Don’t put a lot of stock in Barry Bonds’ new home run record. Unfortunately, individual achievements don’t guarantee playoff berths and Bonds’ Ruthian season provides ample proof of that.

If a team pitches softly while one player swings a big stick, the playoffs will remain farther away than any 500-foot jack.

Bonds hit two home runs Friday to give him 72 for the season. That was the good news. The bad news was that he had to stand behind a podium that read 71 and give a news conference about how great breaking the record was after his team, the San Francisco Giants, was eliminated from the playoffs by, of all things, math.

Mathematical elimination for the Giants. How cruel and calculating. Oh, by the way, Bonds does play for a team. Little details like that tend to get lost in the heat of a home run chase.

Actually, while many will admit that math is quite a scoundrel, it wasn’t the real culprit in this case. Pitching, or lack thereof, was the Giants’ demise.

As hard as Barry hit the ball and as many times as it flew from ballparks in major metropolitan areas throughout the country, Bonds cannot pitch.

Neither could Mark McGwire when he set the home run record in 1998, a mere three years ago. Seventy home runs couldn’t carry St. Louis into the playoffs in 1998, and three additional long balls this year couldn’t lift San Francisco. Ultimately, the Giants were dwarfed by their pitching.

For a slugger, Bonds had what is arguably one of the best seasons of all time. Along with setting the home run bar three rungs higher, Bonds also set new single-season marks in walks and slugging percentages.

While the previous home run record stood for only three seasons, the walks and slugging percentage records stood much longer. Both marks were set by a fellow named George Herman Ruth, who also held the home run record before Roger Maris.

Unlike Bonds, Ruth started out as a pitcher. Ruth excelled in both pitching and hitting, but he won championships as a slugger, something Bonds has not done and will not be able to do with the Giants current pitching staff.

The same goes for any slugger on any team. Placing playoff hopes on the shoulders of any one player is a bad idea.

Bonds and Sammy Sosa both put up monstrous numbers this season and both will be able to comfortably watch the playoffs from their couches.

The Atlanta Braves, the Arizona Diamondbacks and the St. Louis Cardinals finished one, two, and three in team pitching in the National League. All three made the playoffs.

In fact, the Houston Astros, who finished 10th in team pitching, were the only team with worse team pitching numbers than San Francisco, which finished seventh in team pitching.

The same is true in the American League, where hitting is supposed to rule, but doesn’t. The Seattle Mariners, the Oakland Athletics and the New York Yankees finished tops in team pitching and all three will play this post- season. The Cleveland Indians were the only American League team to make the playoffs without good pitching.

Don’t be surprised if the Astros and Indians are quickly eliminated.

Pitching will get you to the playoffs and it will keep you there as well. Just ask the Braves. They’re playing in October for the 10th consecutive year.

In fact, the Diamondbacks are the only playoff team this year with a player who hit more than 50 home runs. Luis xGonzalez knocked 57 out this year, but he wasn’t carrying a team like Bonds. Gonzo had two guys named Randy Johnson and Curt Shilling to share the load – perhaps you’ve heard of them.

If the Giants want to play in October next year, they have two options: acquire some pitching in the off-season, or teach Bonds to throw a curve ball.