E.K. NATION

Couple of runs in the first inning, and we began to get the feeling that it was about to come to a close for the season, and we were right. By the time the Padres got six straight hits in the seventh, we were quite accepting of the fact that we were going to see a team clinch its division live in person for the first time.

So anyway, Pedro hit the fly ball to Ben Johnson to end it, and out came the Padres, celebrating the worst-ever season-long performance by a division champion, but hey, they did what they needed to do, and congrats to them. And good luck in St. Louis...three and out.

One thing about Padres fans: They hate Barry Bonds. Not unusual; he finds enemies in every baseball town. But they hate him so much that when Bonds was lifted for pinch-hitter Todd Linden in the seventh, they booed Linden. They can't even let the spot in the batting order go by without expressing their dissatisfaction with the greatest player of all-time. Either that or they were to dumb to realize that the lefty in the batter's box was not Bonds. But that couldn't be possible, because Padres fans watch the TV screens more than they watch the game. They would have had to see the photo change from Bonds to Linden, right? You would think, and you would also hope.

But anyway, the Padres have four games in which to try to not finish below .500 and not make the postseason as the worst playoff participant ever, including wild card teams. 'Course, it's probably easier for a division champ to be sub-.500 than a wild-card team, but hey. Either way, did I mention...three and out?

The game tonight started off well enough, what with Barry's 3-run jack in the first. The drunken rowdy mini-mob of Giants fans gathering in the back of the right-field bleachers had plenty to say about it. And also about the Padres players. Their chants seemed to go, "What do we think of So-And-So? He's...a...bum!" Security assembled a strike team quickly in case a beer brawl broke out. None did. Padres fans seemed to accept the enemy on their home turf and refused to do much cheering back. Not to counter the Giants fans, or, as it turned out, to express approval of the on-field happenings, unless prompted by the scoreboard's imploring, "Make Some Noise!"

What followed Bonds' home run, an absolute rocket to the opposite field, was a collapse into the ass of reciprocity. "Well, we scored three in the first, I don't see why no one else should get to share in the jollity!" Three different leads in four innings, all given up in record time, the third time coming after J.T. Snow couldn't handle a simple ground ball that would have been the third out of the inning. Next batter: Grand Slam, and for all intents and purposes, Game Over, even though it was only the fourth. (It was frustrating to see that ball go into the short porch jutting out into right field, the only goddamn spot on the field where it would have been a home run.) We could tell, from our lofty perch in the upper deck, that the Giants would be shut down the rest of the night, and they were indeed. Even the few hard-hit grounders that remained were scooped up nicely by the Friars and turned into empty outs.

We also experienced our first Trevor Time, and though we've been a fan of "Hells Bells" for a while now, we will never listen to that song the same way again.

So, four games down, five games left, no more losing. We'll be back at Petco tomorrow. Maybe we will see our first-ever division-clinching ballgame live in person, but we hope not. And wouldn't it be silly to see it actually happen tomorrow: A team clinches the division title on the same day that they reach .500. But maybe those italics were premature: If the Giants win tomorrow, then the Padres could clinch on Thursday with a sub-.500 record. Chilling, isn't it? Wild-card fans, you reap what you sow.

We at E.K. Nation are embarking on a roadtrip today. We will be in San Diego sometime tomorrow and will be in the rightfield bleachers at Petco Park for the Giants-Padres games on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday nights.

We originally had the tickets because of the slight possibility, at the time of purchase, that Barry would be approaching or reaching Hank Aaron's home run record. But now we have a different sort of importance attached to these games. Simply, the Giants must win all four games in San Diego this week to have any realistic shot at winning the division. Going 3-1 in these next four games will leave them two games back in the West with three games to go, a longshot at best. A sweep will tie them with San Diego going into the season-ending series, where the Giants take on Arizona for three at home and the Padres will remain at home for three with the Dodgers.

Fortunately, the Rockies will not be involved in any games that matter. As Giants fans know, everything the Rockies do is bad for the Giants, from caving in to Atlanta in 1993, to Neifi Perez's homer in 1998, to the Astros' season-ending clinch against them last year. So glad to see they are out of the picture.

Yeah, it's not really possible is it? We mean, it's possible, but not probable. Even the presence of the Almighty Barry can't bring us back from these depths. Too bad, isn't it? All we had to do was be, like, five games over .500 for the year and we'd be in the catbird seat, whatever that is.

