In what has to be the biggest surprise in all of the ballot for MLB post-season honors, Minnesota Twins’ 1st baseman Justin Morneau won AL MVP honors in balloting by a panel of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Morneau edged out Yankees Derek Jeter on the strength of his .321 BA, 34 HRs, 130 RBIs and 97 Runs and his contribution to the Twins winning the AL Central Division.

AP sports writer Ronald Blum writes on the voting and Morneau’s reactions; 

Morneau received 15 first-place votes, eight seconds, three thirds and two fourths for 320 points in voting by a panel of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Jeter got 12 firsts, 14 seconds, one fourth and one sixth for 306 points.

“Last night even I was saying I don’t expect to get it. I might have given myself maybe a 50-50 chance,” Morneau said. “I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment if I didn’t get it.”

Three Twins finished among the top seven in the MVP voting. Joe Mauer won the AL batting title this year and Minnesota pitcher Johan Santana won the AL Cy Young last week.

“That says a lot,” Morneau said. “I’d love to play my whole career here. We have a great young team.”

Boston’s David Ortiz was third with 193 points, followed by Oakland’s Frank Thomas (174), Chicago’s Jermaine Dye (156), Mauer (116). Santana got 114 points, receiving the other first-place vote.

It was the 16th-closest MVP race since the current format began in 1938, and the 10th closest in the AL.

Morneau hit .321 in helping the Twins win the AL Central for the fourth time in five years. Jeter batted .344 with 14 homers and 97 RBIs, finishing three points behind Mauer, who became the first catcher to win an AL batting title.

Morneau became the second Canadian-born player to win an MVP following Colorado’s Larry Walker in 1997.
 

Both Morneau and Ryan Howard proved to be bargains to their respective teams earning $385,000 and $355,000 respectively for the season.

 David Ortiz, Frank Thomas and Jermaine Dye who have mega-contracts earned $100,000, $100,000 and $60,000 for their 3rd, 4th and 5th place finishes in the balloting.

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Philadelphia is a happy town today despite the Phils not making the post-season and the bad news of Eagles having lost star Quarterback Donovan McNabb until sometime next season with a knee injury sustained in Sunday’s game vs. the Tennessee Titans.

Phillies 2nd year lefthanded slugger 1st baseman Ryan Howard was awarded the NL MVP award in balloting by a panel of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Howard won the award after leading the majors in home runs and RBIs.  The balloting was close between Howard and St. Louis Cardinals 1st baseman  Albert Pujols.

Howard, who was 2005 NL Rookie of the Year, clubbed 58 homers and had 149 RBIs with a .313 batting average.  His 58 homers were the most in the major leagues since Barry Bonds hit a record 73 homers in 2001.

Ronald Blum, AP Baseball Writer lists some of Howard’s 2006 accomplishments;

He set Phillies records for home runs and RBIs, producing the highest totals in those categories in big league history for a second-year player. Twenty-three of Howard’s homers put the Phillies ahead and five tied games. The Phillies went 32-18 in games in which he homered.

Howard may have been helped by Philadelphia’s surprising second-half push. He hit .355 with 30 homers and 78 RBIs in second half as the Phillies fell three wins short of the NL wild-card berth.

“People were talking about the trades that were made, how we were kind of written off,” he said.

Howard beat out Albert Pujols for the MVP honors.  Philly.com’s AP report relates Ryan Howard’s humility on receiving the MVP designation;

“It definitely means something special,” Howard said of beating Pujols, also on MLB.com. “He’s a great player, and to be able to get in that company, that’s a feat in itself. It’s an honor, because of what he’s done for his team and the game of baseball itself.”

For more background on how the Baseball Writers’determined their votes, click Howard or Pujols? The Writers’ Picks for MVP,  by Inquirer Staff Writer Claire Smith

On Tuesday, we’ll find out the results of the apparently too-close-to-call AL MVP race.

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Minnesota Twins lefthander Johan Santana, who finished the season with a 19-6 record, a 2.77 ERA, 245 strikeouts and only 47 walks, was unanimously voted the AL Cy Young award for the 2006 season in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Sports Illustrated’s AP report writes this about Santana;

 Santana won the AL Cy Young Award on Thursday for the second time in three years, and the Minnesota Twins’ ace was a unanimous choice once again.

“This year, I wouldn’t say it was easier, but you definitely have a better idea where you are,” he said. “I definitely feel more comfortable.”

Santana received all 28 first-place votes for a perfect total of 140 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Chien-Ming Wang of the New York Yankees finished a distant second with 15 second-place votes and 51 points. Toronto’s Roy Halladay was third with 48 points.

“This was not such a big surprise as in 2004,” Santana said at a news conference at home in Venezuela.

Still, the announcement set off another wild celebration in his baseball-crazy country.

“I can’t describe what’s going on here. People here love the game, they follow the game, they know everything we do,” Santana said. “Today, we made a lot of people happy.”

