Alex Rodriguez just upstaged another big baseball event in progress and diverted all the attention to himself again.

First he disrupted the World Series, taking our concentration away from a Red Sox sweep in which the level of suspense was flatter than Nebraska.

Now he's disrupting the Barry Bonds indictment and imminent trial, which has the makings of a real thriller.

Well, if baseball was so indignant about A-Rod and his agent, Scott Boras, choosing Game 4 of a dull Fall Classic to announce their intention to go for a money grab, what was baseball's mood Monday, when A-Rod was named American League MVP just as Bonds was lawyering up for an embarrassing legal fight?

Put it this way: While it was a great day for the Yankees and A-Rod, it was double that for baseball.

After cursing A-Rod for showing up for the World Series better than the Colorado Rockies, all was forgiven when the AL crowned him its best player of 2007, which sets the stage for what surely will come: a legitimate chase for the career home run record.

It may take A-Rod six years to get the buzz started for that, and for those who cherish the game, it can't come quickly enough. They know A-Rod may be full of it at times, and he still needs to work on his Octobers, but at least he's not Bonds. That's why baseball loves A-Rod almost as much as A-Rod loves himself.

Baseball wants Rodriguez to have more years like this one, pad his 518 homers, remain a member of the most famous franchise in sports and, above all, avoid any steroid scandals. That, and only that, will erase the sting and stigma of Bonds holding ownership of the most prestigious record in the game.

When Rodriguez starts to bear down on Bonds' 762, you can bet the commissioner, whoever he is, won't be hiding under his desk the way Bud Selig was when Bonds approached Hank Aaron's record.

When Rodriguez pulls even with Bonds, you can bet the sponsors will poster A-Rod's face all over Madison Avenue rather than treat him like a leper, the way companies have done with Bonds for decades.

And when Rodriguez overtakes Bonds, you can bet baseball will hold an all-out celebration, not the kind of forced and phony affair that greeted Bonds soon after he crossed home plate following No. 756.

If all goes according to plan, Alex Rodriguez will get himself a record and the feds will see to it that Bonds does, too.