Hey Joeuser:
I cleaned them with the carb cleaner as per your suggestion, and it did help give the car a little more power. The problem however, did not get resolved. So I bit the bullet and took it to the mechanic. The OBD code told him there was misfire. Turns out I needed new spark plug wires! He replaced them and the spark plugs and the car is running great again. And thanks to you, I do feel a little more pep in the car! And, yes, I did notice a fair bit of carbon on the MAP sensor. So its gone now.
My thanks to you, and to PlanetDude for his earlier posting. I learnt from both of you, and I'm sure future readers of this thread will find your postings useful also.