The left-hander separated himself from all others during a dominant season, going 19-6 with a 2.77 ERA and 245 strikeouts to propel Minnesota from a poor start to the AL Central title.

With a baffling changeup and excellent control, he tied Wang for most wins in the majors and led the AL in ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched (233 2-3).

Forget the Triple Crown — it was the pitching version of a Quadruple Crown.

“I was trying to show people that what happened in 2004 wasn’t a fluke,” Santana said.

And here’s a scary thought: At 27, he thinks he can become even more effective, because there’s more to learn.

“In the future, I want to be consistent from Day 1. We’re still making adjustments,” Santana said. “I still believe that I can be better.”

For winning the Cy Young Award, Santana receives a $100,000 bonus.

                               

Santana is also a contender for the AL MVP award, but faces muh stiffer competition from the likes of Boston Red Sox slugger David Ortiz and others.

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 Managers Joe Girardi, formerly of the NL Florida Marlins and Jim Leyland of the AL Pennant winning Detroit Tigers were awarded Manager of the Year honors after balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Girardi, who was fired by the Marlins on October 3, presumably over a rift with the club owner, guided a rebuilding team of 22 rookies and a young, inexperienced pitching staff behind ace lefthander Dontrelle Willis who had a sub-par 12-12 season (following his 2005 banner record of 22-12, which saw his ERA balloon from 2.62 to 3.87) to a run for the wildcard berth and 78-84 finish in the NL East.

Sports Illustrated’s AP report says about Girardi;

Sometime soon, Joe Girardi will go looking for another job in a major league dugout. And when he does, he’ll have a Manager of the Year award at the top of his resume.

A rookie skipper himself, Girardi beat out Willie Randolph of the New York Mets by a comfortable margin to become the first Manager of the Year with a losing record.

“I don’t know if vindication is a good word, just because as a manager, you want to manage,” Girardi said.

“It’s nice that people who watch the game every day understood what we accomplished,” Girardi said, adding he wasn’t particularly surprised to win. “We had a lot of good things happen.”

Leyland, who managed the Marlins to their only World Championship in 1997 after first winning the Wildcard berth over the San Francisco Giants and then the NL pennant by defeating the Atlanta Braves as well as having taken the Pittsburgh Pirates to 3 consecutive National League Championship Series in the 1990, 1991, and 1992 as well as winning Manager of the Year honors in 1990 and 1992, replaced Alan Trammell who had guided the Tigers to 3 poor finishes from 2003-2005.

The same Sports Illustrated AP report says of Leyland;

Leyland turned around the long-moribund Tigers in his first year with the team, leading them to the World Series and their first winning season since 1993. He received 19 of 28 first-place votes and 118 points to top Minnesota’s Ron Gardenhire, who was listed first on nine ballots and totaled 93 points.

“I knew that we had something here. I thought it would take longer than it did. This team started believing,” Leyland said. “We had good players going into spring training, but we didn’t have a very good team. We made ourselves a good team and that’s something I’m very proud of.”

The 61-year-old Leyland appears firmly entrenched in Motown after winning his third Manager of the Year award — and first in the AL.

Leyland returned to the dugout last season following a six-year hiatus, taking over a foundering Tigers team that went 71-91 in 2005. Two seasons before that, Detroit lost an embarrassing 119 games — an AL record.

But with a deft touch and demanding approach, the cigarette-puffing Leyland led the surprising Tigers to a terrific start. They struggled mightily down the stretch and squandered the AL Central title, losing out to Gardenhire’s Twins on the final day of the regular season.

Still, Detroit captured the wild card for its first postseason berth in 19 years, then upset the Yankees in the first round of the playoffs before sweeping Oakland in the AL championship series.

Finally, the run ended. Playing in the World Series for the first time since 1984, the Tigers lost to the St. Louis Cardinals in five games.

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Arizona Diamondbacks starter Brandon Webb walked away with Cy Young Award honors for the 2006 season.  Webb polled first with a total of 103 votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.  He was followed by San Diego Padres closer Trevor Hoffman with 77 votes and World Champion St. Louis Cardinals ace Chris Carpenter with 63 votes.  Trailing by a distance in 4th place was Houston Astros starter Roy Oswalt with 31 votes.  

Frankly, based on the won/loss records and stats of Webb, Carpenter and Oswalt, a much closer race should have been expected.  Once again, as with the NL Rookie of the Year Honors, the stats of these three pitchers was too close to call, although it looked as though Carpenter rated a slight edge.  One would have thought that Carpenter would have won for the 2nd straight year based on both regular season performance and on his fine post-season.

However, perhaps Webb won the award by virtue of improvement over the last 3 seasons. 

The AP post on the Sports Illustrated site says the following about Webb;

“I think it’s an honor well deserved. There was some concern that his last start would have an effect on the voting,” Diamondbacks pitching coach Bryan Price said. “One start doesn’t make or break a season.”

One of the biggest keys in Webb’s development has been his ability to control his deceptive sinker, which helps him induce one harmless groundball after another when he’s on top of his game.

