Ryan Howard of the Phillies, with his 58 Homers and 149 RBIs, is one of the top candidates for NL most valuable player.  On Wednesday, Howard was awarded 2 players choice awards, Player of the Year and NL Outstanding Player Award, outpolling Albert Pujols for both awards. Pujols of the World Champion St. Louis Cardinals is Howard’s main competion for the coveted NL MVP Award,

Yahoo Sports Ticker reports;

Filling the hole in the middle of the Philadelphia Phillies’ lineup when Jim Thome was traded to the Chicago White Sox for center fielder Aaron Rowand, Howard hit .313 while setting a franchise record for homers in a season, surpassing Mike Schmidt’s mark of 48 in 1980.

Howard, who also won the home run derby while making his first All-Star appearance, also led the majors with 383 total bases as the Phillies (85-77) fell just three games shy of an NL wild card berth.

Pujols was named the Marvin Miller Man of the Year. Named in honor of the Players Association’s first executive director, the award is given to the player in either league whose on-field performance and contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of achievement.

Pujols, who hit .331 with 49 homers and 137 RBI for the World Champion Cardinals, has founded the Pujols Family Foundation with his wife Deidre. The foundation assists the development of people with Down Syndrome and their families.

Continue reading Yahoo Sports Ticker for the other Award winners from both leagues.

Add to:These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages. | del.icio.us | digg | Furl | Reddit | YahooMyWeb |

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 9th, 2006 at 8:59 am and is filed under Real-Time Baseball News and Commentary, All Time Hitting Highlights, Off-Season Action, Post-Season Awards. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.