Los Angeles ? Barry Bonds is hitting the ball so hard, there’s only one way to stop him outfielders in the bleachers.

A season after launching a record 73 home runs, Bonds is at it again. In his first two games: four homers.

San Francisco's barry Bonds is just the second player to hit four home runs in the first two games of the season. Eddie Mathews did it for the Milwaukee Braves in 1958.

“They’ll get you out the majority of the time,” Bonds said. “They have eight guys in the field who can stop the line drive.”

It hasn’t worked against him so far.

On Wednesday night, Bonds joined Hall of Famer Eddie Mathews as the only players in history to open a season with a pair of two-homer games. Mathews did it for the Milwaukee Braves in 1958.

Last year, the San Francisco slugger homered on opening day, but didn’t hit his second homer until the Giants’ ninth game, triggering a streak where he connected in four straight games and seven of eight.

“He’s amazing,” Giants pitcher Kirk Rueter said. “Right now, it looks like every time he’s up he’s going to hit a home run or hit it hard.

“Watching him last year, I don’t think anything surprises the guys,” he said.

The 37-year-old San Francisco slugger set five big league records last season with his 73 homers along with 177 walks, an .863 slugging percentage, 15.34 home runs per 100 at-bats and one homer every 6.52 at-bats.

The four-time MVP also had a .515 on-base percentage.

Bonds homered in the first and fourth innings Wednesday night as the Giants pounded the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-0. A day earlier, he connected in the second and seventh innings in a 9-2 victory. In both cases, he came out of the game after his second homer.

His last three homers were tape-measure jobs, traveling an estimated 447, 443 and 459 feet.

“He’s on a pace for 324,” teammate J.T. Snow said. “Really, nothing else need be said.”

Bonds entered Thursday night’s game against Los Angeles with 571 homers two behind Harmon Killebrew for sixth on the career list. He was 2-for-3 with one homer against Dodgers starter Odalis Perez.

After popping out in his first at-bat Tuesday, Bonds reached base seven straight times with the four homers, an RBI single and two walks, one intentional.

“I just try to see it and hit it,” Bonds explained. “I’m strong enough to hit it out of the ballpark. I’m just trying to stay consistent and make contact.”

While Bonds has a reputation for being moody and distant, he’s been most pleasant in three lengthy sessions with the media after the first game Tuesday and before and after the second game Wednesday night.

Patiently and often smiling, he answered every question thrown his way.

“I’m not playing baseball to climb totem poles here, I’m playing to go to the World Series,” he said. “I saw Reggie Sanders’ World Series ring in the locker room, that was kind of emotional for me.”

Sanders joined the Giants this season after hitting 33 homers in helping the Arizona Diamondbacks win the World Series last fall.

Bonds has been a playoff bust with a .196 batting average, one homer and six RBIs in 97 at-bats. His teams have played in five postseason series and lost all five.

Bonds said he never thought he’d reach 500 career homers, and doesn’t feel like he belongs with the legends of baseball just yet.

“I still feel like I have a lot to offer,” he said, and having signed a five-year, $90 million contract with the Giants in the offseason, that’s certainly how it appears.

Dodgers manager Jim Tracy said following the opener that Bonds was “arguably making a case as maybe the best player ever.”

The way he’s going, it’s difficult to take issue with such an opinion.

“You feel honored by anyone making positive statements toward you, you do have to be gratified by it,” Bonds said. “I don’t think you ever get accustomed to all the attention. It’s been kind of crazy for me. Just two years ago, I was kind of written off.”

Bonds was limited to a career-low 102 games by numerous injuries in 1999, and hit only .262 with 34 homers and 83 RBIs.

The following year, he hit .306 with a then-career-high 49 homers and 106 RBIs, and followed that up with last year’s fantastic performance.