We will be at the last seven games of the season. Four in San Diego -- the last one of those coming four years to the day after we saw Barry hit #69 at SBC -- and then the last three home games to wrap it up against Arizona. Come on, Giants, stay within seven. Make at least one game meaningful.

Make it a present for our birthday (tomorrow).

So this blog was mentioned in the the Quick Takes column in the Sunday edition of the Chicago Sun-Times. We were as shocked as anyone.

The "704" posted on the scoreboard was a little premature, as it was only a ground-rule double -- "ground-rule" because of the seemingly never-ending chain of morons sitting in the front row of the bleachers at Pac Bell SBC Park. (Seems to us here at E.K. Nation that anyone sitting in the front row should automatically be ejected from the premises. And the fan in question was indeed booted, so, good, you idiot. But we digress.)

And wouldn't you know it? Nobody's singing praises that Barry's back, at least not in the Giants Fan world. Everybody else is saying, "Man, if he'd still been juiced that ball wouldn't have gone only as far as the top of the wall." Upon which we shall throw our sandwiches, complete with messy mustard and mayo tomato slices, at such vocal offenders.

So as it stands, the Giants are back within six games of the Padres in the West. The closer they remain, the happier we will be, not only because we simply want the Giants to win but we would like for there to be additional meaning to the Giants-Padres games we will be attending in San Diego the last week of this month, rather than simply, "Hey, let's go to the old ballpark!" We're hoping to see a division title pursued with vim and vigor, live in person. Hey, we can dream.

• Let's not forget, in the midst of the hoopla surrounding Barry's return, that Matt Kinney tossed 5 2/3 innings of scoreless ball in relief of battered starter Kevin Correia. Nice. In fact the entire relief staff that saw action put up goose eggs.

We kept telling our friends as they set up for kickoff at Candlest--err, 3.com--err, San Francisco Stad--the place where the 49ers play, "Hey, the Niners are gonna win this game." Everyone else in the room said, "You are high." And "No," we said, "we are not, unless by 'high' you mean 'correct'."

True enough, the 49ers got out to an inexplicable -- by 2004 standards -- 28-9 lead. A punt return for a touchdown by rookie Fred--errr, Otis Amey helped set the tone. And they managed to hold on for their first win in regulation time since December of 2003. And for...get this, 49ers fans...

...sole possession of first place.

Yeah, 'd'you see that in the Green today? Well, we didn't, 'cause we're not from San Francisco but anyways. We've no reason to be sheepish about sporting our outdated "GARCIA 5" jersey, at least for a week or so. Until next week when the Niners play the Eagles. Do you believe in miracles? Actually, we don't. Back to Earth next Sunday.

Yes, we here at E.K. Nation guarantee that these are our predictions for the upcoming NFL season! (Not official until kickoff Thursday night. We keep changing them!)

NATIONAL CONFERENCE:

THE DIVISION CHAMPIONS (in order of finish):

THE WILD CARDS:

NFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

def.

AMERICAN CONFERENCE:

THE DIVISION CHAMPIONS:

THE WILD CARDS:

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME:

def.

SUPER BOWL XL:

45, 21.

Anything Jose Cruz Jr. does against the Giants for the rest of his life will be seen by us here at E.K. Nation as complete irony.

Fortunately--if the Giants did indeed have to lose last night on a home run--it was not Jose, who flew out deep to the track to end the eighth, but Jeff Kent who did the damage with a walk-off dong, as the Giants let a late lead slip away again last night. Only this time, the Dodgers didn't give it right back.

We would have liked to have seen Brett Tomko go to the hill in the eighth instead of LaTroy Hawkins, all things being equal. We assume we're not the only Giants fans who cringe a bit when LaTroy takes the mound. Then again, hindisght is of course, 20/20, or 20/200 if you are us.

Having said all this, the Giants have been on a sweet run lately, winning six in a row before last night's loss, and coupled with the Padres' decision to continue being a sucky division leader, the Giants are only five games back with plenty of time left, and not only that, they're in second place now instead of fourth, so all the leap-frogging of the other also-rans has been completed for now. And, just having Barry Bonds back in uniform has been and will continue to be a boon, won't it? We think it will.

Judging from this picture, I think it's safe to say that if Barry is willing to treat a wall as though it were a linebacker, he's more than ready to head out to the field for some D.