San Francisco ? Barry Bonds put to rest all the talk about his postseason failures last October. Now, there’s only one thing left for baseball’s most feared slugger to do: Win it all.

Last year’s near miss ate at Bonds all offseason, and he showed up at spring training vowing that his San Francisco Giants would play for another World Series title if he had anything to do with it.

He’s done plenty to make that a possibility.

The NL West champion Giants will begin their quest today when they open the best-of-five division series against the wild-card Florida Marlins at Pacific Bell Park. Jason Schmidt, a 17-game winner with the league’s lowest ERA, starts Game 1 against Florida’s Josh Beckett, who’s making his playoff debut.

Beckett hinted he would walk Bonds if necessary.

“So many guys have tried and so many have been so unsuccessful. Why be another victim?” Beckett said Monday. “You play for the tie with him.”

Marlins manager Jack McKeon plans to pitch around Bonds, saying “He’s one of the most outstanding players in the history of the game.”

“If Barry was hitting behind himself, he wouldn’t get pitched to,” Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia said. “Saying you’re not going to pitch to him is fine. It means more times that he’s on base for us to get him home.”

The 39-year-old Bonds has had another remarkable year, hitting .341 with 45 homers and finishing two shy of tying his godfather, Willie Mays, for third on the career homer list at 660.

San Francisco's Barry Bonds, left, chats with Florida rookie pitcher Dontrelle Willis during a workout Monday in San Francisco. The Giants will meet the Marlins today.

The Giants lost the World Series to Anaheim in seven games last year after coming within six outs from the title in Game 6. After an offseason that saw many key players leave and manager Dusty Baker take over the Chicago Cubs, the Giants have done just fine with all the new additions to their lineup — center fielder Marquis Grissom, right fielder Jose Cruz Jr., third baseman Edgardo Alfonzo and second baseman Ray Durham.

“It’s a scary team,” Durham said.

Former Giants outfielder Felipe Alou replaced the popular Baker and San Francisco finished with 100 wins for the first time in 10 years.

The Marlins are back in the playoffs for the first time since 1997, when they swept the Giants in the opening round on the way to winning the World Series, then sold off their team and rebuilt the franchise.

The Giants went 5-1 against Florida this year, sweeping three games in Miami in May — 4-2, 3-2 and 3-2 –and winning two of three at San Francisco in August.

“I don’t care, we’re going to beat them no matter what happens,” 38-year-old Giants catcher Benito Santiago said.