updated 12:33 p.m. ET April 3, 2007

SAN FRANCISCO - Bruce Bochy wants no part in playing up the enticing story line of him facing his former team when he makes his managerial debut with the San Francisco Giants.

Bottom line, Bochy wants to win — and if he beats the San Diego Padres all the better.

He would much prefer that Tuesday’s opener be about San Francisco’s two superstar Barrys: Bonds and Zito, along with the rest of his new team.

“That’s behind me,” Bochy said of his 12 seasons as skipper in San Diego. “What’s important to me is it’s opening day and doing all we can to win the game. Who we’re playing doesn’t matter — whether it’s San Diego or L.A.”

Zito, the Giants’ new $126 million ace left-hander, takes the ball for his highly anticipated Giants debut and San Diego counters with Jake Peavy as the Padres begin their quest for a third straight division championship in a much-improved NL West. The Giants, meanwhile, hired Bochy away from the Padres during the offseason to turn things around and end a three-year playoff drought.

Yet all eyes will still be on the 42-year-old Bonds, who begins his 22nd major league season needing only 22 home runs to break Hank Aaron’s career record of 755. Even if it’s just Bochy and Zito adorning the cover of the team’s 2007 media guide.

“When the time comes, it’ll come,” Bonds said of resuming his chase of Aaron. “I’m ready.”

In this era of free agency, big money and players constantly switching teams, it’s not that out of the ordinary for a manager to move, too. But to the division rival right up the California coast?

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And how about having a couple of key players follow suit?

“It’s very unique, but it’s going to become more commonplace,” said new Giants center fielder and leadoff hitter Dave Roberts, who played the past two seasons for Bochy with the Padres and made it known he’d also like to move north. “Guys are thinking about where they want to be and quality of life.”

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Bochy agreed to a three-year contract worth roughly $6 million to replace Felipe Alou in late October. He had one year remaining on his contract in San Diego but was told he would not receive an immediate extension, and was allowed to explore other options.

The 51-year-old Bochy, who finished his 12th season as the Padres’ manager when they were eliminated by the St. Louis Cardinals in the NL division series, guided San Diego to back-to-back NL West titles and is the winningest manager in franchise history. He spent the last 24 years in the organization, dating to his playing days.

Everybody involved wants to keep the focus Tuesday on the game, including Bochy’s successor, Bud Black.

“It’s the Padres versus the Giants — not Black versus Bochy,” Black said.

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