With the All-Star break past us, the time is right to hand out my midseason awards. All opinions are mine and statistics are through the All-Star game.
American League MVP: Manny Ramirez, Boston. With his Triple Crown caliber season (.335 batting average, 26 home runs and 84 runs batted in), he?s held together a dysfunctional Red Sox club on the field and kept them neck and neck with the Yankees in the AL East.
National League MVP: Luis Gonzalez, Arizona. Yeah, this one hurts. A former Tiger (traded straight-up for Karim Garcia?!?), Gonzalez is one of the top stories in the game with his career season (.355, 35, 86) and is one of the reasons the Diamondbacks are atop the NL West.
AL Cy Young: Pedro Martinez, Boston. Yes, Roger Clemens (12-1, 3.55 ERA) has been great, but Pedro?s been better (7-2, 2.26 ERA) and has, like Ramirez, kept the patchwork Red Sox in the running throughout the first half. His shoulder woes though, could keep him out until September. Pray, Sox fans, pray.
NL Cy Young: Curt Schilling, Arizona. Is it really fair to give the first four awards here to just two teams? Well, yes. Schilling has been dominant this year (12-4, 3.20 ERA) and is driven by his spring training goal of winning this award. Honorable mention: St. Louis? Matt Morris (10-5, 3.23 ERA).
AL Manager of the Year: TIE: Lou Pinella, Seattle; and Tom Kelly, Minnesota. No one expected the Mariners to turn the AL West race into a joke by Memorial Day, but they did, much to the credit of Lou, one of the game?s best. And the Twins were all but expected to lie down and die again this season, after eight straight years as AL doormats. Kelly?s finally connected with his young players and their finally listening to him.
NL Manager of the Year: Larry Bowa, Philadelphia. He came into this job with no expectations from anyone. All he had to do was try and get these guys to win 75 games. Well, they?re more than two-thirds of the way there (50 wins through the break) and they?ve shown that they won?t go away easily, much to the chagrin of the Atlanta Braves.
AL Rookie of the Year: Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle. He?s very talented and a great ballplayer offensively and defensively and he?s has done a lot for the Mariners, helping with their transformation into a ?small-ball? style team rather than a bunch of big power hitters.
NL Rookie of the Year: Jimmy Rollins, Philadelphia. I know about Albert Pujols, but Rollins has plugged a black hole in Philly and is on a first place team, helping to lead them with his glove (6 errors), bat (.272, 8, 38) and legs (28 steals, tied with Suzuki for the ML best).
AL Most Surprising Team: Minnesota Twins. At 55-32, they are shocking everyone and winning despite the game?s lowest payroll. They win with great defense, great pitching (Brad Radke, Eric Milton and Joe Mays are a combined 29-12, all with ERAs under 4.00), and timely hitting by young, hungry gamers.
NL Most Surprising Team: Chicago Cubs. It?s a tossup between them and the Phillies, but the Cubbies get the nod because: a) Overall, they?re in a tougher division (despite the pitiful Reds and Pirates), with Milwaukee, St. Louis and Houston all within 9 games of them; b) they?ve weren?t expected to do anything this year at all (while ESPN?s Peter Gammons as well as yours truly considered Philly a sleeper at the start of the year;) and c) the possibility of the Cubbies winning it all for the first time since 1908 is just too much to pass up.
AL Most Disappointing Team: Texas Rangers. They got ridiculed for signing so much offense while neglecting one the AL?s worst pitching staffs last season, and thus far, it?s all well- deserved. While they lead the AL with 137 homers, they also have a 5.80 team ERA, the worst in baseball, and 35-52 record, the third-worst in the league. Memo to owner Tom Hicks: We tried to tell you A-Rod can?t throw a curveball.
NL Most Disappointing Team: New York Mets. What a difference nine months is. At that time, the Mets were on their way to the World Series. Now, they?ll be lucky to finish at .500. Very lucky. The anemic offense has hit just .246 (worst in the majors) with 81 homers (15th in the NL) and 324 RBIs (worst in baseball). If you?re going to blame someone, don?t blame Bobby Valentine. He recommend Ichiro to the Mets, as well as advocated pursuit of Alex Rodriguez, Gary Sheffield and Juan Gonzalez. Blame general manager Steve Phillips and the Mets? ownership for not getting one of those deals done.
AL Most Surprising Player: Bret Boone, Seattle. If not for Ramirez, this guy would be my MVP. He?s back to playing Gold Glove caliber defense while knocking in runs seemingly every night. Of course, having Ichiro Suzuki, Mike Cameron, John Olerud and Edgar Martinez in the lineup with you is a good way to rack up the numbers (.324, 22, 84).
NL Most Surprising Player: Albert Pujols, St. Louis. He?s in his second year of professional baseball, he?s 21 years old, he?s played four positions for the defending NL Central Champions and he?s batting .323 with 21 home runs and 66 RBIs. Now try and tell me that doesn?t surprise you.
AL Most Disappointing Player: Johnny Damon, Oakland. Damon was acquired in the off-season from Kansas City to put the defending AL West champs over the top, but he?s been a bust for the A?s, batting just .239 with 7 home runs, 35 RBIs and 14 steals, well below expectations. He might be traded, but Oakland?s recently improved their play, as has Damon, which could keep him in green and gold through the season.
NL Most Disappointing Player: Darren Dreifort, Los Angeles. $11 million dollars a year for this? Dreifort, who recently underwent season ending elbow surgery, has been a bomb for the Dodgers this year, going 4-7 with a 5.13 ERA. He?s always teased us with potential and most experts felt this would be the year we?d see it at the forefront. However, the $55 million, five-year contract apparently either got Dreifort too comfortable, or more likely, he pushed too hard to justify it. I guess we?ll just have to wait another year for that potential to kick in.
Copyright Central Michigan Life
