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"It just so happened that I was taking (Barry) Zito out and (Jonathan) Sanchez came in and I knew I was going to have Sanchez for two or three innings," Bochy said. "It was the perfect double-switch for (Bonds*).
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"At the same time, he had just broken the home run record and what he was going through emotionally ... in my mind, I said it's time to get him off the field."
The game was a microcosm of the Giants' flaws this season: They must handle the 43-year-old Bonds* with special care; Zito, the $126 million pitcher, cannot hold a lead; the team is old and the lineup is a couple of bats short.
You didn't need to be a licensed general manager to see this coming.
But another chapter the Giants cannot avoid in the post-756 phase is coming quickly, too: Bonds*, a free agent this winter, is adamant about playing next season.
He is 84 hits away from 3,000. Be it that, the quest to win his first World Series ring, his love for the game or simply a stubborn refusal to be pushed away, the Bonds*-San Francisco relationship could turn uncomfortably contentious this winter.
His motivation for wanting to return in 2008 at age 44?
"Because my numbers are good enough to play," he said. "When I feel that I can't compete at this level, that's when it's time to shut it down. I want to keep playing and whatever happens, happens. My numbers are still good enough to play."
Legendary Hall of Famer Willie Mays noted a mere couple of hours before his godson passed Hank Aaron on Tuesday that Bonds* seemingly has become more approachable and user-friendly in recent days.
"I try to be around him, make sure he does the right thing," Mays said. "I think just looking at him in the last three weeks or month, he's been good with (the media).
"I think he's trying to do the right thing. I don't know what happened. I'm just telling you what I see."
It was a happy, if weary, Bonds* who reported for duty Wednesday. He seemed touched by his conversation with Bush.
"He said congratulations, and it was great having my kids and family there," Bonds* said. "His father was famous as well, and he understood the importance of my father. He said it was an outstanding achievement.
"I have a lot of friends in the service. They speak highly of him, and I wanted to let him know that as well."
He said that 3,000 hits is definitely a goal ("I haven't gotten there yet, but I want it") but that pumping up his home run total from here on out isn't.
"I'm not trying to set any bars," he said. "Alex (Rodriguez) will break my record. Alex is a great player.
"He's young enough to catch anybody. I'm rooting for him. He got through the first one (when he hit his 500th homer last weekend). Each one is a little tougher."
Bonds* -- who was in the Giants lineup in the customary fourth slot Wednesday night and hit his 757th career home run -- said it will not bother him when A-Rod or anybody else approaches his numbers.
"I'm satisfied with what I've accomplished," he said. "I'm not jealous of anybody."
He said he personally carried his bat, uniform and spikes home from No. 756. He did not, he said, bring home the man in charge of authenticating the memorabilia for Major League Baseball.
"My stuff will be insured within 24 hours," he said.
If only insurance could come that quickly to the Giants.
Instead, the long, slow slog toward oblivion in 2007 is all that's left
The parade is over. The cleaning up will continue for quite some time.
