The Czech international won both penalties, as well as a free-kick sandwiched in between from which he claimed his second goal, infuriating the Palace players in the process - Iain Dowie's men leaving referee Phil Dowd in no doubt that they believed Baros to be guilty of 'theatrics'.
'Milan Baros is an outstanding player,' said Dowie, the model of diplomacy. 'I thought he was their best player. That's all I'm concerned about. He has hurt us badly today. Defensively we were all at sea and I was disappointed at the award of the second free-kick. Joonas Kolkka hardly touched him. But I'm not going to get involved in whether he went down easy or not, that's for other people to judge.'
One did not have to be wearing Palace colours to judge Baros guilty of going down too easily on occasion, a shame given the electrifying nature of his general performance. In the 23rd minute, he was on the end of an impressive sequence of passing play from Liverpool - Xabi Alonso to Dietmar Hamann, whose back-heel sent Baros through on goal only for Mikele Leigertwood to stop his progress with a supposed trip from behind. Baros converted the ensuing penalty comfortably, shooting low to the left of Gabor Kiraly.
Worse was to follow late in the half when Kolkka, scorer of Palace's first equaliser moments before, was judged to have brought down Baros and the referee awarded a free-kick.
Alonso found Harry Kewell on the right byline from the set piece and the Australian crossed for Baros to bundle the ball over the line.
Twice, however, Palace responded superbly. First, Kolkka conjured a goal out of nothing a minute before the break, lashing a Ben Watson pass into the far corner of the goal with a volley from the corner of the area. Eight minutes after the restart, the visitors scored a second equaliser every bit as unexpected as their first. Watson swept the ball wide to Kolkka and the Finn continued his eventful afternoon by crossing superbly to the centre of the goal, where Michael Hughes was waiting to head home.
Ironically, the most important decision in Baros's favour was also the most legitimate. In the final minute the Czech, chasing a Kewell through-ball, was brought down by Danny Granville. He completed the formalities of the spot-kick, sneakinghis shot past the diving Kiraly, and left the pitch, substituted, straight after to a deserved standing ovation.
'When you lose strikers because of injury, you need all the other players you can get to contribute,' said Benítez of his problems up front since the departure of Michael Owen and loss of Djibril Cissé through injury.
'We have Mellor, Sinama-Pongolle and Kewell as a second forward, as well as Milan, and we will need the help of each one of them. In this case it was Milan who did it. I hope that next time it is another.'
The signs are not encouraging on that front for Liverpool, given Kewell's mediocre performances alongside Baros and the absence of another beneath them. Aside from the goals, Riise, twice, and Xabi threatened with shots from distance, but there was no subtlety to Liverpool's attack.
For Palace, without Andy Johnson who failed a fitness test, there was moral victory at least. 'There were people accusing us of being a one-trick pony,' said Dowie.
'But we thought we could play like this. The players are shell-shocked in the dressing room just now. We have good young players here who have got experience from this game. That desire that top players have is forged in defeats like this.'