A power failure struck downtown San Francisco this afternoon, ironically including the headquarters of Pacific Gas and Electric, and extending through the South of Market district to AT&T Park and the CalTrain station.

Of course, there are some who say there’s been a problem with power at AT&T Park all summer long.

Perhaps Barry Bonds — who celebrates his 43rd birthday today — will help alleviate the problem, at least for one night, by hitting a couple of balls into the bay. Assuming they get the electricity on in time for the game at 7:15 pm tonight, that is.

Bonds already got one present today — if you want to call it that. An ex-girlfriend, Kimberly Bell, will discuss her relationship with Bonds for Playboy this fall — and pose naked. Her interview will cover testimony she gave the grand jury investigating whether Bonds lied to them about whether he used steroids. As for the photos:

The photo shoot “was one of the most liberating experiences of my life.”

Update: Laughing Squid (via BoingBoing) said the outage affected several high-profile web services, including Craigslist, Technorati and Netflix.