DODGERS NOTEBOOK: PARK SCARY, THEN THERE'S BARRY.

Byline: Tony Jackson  Staff Writer

SAN DIEGO - It has a different name now, but San Francisco's SBC Park is still the same, quirky little bandbox where home-run records fall, where baseball usually is played well into October and where the Dodgers usually fall flat on their faces.

So, while it is still far too early in the season to call any series critical, it might serve the Dodgers well to assert themselves beginning tonight, when they play the first of three against the Giants.

Not that anyone will admit that.

``We just need to take it one day at a time,'' said Dodgers manager Jim Tracy, whose team dropped eight of 10 last year at what was then known as Pacific Bell Park.

``We need to go over there and play in a very similar fashion to the way we played our first eight games of the season. I personally feel we are a little bit better equipped offensively this year.''

There also is the matter of Giants left fielder Barry Bonds, who earlier this week moved into sole possession of third place on the all-time home run list and is a challenge even for a pitching staff as deep as the Dodgers'.

``There is no foolproof way of pitching to (him),'' Tracy said. ``He covers the plate so well, cuts off the inside pitch so well and has such a short swing. There was a game late last season at our ballpark that was the first and only time - and this goes back to when I was a coach with Montreal - that I have ever seen a home-plate umpire ask a third-base umpire if he went around on a swing. So there isn't much chance you're going to fool Barry with anything.''

--Green back: Although he was hitting just .174 as recently as three days ago before a 6-for-8 tear over the next two games raised his average to .323, Dodgers first baseman Shawn Green says he has felt good at the plate since late in spring training.

He also says the shoulder soreness that hindered his swing most of last season, an injury he had surgically repaired over the winter, no longer is a factor.

``There are times when I feel it, and I have to warm it up a little bit, which I didn't used to do,'' Green said.

``There might be a day or two here and there when it bothers me, but it's certainly not every day. I'm able to take swings free and easy now, where (last year), my mechanics were screwed up to compensate (for the pain).''

Green left Thursday night's game after four innings with soreness in his right side.

--Common ground: Dodgers center fielder Milton Bradley says he has no trouble remembering the date Jackie Robinson broke baseball's color barrier, the 57th anniversary of which was celebrated around baseball Thursday. April 15 also happens to be Bradley's birthday.

He turned 26 on Thursday.

``That's one of the things I think I'm most proud of,'' Bradley said. ``I know when they announced the All-Century team (at the 1999 World Series), I watched the videotape, and that's when I realized what a great player Jackie Robinson was, all the things he did and everything he had to go through.

I checked out some books on him, too. I think now, with his number being retired (throughout baseball), players today recognize what he did a lot more.''

Tony Jackson,[phone]

tony.jackson(at)dailynews.com

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DODGERS at SAN FRANCISCO

- Tony Jackson