SAN FRANCISCO - The pitcher of record Sunday was irony.
It was the San Francisco Giants' bullpen and defense that broke down late in the game this time - not the Dodgers' - and reluctant reliever Odalis Perez got the victory in his first bullpen appearance since 2001 as the Dodgers beat the Giants, 6-3.
Perez let a 2-1 Dodgers lead slip away but wound up tying Brett Tomko for the team lead in victories (four) when the Dodgers rallied in the eighth.
"After a game like that one (Saturday), it's a feeling of relief to get through a day like (Sunday)," Dodgers manager Grady Little said.
Relief is not a word Little should feel comfortable tossing around after watching Danys Baez blow a three-run lead in the ninth inning Saturday - his fourth blown save in his past six appearances and the 12th of the Dodgers' 19 losses this season charged to a reliever.
But after Jae Seo held the Giants to one run on three hits through six innings, Little's search for dependability led to an odd place - Perez. The left-hander was demoted to the bullpen after two horrific starts and hadn't pitched since May 2.
"Where else can a guy get some confidence back and get rolling if it's not in a winning situation like that?" Little said. "To me, that's a positive situation to get him back on track."
It wasn't a winning situation right away. Perez gave up a double to Pedro Feliz and an RBI single to Mike Matheny that tied the game at 2-2.
"It was weird, first time to be pitching out of the bullpen in five years,"
Perez said. "But if it's going to be the chance I'm going to get until I go back in the rotation, then I'll try to do the job."
A three-game series-record attendance of 128,733 for the six-year-old stadium showed up out of hatred for the Dodgers and hope for history this weekend. But Barry Bonds went 0 for 8 with four walks in the series.
Looking older with every swing, Bonds is now hitless in his past 15 at-bats and 1for 19 since hitting his 713th career home run a week ago.
"I gotta say that last at-bat, he looked slow," Giants manager Felipe Alou said before wearying of the daily dissection of everything Bonds.
"I'm not going to talk anymore on Barry today."
More than his bat speed, it was Bonds' lack of mobility - and motivation - on defense that proved costly for the Giants on Sunday.
After reliever Steve Kline walked Ramon Martinez and gave up a single to Rafael Furcal to start the eighth, Kenny Lofton laid down a sacrifice bunt.
Kline fielded it near the third-base line and threw to third to try to force Martinez.
But Kline's throw was high and went off the glove of shortstop Omar Vizquel into left field - where Bonds had moved with all the alacrity of his godfather's statue outside the Willie Mays Gate.
Martinez scored, and Furcal came all the way around from first base to score as Vizquel scrambled to retrieve the ball. Lofton wound up at second base and scored on the next play to make it 5-2, never hesitating as he rounded third on Nomar Garciaparra's single to Bonds in left.
