American League:
MVP - Josh Hamilton - I had a hard time picking this award, as Robinson Cano, Joe Mauer and Evan Longoria each deserved an MVP award, but Josh Hamilton has been outstanding this year. He is tops in batting average, home runs and RBIs. Plus he has an amazing story coming back from drugs and everything, I love the way he plays and wish he wasn't on our AL West rival...
Cy Young - Felix Hernandez - Yes, there are many candidates in the AL that deserve this award, but Felix has been SO much better than them. The "wins" aren't there, but that is a ridiculous reason for him to not win this year. Greinke won last year without the wins, and Felix's run support has been TERRIBLE. No apologies to anyone else...
ROY - Neftali Feliz - has been great at the end of games (37 of 41 saves) and has helped the Rangers win the AL West. 2 months ago this award was Brennan Boesch's to lose...
Coach - Ron Gardenhire - While I think the team to beat in the AL is the Rays, the Twins are very very good. I think Gardenhire is always in the mix for Coach of the Year as long as the Twins play this way.
National League -
MVP - Joey Votto - Where did he come from? Seriously, he has been AMAZING this year. While Pujols has been great too, Votto has been a Triple Crown contender all year and he has his team way ahead of Pujol's Cardinals.
Cy Young - Adam Wainwright - The true ace of the Cardinals has 20 wins and a 2.42 ER. Enough said. Yes Halladay has been good, but Wainwright has been better.
ROY - Jaime Garcia - What a great season for Garcia, 13-8, 2.70 ERA. He has been impressive and definitely deserves this award. Mike Stanton probably would've won this award had he been healthy all season. Also, same goes for Heyward.
Coach - Dusty Baker - Who had the Reds winning the AL Central? Seriously, I got taken totally by surprise by this team. Give Dusty some credit, he has this team playing very well and I am looking forward to seeing how well they do in the postseason.
While the playoff matchups aren't set yet, I am going to make my World Series picks. I really like the Rays this year, they have great pitching and an offense that can put up runs, so I am going with them for my AL representative. The Phillies are so hot right now I can't see anyone beating them. I don't know why, but I have to pick them. Can you see anyone beating Halladay/Oswalt/Hamels? Phillies over the Rays in a rematch of 2 years back, 4-2.
Gardenhire definitely deserves manager of the year. No Joe Nathan all year, no Morneau half the year, and a relatively average Joe Mauer. Quite a job.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of your awards, including Felix Hernandez (but points to Cliff Lee for the most ridiculous K/BB ratio I've ever seen). Definitely got the right MVPs. I'd give the Cy to Roy Halladay though. He's had an incredible year.
I haven't paid a ton of attention to baseball this year. I've thought all along that it would be the Rays vs Yanks and the winner against the Phils in the Series. As long as the Yanks dont win again, it's a successful season.