Slugger Barry Bonds and the Giants made their second visit to Miller Park in about a month, but the mood Friday was decidedly different than it was in the third week of June. Bonds snapped an 0-for-21 funk and hit a pair of home runs at Chicago on Thursday, leaving him two homers shy of tying Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755.

Bonds was in Friday's lineup batting cleanup, and Brewers manager Ned Yost again insisted that his club would not pitch around the slugger unless the situation dictated it. The Brewers typically have gone after Bonds; he hit career home runs 660 and 661 against Brewers pitchers in 2004 to tie and pass his godfather Willie Mays on the all-time list.

"I'm sure they're all willing to see the home run record broken," Yost said of his players. "They just would rather see it on ESPN."

Meaning, let it happen at a venue other than Miller Park, which sits in what used to be the parking lot at County Stadium, where Aaron played 14 of his 23 Major League seasons.

Bonds went 1-for-6 with no homers in the June series in Milwaukee and had six home runs in 51 career at-bats at Miller Park entering play Friday. If Yost was to be believed, Bonds would get some strikes to hit this weekend.

"We play the game," Yost said. "It doesn't matter if it's Bonds, Derrek Lee, we don't want them beating us if the situation presents itself. We'll do what we need to do.

"Then again, I don't think it's really fair to your fans to take away from them having an opportunity to see history being made. We play the games. But we're going to do our best to make sure it happens somewhere else."

Brewers relievers Matt Wise and Brian Shouse both said they would not be afraid to give up a historic home run. A number of Brewers position players were just interested to watch the circus.

"It's an exciting time," said Craig Counsell, who grew up in Milwaukee and whose father was in the Brewers community relations office during Aaron's tenure with the team. "To be honest, anytime you play Barry it's fun, because it's fun to watch great players play. I always enjoy going against him because he always amazes me."

Even if it means having your team on the wrong side of history?

"He can do anything he wants," Counsell said, "as long as we win the games."

Getting close: Injured center fielder Bill Hall (sprained ankle) went through batting and running drills Friday, when he became eligible to return from the 15-day disabled list. Hall could return "by the middle of next week sometime," according to Yost.

"We're just waiting to see how he feels," Yost said. "We might send him out on a [Minor League] rehab for a day or two."

With Hall out and left-hander Noah Lowry starting for San Francisco, Yost again used veteran infielder Tony Graffanino in left field. That experiment will end when Hall returns, the skipper said.

Still waiting: Yost had left-hander Manny Parra warming up in the bullpen Thursday and was prepared to use Parra for a mopup ninth inning in a 10-1 win over Arizona. But Yost instead elected to have Wise finish the last three innings, preserving the rest of the bullpen for the start of the weekend series.

Parra has been with the Brewers since Monday but has yet to make his Major League debut.

"It's the 'Elmer Dessens' syndrome from earlier in the year," Yost said, referring to the currently injured reliever. "He's a pretty big insurance policy down there who you don't want to spend on a useless inning today where you might need five [innings] for tomorrow. And he's used to being a starter. He's not used to going back-to-back.

"But he's going to need to get in real soon," Yost said.

Wise out: After throwing a season-high 54 pitches for his first save Thursday, plus chipping in a hit, Wise likely would not pitch again before Sunday, Yost said.

"I told him that today would be his 'dig me' day," Yost said. "He can walk around digging himself for the day because he got the save and got a hit. Then [Saturday] will be kind of a rest day and he'll be ready to go [Sunday]."

Spurling in: Reliever Chris Spurling is expected to rejoin the Brewers on Saturday. He has been on the bereavement list since Monday to tend to a family emergency, but one teammate said Spurling was back in Milwaukee on Thursday afternoon.

The Brewers will have to make another roster move to clear a spot for Spurling, who had allowed two earned runs in his last 11 appearances. Because Grant Balfour is out of options and almost certainly would be claimed by another team, Parra seems a likely candidate to be returned to Triple-A Nashville. Yost maintained that the team had not made a decision yet.

"You're trying to keep all your options open," Yost said.

On deck: Dave Bush will get the call Saturday against San Francisco's Tim Lincecum in a matchup of right-handers. After struggling through the early part of the season, Bush is 5-1 with a 2.88 ERA over his last six appearances, including one relief stint. The first pitch for this game was moved up to 2:55 p.m. CT to accommodate a FOX national broadcast.