"He'd have had 160 RBI's if Aurilia hadn't hit 37 or 38 HR's batting in front of him! That's why Barry had so many solo homers this year." Actually, if the Giants had a decent leadoff hitter, the 160 RBI's would have been likely, regardless of Aurilia's HR's. Murray and Benard were not the answer, although I had hope for Murray since he is by far the better fielder of the two.
I'll agree about the leadoff spot entirely. Just looked at their numbers. Benard had an OBP of .320, which is anemic, and Murray posted basically the same number (.319). The better leadoff guys are always around .400, which means about 20-30 more attempts for the guys behind them to drive in runs compared to these two. Aurilia, despite his impressive stats otherwise, ended the season with a .369 OBP. That's respectable, but not great, especially for a guy who hit 37 HR's and had a .324 BA. Chalk that up to him only drawing 47 walks. You'd think a guy who had Bonds hitting behind him would show more patience and try to draw more walks. So yes, Bonds' RBI total was definitely a reflection of the inability of the guys ahead of him to get on base. And Bonds' ridiculous OBP (.515!) had a lot to do with Jeff Kent driving in 100 again even though he had a subpar year at the plate.
So, basically, the Giants were a decent leadoff hitter away from winning the division.