WASHINGTON - Before the game, Barry Bonds sent a message to Congress.

During the game, he sent a message to his detractors in the stands.

Bonds heard every boo and noted every taunting sign directed his way in his season debut on the road. As he crossed the plate after homering in the fourth inning Tuesday night, he put a finger to his lips to say "Shhhhh!"

He was a bit more wordy a few hours before taking the field for what would be a 4-3 comeback victory for his Giants over the Washington Nationals, helping San Francisco move within five games of NL West leader San Diego.

Asked about lawmakers' steroid inquiries, Bonds said: "You know what? There are still other issues that are more important," making reference to Hurricane Katrina.

"Right now, people are losing lives, don't have homes, I think that's a little more serious. A lot more serious," he added.

Asked whether Congress was wasting time by looking into steroid use in sports, Bonds responded: "Pretty much, I think so. Yeah."

And then he went out and hushed the critical fans, too.

Bonds hit a solo shot off Livan Hernandez (15-8), giving him three homers since returning to the Giants last week after missing most of the season recovering from three knee operations.

"Hopefully, I can just hang onto it as long as I can until the end of the season," he said.

Bonds directed his post-homer gesture at a particular fan he said was giving him a hard time all game.

"He was just heckling. I just told him to sit down and enjoy it," Bonds said.

It was his 706th career homer, and he's third on the career list behind Hank Aaron (755) and Babe Ruth (714). So, as would be expected, Bonds was the center of attention from batting practice right until the ninth inning.

He was booed when his name was announced during pregame introductions, booed when he went out to play left field, booed each time he stepped into the on-deck circle, and booed the loudest when he dug into the batter's box.

Bonds popped up to shallow center in his first at-bat and grounded out to shortstop Cristian Guzman - shifted to the first-base side of second base - in his third at-bat.

And Bonds was the reason that Nationals manager Frank Robinson went to the mound to talk to Hernandez with Washington ahead 2-1, a runner on and two outs in the ninth.

Did Robinson tell his pitcher to walk Bonds?

"No, sir. Never crossed my lips," Robinson said.

Instead, he told Hernandez not to pitch Bonds inside - and the right-hander proceeded to walk the slugger on four outside pitches.

"We've seen that a lot, and I don't blame him," said Giants closer Armando Benitez, who earned his 17th save despite allowing a run in the ninth. "Did you see that ball he hit in the fourth?"

Bonds was replaced by a pinch runner, and Moises Alou then hit a first-pitch slider over the wall in left for his 18th homer, making it 4-2.

Bonds had tied the game at 1 when he sent a 1-2 pitch from Hernandez into the seventh row of section 468 for one of the longest shots this season at RFK Stadium.

Most of the crowd of 32,403 silently rose to watch the ball's flight. After it landed, there was a lot of applause and throaty yells of approval, plus plenty of flashbulbs popping.

"It's amazing to see," said Jack Taschner (2-0), who pitched a scoreless eighth for the win. "Barry comes up, they boo, then Barry hits a home run and they all start cheering."

In a great closing twist, the player who replaced Bonds in left for the bottom of the ninth, Todd Linden, made a diving catch of Brad Wilkerson's slicing drive just in front of the warning track to preserve the win with two runners on. Linden went one way, then spun around before laying out to make the grab.

Asked what would have happened if he had still been in left field at the end of the game, Bonds didn't hesitate.

He smiled, then responded: "We would have lost."