BASEBALL NEEDS BONDS BACK BADLY.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

There was a void Thursday night at Dodger Stadium, something missing beyond all traces of an actual pennant race.

An absolute black hole where one of sports' greatest rivalries unfolded with the tension of an afternoon tea.

The Dodgers and Giants, just sucked into something only Capt. Kirk could understand. Reduced to just another couple of teams, to mere baseball mortality.

What the game was missing - and please, please, please forgive me this - was Barry ``Puffy'' Bonds.

It's an age-old story. There is no good without evil, no hero without a villain.

And nothing embodies evil to Dodger fans more than Barry.

To them he is the personification of the Dark Side. A real, live bad guy. Might as well come to the plate in a back hat, which come to think of it, he does. Wears that black armor on his arm.

He may even have a strange respiratory problem, although that would require someone's actually been close enough to him lately to know.

Barry has been rehabilitating his sore knee, surgically repaired at last count only 2,132 times, in Los Angeles yet was a no-show at Thursday's opener of the season's second half.

He has not played a single game this season and no one knows when, or even if, he will. Bonds is on his own schedule with his own people, which is at least consistent with his ``I'm Barry Bonds and you're not'' life's theme.

This has at least temporarily spared us the never-ending ream of copy speculating on his possible steroid use and an unseemly assault on Hank Aaron's all-time home run record.

The Giants' organization seems as much in the dark on Barry's rehab as anyone. There is the tail wagging the dog, and then there is the tail wagging the entire kennel.

Without him the Giants arrived Thursday 37-50, which remarkably almost made the Dodgers' 40-48 mark look good. Two teams trying to convince themselves that in the pitiful N.L. West, they remain in the division race.

It made for a lackluster game. Nothing to get too excited about, and Brad Penny's odd third-inning ejection aside, nothing to get all that riled up over.

The game, and the series, was sorely lacking the drama, the greater stage, that comes with Barry.

You could excuse Dodger fans for being unable to get all worked up over Giants outfielder Jason Ellison, who probably doesn't even own a decent light saber.

Nothing beats heckling Barry. It just comes with so much natural passion. He sneers, fans hurl insults. There's this perfect little yin-and-yang baseball symmetry.

Second baseman Jeff Kent, about the only recognizable name in the Dodgers' lineup these days, has been teammate and opponent of Barry's. They did not enjoy a warm-and-fuzzy relationship, but that doesn't mean Kent doesn't appreciate the damage Barry inflicts at the plate.

Which is different that looking into the San Francisco dugout and missing him.

``Barry Bonds the player has produced some remarkable numbers,'' Kent said. ``I saw him do it when I played with him, and when I played against him.

``But do I miss him? No. I would rather he not play and it give my team a better chance to win.''

Still, there are few things more dramatic in baseball than Barry at the plate with the game on the line, facing down Dodgers closer Eric Gagne. The crowd on its feet, hoping for a strikeout, privately fearing a monster home run.

Gagne, of course, is on the sideline himself. He was, however, at Dodger Stadium Thursday.

Yhency Brazoban vs. Barry may lack the theatrical heritage of Gagne vs. Bonds, but it would have provided a workable substitute.

``There is drama that's missing,'' said Dodgers manager Jim Tracy. ``He's been a very influential person on that lineup. ``I've said many times, I don't think there's ever been a player in the history of the game that has so impacted the strategy of a game.''

Not this season. And not anytime soon, or at least we think.

Can you miss what you absolutely detest? Barry is probably the most disliked superstar in sports history.

But there's no sweet without sour, no angel without a devil, no Fantastic Four without a Dr. Doom.

And trying to beat the Giants without Barry, it's not the same. The most cherished victories come against the greatest enemies.

``From a fan's standpoint, he's missed,'' Kent said. ``From a player's standpoint, I don't miss him. But that has nothing to do with Barry Bonds the person.''

The Dodgers may recognize the greatness of Barry, but that's different than actually putting yourself in position to be a victim of it.

These days with a lineup of Jeff and the Jasons, the Dodgers will be quite content to face a Barry-less Giants squad.

Yet there is a real Barry void, miss it or not.

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Baseball just isn't the same without Barry Bonds in the San Francisco Giants' lineup.

(2) Always one to toot his own horn, Bonds has been eerily quiet this season amid injuries and steroid allegations.

Jed Jacobsohn/Getty Images