SAN FRANCISCO -- The Los Angeles Dodgers got a big effort from almost every player during the weekend. The San Francisco Giants had Barry Bonds.
As well as Bonds played, it still wasn't enough.
Bonds homered twice and drove in five runs Sunday, giving him four home runs in the series, but the Dodgers completed a three-game sweep with a 7-6 victory.
"What I saw over the weekend was reminiscent of a lot of what I saw when he had that rampage in 2001," Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said. "He doesn't get many pitches to hit and when he does he's not fouling the ball off. He's either hitting a vicious line drive or hitting a home run."
While Bonds hit a record 73 home runs that season, it was also the only year of the last four that the Giants failed to make the playoffs. If he doesn't get more help soon, San Francisco could be in trouble again.
"In baseball, no one man carries the team," Bonds said. "We're just not doing it when we need to."
After getting timely hits and making productive outs to win the first two games, Los Angeles used the longball in the finale.
Adrian Beltre, Juan Encarnacion and David Ross homered in a four-pitch span of the fifth inning against Brett Tomko (0-1) to lead Los Angeles to its first sweep in San Francisco since April 2000.
"Every year we come up here and they always beat us," Beltre said. "It's good to get the first series out of the way. Hopefully, we can keep doing it."
Jeff Weaver (1-1) allowed five runs in five-plus innings for his first win with the Dodgers, who have won five straight and nine of 12 for their best start since 1983.
Eric Gagne struck out three in the ninth for his fifth save of the season and record 68th straight since Aug. 28, 2002.
Bonds has homered in all five games he's started this homestand to give him seven on the season and 665 for his career -- 50 from passing Babe Ruth for second place and 90 shy of Hank Aaron's all-time record. Bonds is 11-for-15 with six homers and 13 RBI on the homestand, raising his average to .500 this season.
Bonds tied a career high with four hits, hitting an RBI double in the first inning and a run-scoring single in the seventh. He also had his 65th multihomer game, moving within two of Mark McGwire for second place all-time. Ruth holds the record with 72.
"This is the first time I've ever seen him up close," Weaver said. "There's no question he's the best I've ever seen. It's really unbelievable."
Last year, the Dodgers came to San Francisco in April and were swept by the Giants, who cruised to the NL West title by 15½ games over Los Angeles. The Dodgers hope to create similar momentum with this sweep.
They withstood late homers by Bonds in the first two games to win by one run each time, then held on again Sunday. With a runner on first, Gagne fanned Marquis Grissom to end it -- the second straight game that ended with Bonds in the on-deck circle.
"Obviously, everybody and his brother knew that Barry Bonds was on deck," said Ross, the catcher. "But I'm not looking over my shoulder. We're just trying to get the guy out at the plate."
Bonds' first homer gave the Giants a 2-1 lead in the fourth. That might have been enough against the Dodgers last year. But the lowest-scoring team in the majors in 2003 has shown some pop early this season, evidenced by a six-run sixth inning.
Dave Roberts started the outburst with a one-out single and scored the tying run on Cesar Izturis' double. With a runner on third and two outs, Giants manager Felipe Alou called for an intentional walk to Shawn Green.
The move backfired when Beltre hit an opposite-field shot that barely cleared the right-field wall for his fourth homer of the season.
Two pitches later, Encarnacion homered over Bonds' head in left field to make it 6-2. Ross hit the next pitch into the left-field seats, prompting boos from the sellout crowd.
But Bonds and the Giants were far from done. After Grissom hit an RBI double in the sixth, Bonds followed with a shot to left-center that cut it to 7-5.
The Giants then loaded the bases with no outs, but reliever Duaner Sanchez got Neifi Perez on a shallow fly to center and pinch-hitter Pedro Feliz to hit into a double play to preserve the lead.
Bonds added an RBI single in the seventh to cut it to 7-6, but Tom Martin escaped a first-and-third, one-out jam when he got A.J. Pierzynski to hit into a double play. San Francisco hit into seven double plays the last two games.
"We've got to turn it up a notch to be better than we are," Alou said. "We had opportunities to score but there were situations where we popped the ball up or hit into a double play."
Notes
- Weaver became the 394th pitcher Bonds has homered off in his career.
- The last time the Dodgers hit three consecutive homers also was against the Giants, last Sept. 21, when Robin Ventura, Beltre and Jeromy Burnitz did it.
- The Giants went 13-6 against the Dodgers last season, including 8-2 at home.
- Tomko allowed seven runs and 11 hits in 4 2/3 innings.
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