SAN DIEGO - Barry Bonds wore the look of a piano deliveryman who had just set down his cargo in the seventh-floor walk-up, and all he had to do now was wait for the tip.

“The hardest part is over now,” he said.

For Bonds, apparently, the hard part was catching Henry Aaron. Which he did Saturday night in San Diego, sending a Clay Hensley pitch screeching over the left field fence for his 755th career home run.

How hard was it? In data-driven terms, Bonds needed 21 homers to catch Aaron when this season began. He got 11 of them in the Giants’ first 32 games. He needed 76 games to get the final 10.

Passing Aaron now that he’s caught him? Piece of cake.

“I have to say it’s the toughest thing I’ve ever done in my career,” Bonds said at a late-night media session after the Giants’ 3-2 loss 12 innings. “It’s a little bit different than any of the other milestones I’ve gone through. I can’t explain the feeling of it.”

This bears listening to, because Bonds is the E.F. Hutton of milestones. Since April 21, 2001, we’re talking his 500th home run; his 600th home run; his 500th stolen base (to charter the career 500-500 club); his 660th and 661st home runs (to tie and pass his godfather Willie Mays for third on the career list); his 700th home run; his 714th and 715th home runs (to tie and pass Babe Ruth for second); and, finally, No. 755.

More tellingly, there also was his 70th and 71st home runs of the 2001 season. They bear a rehash, if only to bring context to the art of the deal he is engaged in now.

For starters, a baseball season is finite. You get 162 games, then you have to start back at zero. After 135 games in 2001, Bonds needed seven homers to tie Mark McGwire’s single-season record, eight to claim it as his own.

But before Game 136 could be played, Sept. 11 happened. The baseball season was suspended indefinitely. No one was sure when it would be back, or what adjustments there might be to the schedule.

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As it turned out, the season was played in full. Bonds, no doubt struggling with his emotions as we all were, pounded out 10 homers in the final 27 games.

So what he was saying after hitting No. 755 on Saturday night: This was tougher than that.

“I’m still in a daze right now with this thing,” he said.

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It appeared Bonds had been in a daze for the past month. He had batted just .182 in July. Since hitting No. 754 on July 27, he’d had two singles in 18 at-bats, with no RBI. He was so out of sorts that he and hitting coach Joe Lefebvre set up an early batting practice session before Saturday’s game.

“Joe said, ‘We’ve got to get away from the media and get back to what you used to do,’ ” Bonds said.

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Nice try, but the media was filing into the press box when Bonds began hitting around 2:45 Saturday afternoon. He took more than 100 swings over the next half hour or so, concentrating on hitting the ball up the middle and to left field.

It was a smart tactic for two reasons. Going up the middle and to the opposite field reinforces sound technique. And two, left field is where spacious Petco Park is most vulnerable.

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