The Giants’ ballpark was rocking tonight as the team returned home to face the St. Louis Cardinals, with Barry Bonds poised to surpass Babe Ruth in the category of — as the scoreboard had it — the most home runs by a left-handed batter.

Yeah, Barry hit one — base hit, a single, as most of his hits have been for the last few weeks. Just this morning Scott Ostler of the Chronicle joked that now that Barry has reached Ruthian home run totals, his next quest will be to tie Pete Rose’s base hits record (only 1500 to go).

The real story, as yesterday when Matt Cain one-hit the A’s, was the Giants young starting pitching. Jamey Wright was not quite as sharp as Cain, but he scattered six hits and just two walks across 8 innings, aided by a couple stellar double plays in the 7th and the 8th.

Then in the bottom of the 8th, the Giants blew it open beginning with a walk to Bonds, eventually loading the bases and chasing Cardinals reliever Tyler Johnson (no outs, three earned runs for the night). Batting for Wright, Mark Sweeney unclogged the bases with a two-run double, and a couple batters later Omar Visquel smacked a two-run homer into the right-field pavilion to make it an 8-1 game.

Only problem? Half the crowd left in the top of the 8th when Barry walked and was removed for a pinch-runner. So they missed all the excitement. Bottom line: the Giants have won six of their last seven, and they are exciting right now, with or without Bonds.

Related posts:

1. A Giant Sucking Sound: 4-6 road trip, then swept at home
2. A Giant Sucking Sound: Lost in the Fog
3. Barry has surgery, is fine with sitting next year
4. Bonds breaks home run record
5. A Giant Sucking Sound: The pain of Cain