After a strong rookie season in 2003, the right-hander walked a major league-high 119 batters the following year for a terrible Arizona team that went 51-111. Webb also led the NL with 16 losses and 17 wild pitches that year.

But he cut his walks in half in 2005 and issued a career-low 50 free passes this year. And he got more help from Arizona’s much-improved infield defense.

“Basically, I just tried to do what I’ve done the last three years, which is throw a lot of sinkers,” Webb said. “Early in my career, even in the minor leagues, if I had a bad inning or something went wrong I’d show emotion out there and let that get to me. Every year, I’ve tried to improve on that.”

Webb agreed to a $19.5 million, four-year contract with Arizona in January. For winning the Cy Young Award, the buyout of his $8.5 million option in 2010 doubles from $500,000 to $1 million.

“When you look at No. 1s in baseball, and every team has one, a legitimate No. 1 will look like Brandon Webb,” Price said. “He replaces the strikeout with the double play. That defines a No. 1 pitcher in the big leagues to me.”

For the life of me though, I can’t understand Trevor Hoffman’s 2nd place finish in the voting.

The same AP post on the Sports Illustrated site says this about Hoffman;

The 39-year-old Hoffman finished with a league-leading 46 saves in 51 chances for the Padres. He has 482 career saves, breaking Lee Smith’s previous mark of 478.

Hoffman went 0-2 with a 2.14 ERA in 63 innings spanning 65 appearances. He was listed second on three ballots and third on eight.

Hoffman also was a Cy Young Award runner-up in 1998 to Tom Glavine of the Atlanta Braves.

Carpenter and Hoffman each receive a $50,000 bonus for finishing high in the voting.

But despite Hoffman’s impressive stats;  65 games, 63 innings pitched, 16 runs allowed, 15 earned runs, 50 SO, 13 Walks, 2.14 ERA and 46 Saves, he folded big-time at several crucial junctures during the season costing both the  NL All Stars and the Padres throughout the 2nd half of the season and during the stretch drive for the NL wild card berth; notably his part in giving up 2 homers on 2 consecutive pitches against the Dodgers in their now-famous and record-tying feat of  4 consecutive homers in the 9th inning in defeating the Padres in 10 innings.  Ultimately, the Padres made the NL wild card berth despite Hoffman’s folds.

In my opinion, Trevor Hoffman was not worthy of 2nd place in the Cy Young balloting and the $50,000 bonus for finishing high in the voting. 2nd place would have better been awarded to Carpenter, Oswalt or the Mets closer Billy Wagner.

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The Major League rookies of the year were announced on Monday and Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez won the National League honors by a mere 4 points over 2nd place winner 3rd baseman Ryan Zimmerman of the  Washington Nationals.

A look at comparative stats for this season shows that their performances for the season were at least as razor close as the Rookie of the Year vote.

Line on Ramirez;       .292, 17 HRs,  59 RBIs, 119 Runs, 51 SB, 128 SO, 56 Walks,  .353 OBP, .480 SLG

Line om Zimmerman; .287, 20 HRs, 110 RBIs,  84 Runs, 11 SB, 120 SO, 61 walks,  .351 OBP, .471 SLG

Each one had over 600 at bats for the regular season.

Now for their defensive stats;

Defensive line on Ramirez;        1,329 Outs, 26 Errors, 111 Doubleplays, Fielding %  .963

Defensive line on Zimmerman;  1,368 Outs, 15 Errors,  35 Doubleplays,  Fielding %  .965

Fans, it was THAT close.

In the American League, Detroit Tigers’ starter Justin Verlander won the honors with plenty of room to spare over Boston Red Sox closer  Jonathan Papelbon although Papelbon’s stats were truly awesome.

Check out these stats; 59 Games,  4-2 WL, .092 ERA, 75 SO, 13 Walks, 35 Saves, 8 Total Runs given up, 7 Earned Runs, 6 Blown Saves, 68 1/3 Innings

Although the closer category received recognition for Rookie of the Year honors in 1989, 2000 and 2005, the only closers that have won this honor have been in the AL. 

One was Greg Olson of the Baltimore Orioles in 1989.  Olson pitched in 5 more games than did Papelbon and had 14 2/3 innings more than the Boston closer.  But his 1.69 ERA was higher.

In 2000, Kazuhiro Sasaki won honors as closer for the Seattle Mariners.  Sasaki pitched in 63 games, saving 37, striking out 78, walking 31, giving up 10 HRs and amassing a 3.16 ERA.

Huston Street of the Oakland Athletics won the honors in 2005. He pitched in 67 games, saving 23, pitching 78 1/3 innings, 1.72 ERA, 72 SO, 26 Walks.

But, that Papelbon missed all of September with shoulder problems may have worked against him. As he went down with an injury, Boston faded out of the AL East picture in the last month of the season.  But, for sure, his stats were far more impressive than the previous closer winners of Rookie of the Year.

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