MVP Race Has Turned Into a Bay Battle

What was once viewed as a two-man contest between Mike Piazza and Gary Sheffield for the National League’s most-valuable-player award may still be a two-man contest--but between San Francisco Giant teammates Barry Bonds and Jeff Kent.

The difficulty for voters in choosing one or the other as the most valuable to the Giants’ successful season may dilute their chances, but they would seem to be the front-runners now that Sheffield’s Dodgers have fallen so far out of the race and Piazza’s New York Mets continue to blow hot and cold.

There is no rule requiring that the MVP play for a first-place team, but voters from the Baseball Writers Assn. tend to put significant weight on that, which is one reason Todd Helton won’t win, although he dominates NL statistics and couldn’t do much more for his Colorado Rockies except hit .400.

Sheffield, batting .328 with 41 homers and 99 runs batted in, and Piazza (.336, 34 homers and 102 RBIs) also have MVP-caliber stats--but both have been quiet recently.

Sheffield hit his 41st homer Friday night, his first since Aug. 19 after sitting out 10 games because of a viral infection. Piazza, plagued by a tender right elbow but certain to benefit from the national attention he receives playing in New York, has two RBIs in his last 53 at-bats.

Bonds, meanwhile, has been on fire, fueling what is now a Giant runaway. In bidding for a record fourth MVP, he had hit .345 over his last 35 games through Thursday with 12 homers, 25 RBIs and 34 walks.

Bonds had two hits, two walks and drove in a run Friday night in a 10-7 loss to San Diego. Kent also walked twice and drove in a run.

Bonds is batting .311 with 44 homers and 92 RBIs overall, while Kent is at .331 with 31 homers and 117 RBIs.

The latter has been more consistent, but Bonds is likely to catch the voters’ attention by finishing the season in a dramatic style.

“You look at their overall contributions and how they feed off each other and it’s hard to separate them,” Giant General Manager Brian Sabean said. “Jeff has obviously had the more consistent year from a numbers standpoint, but Barry has always finished strong and there were a couple of times during the year when he didn’t have many RBI opportunities because the guys ahead of him were so cold.”

With Piazza still in the picture and, perhaps, Sheffield, Helton and Chipper Jones on the fringe, Sabean said, “those are all big-time players having big-time years. I don’t mean to say there’s going to be controversy, but I think there’ll be a lot of different opinions for different reasons [as to who should win].

“There’s no question that both of our guys are deserving. If Jeff wins, it would be a huge feather in his cap considering how far he’s come as a hitter and RBI man, and if Barry wins, it would be another statement on his continued excellence.”

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MVP aside, Tom Glavine has swept past Randy Johnson as the NL’s likely winner of the Cy Young Award, his third. Glavine’s finesse beat Johnson’s power in a 5-2 Atlanta victory over Arizona Tuesday night, and the veteran southpaw will shoot for a fifth season of 20 wins against Montreal today.

Glavine is 34 and at the top of his game. He has won 12 of his last 13 starts and is 9-1 when starting after an Atlanta loss, a true stopper.

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The unrest surrounding Arizona Diamondback Manager Buck Showalter continues, and there is increasing speculation he will be replaced by broadcaster Bob Brenly, who was considered managerial fodder while coaching for San Francisco in the ‘90s.

Arizona Republic columnist Pedro Gomez reported Monday that Managing General Partner Jerry Colangelo called Brenly nearly a month ago to ask him if he would be interested in taking over if needed, and Brenly said he would. Colangelo confirmed the story by saying he would neither confirm nor deny it.