"I can't wait," Bonds told MLB.com on Wednesday night after the Giants held on to defeat the San Diego Padres, 3-1, at PETCO Park. "I hope the weather is good. It seems like we've been playing under lousy conditions for the past week. It's sit and wait. Sit and wait. We can't get into a groove, it seems."

Bonds is scheduled to start against the Atlanta Braves at AT&T Park. And it will be the first time since last September he'll play in regular-season games on consecutive days. It's a rare daytime appearance after a night game for the 41-year-old Bonds, who became accustomed to taking the day portion off even before last year's three surgeries on his right knee.

"Later [in the season] I wouldn't do that -- play him in a night game, then the travel to play a 1:05 p.m. game -- but he needs the at-bats," Giants manager Felipe Alou said before Bonds played six innings Wednesday night and came out for a defensive replacement in the bottom of the sixth after the Giants scored three runs to take a 3-0 lead.

Bonds reached base all three times he batted and scored San Francisco's final run. Shawn Estes hit him on the elbow armor to open the second inning and walked him to load the bases in the sixth. The Padres had a defensive shift on when Bonds led off the fourth inning. In one of those awkward plays, Bonds hit a line drive that was one-hopped in short right field by rookie second baseman Josh Barfield. If the infield had been playing in its normal alignment, Bonds would've had a base hit. Instead, Barfield threw wildly past first base and Bonds was safe on the throwing error.

Because of the rain and inflammation in his left elbow, Bonds missed almost the entire last week of Spring Training, save for the final two games, and has shown some rust at the plate. He has been uncommonly anxious, swinging early and often in the count.

"When you're not scoring runs and you're not hitting, you reach a little bit," Bonds said. "But it's early yet. It doesn't matter."

Bonds goes home stuck on 708 career homers, six behind Babe Ruth's 714 and 47 in arrears of Hank Aaron's all-time leading 755. Bonds hasn't hit a homer since this past Sept. 27 at PETCO Park, the last of five he hit in 2005 when he played in only 14 games because of the trio of surgeries and rehab on that damaged right knee.

But AT&T Park is where Bonds has hit most of his landmark homers: career numbers 500, 600, 660, 661 (the latter two to tie and pass Willie Mays for third on the all-time list), 700 and 71-73 in 2001 when he set the single-season record. Last year, he hit the first two of his five home runs in San Francisco, but hasn't hit one there since last Sept. 18.

Last year, when the Giants opened the season at home against the Dodgers, Bonds was on the disabled list and missed Opening Day for the only time in his career, which is now in its 21st season. It was an emotional day for Bonds as the fans gave him a rousing ovation during pregame introductions.

It'll be a far cry Thursday from the last two games in San Diego where the fans have jeered Bonds at every turn. Wednesday night's crowd of 23,721 was much tamer than Monday's sellout. The Padres took extra security precautions and didn't allow patrons to stand in the left-field corner behind clear panels of mesh in the fence where some waved disparaging placards and tossed epithets at Bonds on Monday. Tuesday's game was rained out.

But he expects nothing less than good cheer Thursday when the Giants open a seven-game homestand against the Braves and Houston Astros.

"I'm looking forward to it," Bonds said. "I just want to go home."