Carrying Barry

Barry Bonds resides on one side of the clubhouse, with a row of lockers and a reclining chair marking his territory and a San Francisco Giant employee guarding the space. Bonds reports to the ballpark and works with trainers to rehabilitate his right knee, with the employee instructed to intercept any journalist wishing to approach Bonds for an interview.

J.T. Snow resides on the other side of the clubhouse, a player on a team generally regarded as Bonds and Co. With Bonds out indefinitely after knee surgery, the Giants graciously have agreed to play on, as a courtesy to their opponents.

So goes the perception, anyway: Scratch Bonds from the lineup, and watch the Giants wither into mediocrity. Say what you will about whether Bonds might have used performance-enhancing steroids, but surely the seven-time most valuable player has carried the Giants on his tremendously broad shoulders.

Or not, if you ask the teammates on the other side of the clubhouse.

“Barry hasn’t carried us,” Snow said.

The Giants expect to win the National League West -- ideally with Bonds, otherwise without him. They’re tired of references to Bonds and his supporting cast, comfortable in pronouncing themselves contenders with or without him.

“Any team in baseball would love to have him,” catcher Mike Matheny said. “But we’ve got some good guys on the field. We’ve got enough to win.”

Said pitcher Jason Schmidt: “It would be great to have Barry in the lineup. As far as extra motivation, I don’t think anyone here needs it. We’ve got a good team regardless.”

If Bonds is not the best player in baseball, perhaps Alex Rodriguez is. The Texas Rangers certainly thought so five years ago, when they signed him to a record $252-million contract. Rodriguez played three years with the Rangers, leading the American League in home runs each year and winning one MVP award.

With Rodriguez, the Rangers finished in last place in the AL West every year. With Bonds, the Giants have posted eight consecutive winning seasons and advanced to the playoffs three times in the last five years.

“You can’t win in baseball with one guy,” Snow said. “It’s not like football or basketball. If you’ve got a dominating center, you can keep dumping the ball in to him. If you’ve got a dominating running back, he can keep running the ball.

“Barry has been the best hitter in the game, but he’s only got four shots. He’s getting walked half the time anyway, so he’s got two shots. Barry is a reason we’ve had success -- a major reason -- but he’s not the only reason. You don’t win in this game if you don’t have good players.”

Bonds joined the Giants in 1993. Their record without him in the lineup, entering this season: 92-81, according to ESPN. That translates into an 86-76 record over one season, certifiably competitive in the NL West. After one week this season, they are 4-2 and tied for first place with the Dodgers, whom they play today at Dodger Stadium.

Never has Bonds represented the Giants by himself in the All-Star game, accompanied instead by such standouts as Schmidt, second baseman Jeff Kent, closer Robb Nen and third baseman Matt Williams.

“And people would talk about this being Bonds’ team with nothing around him, a characterization made by people who don’t watch our team,” said Peter Magowan, the Giants’ managing general partner. “It’s been that way ever since he got here.”

It is that way now, and Snow has a theory to explain that.

“There’s not a whole lot to write or say controversial about the other guys on the team,” Snow said. “Barry’s the one lightning rod, the one that people write about and talk about.”

The winter was a particularly turbulent one for Bonds, the questions far less pleasant than when he might hit the 12 home runs needed to pass Babe Ruth for second place on the all-time list, or the 53 to pass Hank Aaron and top the list.

He underwent surgery on his left knee in October and on his right knee twice, in January and again in March. The San Francisco Chronicle reported in December that he had told a grand jury investigating drug trafficking that he had taken substances he believed to be a nutritional supplement and an arthritis balm -- but that prosecutors believed to be steroids.

Last month, a woman named Kimberly Bell told several media outlets she had a long affair with Bonds and he had confided to her that he had used steroids. After his most recent operation, and as Bell’s allegations surfaced, he held an impromptu news conference in which he said he was “tired” and suggested he might sit out the season.

“You wanted to bring me down,” Bonds told reporters, “you’ve finally brought me and my family down.... So go pick a different person. I’m done.”

Said Magowan: “If that were the true Barry Bonds, I would be worried. It’s one thing to be angry. That seems to bring out the best in him. If you’re sad and angry, I don’t know what the effect would be.”

Perhaps, he said, Bonds was simply downcast on that day.

“I hope that’s what it was,” Magowan said. “We’ll know before too long.”

On opening day, two hours after Magowan spoke those words, Bonds accepted his latest MVP award, marched to the SBC Park microphone and declared with an air of defiance: “I will be back!”

The cloud of steroids has surrounded Bonds and the man whose single-season home run record he broke, Mark McGwire. Magowan disputed any notion that Bonds, the Giants and the game itself might be better off if Bonds took an extended sabbatical, diverting attention to the new season and its story lines.

“It’s certainly not good for the Giants, and I don’t think it’s good for Barry,” Magowan said. “Barry has shown a tremendous capacity to deal with pressure. He likes to have it on him.

“I think this would be more pressure than he’s had. But Barry Bonds is poised to have a tremendous year, despite all the negative publicity.”

The Giants have refused to set a public timetable for Bonds’ return, although privately they talk of mid-May at best, late June at worst. In the meantime, with two-thirds of the starting outfield on the disabled list in Bonds and Moises Alou, the Go-Go Giants are back.

San Francisco stole the fewest bases of any major league team last season, but Manager Felipe Alou said he has granted a green light to his Nos. 1 and 2 batters, Ray Durham and Omar Vizquel, as well as to outfielders Michael Tucker, Marquis Grissom and Jason Ellison.

“I don’t see us hitting a lot of home runs right now,” Alou said.

They do see themselves winning, and drowning conventional wisdom in McCovey Cove.

“The Giants are more than Barry Bonds,” Magowan said. “We have a chance to show that now.”