The debate over the National League MVP is likely to get louder and less rational over the next five weeks. But f you need hard evidence, just watch the Giants play three games in Colorado this week without Barry Bonds.

Without Bonds, the Giants are the Padres, only older.

In a broad sense, Bonds vs. Pujols is an argument of New Numbers vs. Old Numbers. By Old Numbers -- the subjective snowballing of batting average, homers and RBIs -- Pujols wins. He's got those numbers, and they're impressive.

	Barry Bonds is more than just a sentimental pick as MVP.

But the New Number revolutionaries are suddenly mainstream, and they've managed to tear down the façade of the tried-and-true trio of average-HR-RBI. Bonds has helped, of course, by accentuating the importance of on-base percentage plus slugging percentage (OPS) with his preposterous power and walk totals.

Billy Beane and "Moneyball" author Michael Lewis helped the cause, too, by putting the whole idea of New Numbers into a digestible package, and onto the New York Times bestseller list.

Bill James can also claim this achievement, but he was the leader of the revolution before it went mainstream. The success of his hugely entertaining books hinged on cultists and curiosity seekers.

Granted, the New Numbers are kind to Pujols -- a .429 OBP, a 1.102 OPS -- and his season shouldn't be demeaned simply because it doesn't measure up to the one Bonds is having. In fact, nobody measures up to Bonds, not in the past 30 years, anyway.

Hypothetical, of course, but if you put Bonds in the middle of a lineup with Jim Edmonds, Edgar Renteria, Scott Rolen and Tino Martinez, you might be looking at 40 fewer walks and a 150-RBI season. As it stands, Bonds changes every game with a fading Benito Santiago behind him and Marquis Grissom in front of him.

And over the next five weeks, we'll see Bonds working to the accompaniment of something truly rare: public sentiment. Bonds -- robbed of the 1991 MVP through lack of sentiment -- is now seen as a guy fighting through adversity after his father's long illness and death.

America loves to embrace a story like this one. The circumstances can serve to humanize a guy who has always resisted humanizing. Barry might not change, but the perception of Barry will change.

Sentiment shouldn't have anything to do with the MVP award, but it might sway a voter or two. Bonds shouldn't win because he has been phenomenal under duress. He should win because he deserves it.

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