. Bonds, in an interview with the San Francisco Chronicle, said that Pujols was not the next Bonds because he doesn't have good speed and hasn't settled on one position.
"I didn't like being misquoted on the Albert Pujols situation," Bonds said. "That's all I have to say."
Bonds hit his 24th homer of the season off Jason Isringhausen leading off the ninth. The homer was the first allowed by Isringhausen since Aug. 22, 2001, a stretch of 81 games and 88 2/3 innings. Bonds was 0-for-11 lifetime against Isringhausen before the homer.
"I threw a fastball up and away to try and set up the curveball," Isringhausen said. "It didn't work."
Giants 4, Cardinals 1
San Francisco AB R H BI BB SO Avg. NPerez 2b 4 0 1 0 0 0 .279 Aurilia ss 4 0 0 0 0 1 .254 Grissom cf 4 0 0 0 0 0 .300 Bonds lf 3 3 2 2 1 0 .307 BSantiago c 4 1 1 0 0 1 .291 JoCruz rf 3 0 1 0 1 0 .260 Feliz 1b 1 0 0 1 1 0 .255 Nathan p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 FRodriguez p 0 0 0 0 0 0 1.000 c-Santos ph 1 0 0 0 0 0 .273 Worrell p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .000 Alfonzo 3b 2 0 0 1 1 0 .228 JeWilliams p 2 0 0 0 0 2 .000 Eyre p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Galarraga 1b 2 0 0 0 0 0 .303 Totals 30 4 5 4 4 4 St. Louis AB R H BI BB SO Avg. Hart 2b 2 0 1 0 1 0 .400 OPalmeiro rf 2 0 0 0 2 0 .277 Eldred p 0 0 0 0 0 0 .500 Isringhausen p 0 0 0 0 0 0 --- Pujols lf 4 0 1 0 0 1 .379 Edmonds cf 3 0 0 0 1 1 .305 Rolen 3b 4 0 0 0 0 1 .288 Renteria ss 4 1 1 0 0 0 .333 TMartinez 1b 3 0 1 0 1 1 .286 Widger c 2 0 0 0 0 2 .095 a-Robinson ph-rf 2 0 1 0 0 0 .220 Stephenson p 2 0 1 0 0 1 .194 b-Matheny ph-c 2 0 0 0 0 0 .270
Totals 30 1 6 0 5 7 San Francisco 010 100 101 -- 4 5 0 St. Louis 000 000 100 -- 1 6 0
a-singled for Widger in the 7th. b-grounded into double play for Stephenson in the 7th. c-grounded out for Rodriguez in the 9th.
LOB--San Francisco 5, St. Louis 8. 2B--BSantiago (10), JoCruz (15). HR--Bonds 2 (24), off Isringhausen, Stephenson. RBIs--Bonds 2 (50), Feliz (26), Alfonzo (30). SB--Renteria (18). SF--Feliz, Alfonzo. GIDP--Pujols, Rolen, Matheny.
Runners left in scoring position--San Francisco 2 (JeWilliams, Galarraga); St. Louis 5 (Hart, OPalmeiro, Rolen, Renteria).
Runners moved up--JoCruz, Santos.
DP--San Francisco 3 (Alfonzo, NPerez and Feliz), (NPerez and Galarraga), (FRodriguez, NPerez and Galarraga).
San Francisco IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA JeWilliams W, 3-1 6 4 1 1 3 7 113 3.35 Eyre 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 3.38 Nathan H, 9 1 0 0 0 1 0 8 4.00 FRodriguez H, 14 1 1 0 0 1 0 26 3.52 Worrell S, 18 1 0 0 0 0 0 9 1.64 St. Louis IP H R ER BB SO NP ERA Stephenson L, 4-8 7 2 3 3 3 3 102 4.29 Eldred 1 1 0 0 0 0 13 4.59 Isringhausen 1 2 1 1 1 1 19 1.08
JeWilliams pitched to 2 batters in the 7th, Eyre pitched to 1 batter in the 7th.
Inherited runners-scored--Nathan 3-1, Eyre 2-0.
HBP--by JeWilliams (Hart).
Umpires--Home, Ed Rapuano; First, Brian Knight; Second, Mark Carlson; Third, Gerry Davis.
T--3:01. A--33,835 (50,354).
