MLB Mid-season Awards

As is accustomed at the midway point in any sports season many unofficial midseason awards are given out by many sports writers, websites, and of course bloggers such as myself. It’s been a fun first half for people like Brian Roberts, Derrek Lee, and Roger Clemens and it hasn’t been such a fun first half for people like Barry Bonds, Kenny Rogers, and Jose Lima. But don’t worry, the season is only half over which means there’s a heckuva lot of baseball left to play.

AL MVP: Vladimir Guerrero, Angels- A stellar first half of the season by Guerrero has led the Angels to first place in the AL West. He’s batting close to .350 and has a cannon for an arm in right field. I don’t know if I’d expect Vlad to stay here for the next half of the season, though. If it wasn’t for Baltimore’s fall the past couple of weeks this award would have gone to Miguel Tejada but the O’s are no longer in first place. Keep a close eye on this race, it will probably go down to the wire. The rest of my ballot: Tejada, Alex Rodriguez, Manny Ramirez, Mark Teixeira

NL MVP: Albert Pujols, Cardinals- Mr. Consistent never ceases. I guess that’s the whole point of consistency in the first place. Pujols has put up his usual numbers, once again, to catapult St. Louis to the top of the NL Central. Even when Rolen and Edmonds aren’t producing the way they are expected to Pujols still does his thing. It’s a wonder why he hasn’t got the Bonds treatment yet. It’s tempting to give this award to Derrek Lee but if the Cubbies don’t make a playoff push in the second half then Pujols should have this award all wrapped up. The rest of my ballot: Lee, Andruw Jones, Miguel Cabrera, Morgan Ensberg

AL Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Blue Jays- At the beginning of the year I would have expected to have put Johan Santana’s name in this place. But it’s impossible to not note the exceptional season that Halladay has had thus far. It’s a shame that Halladay, as well as his Cy Young chances, went down last week with that broken leg. There is no clear cut favorite to take his place, however. Santana, Jon Garland, Mark Buehrle, and Bartolo Colon should all challenge. But out of respect for Halladay and his dominance I’m sticking with him as the midseason Cy Young. The rest of my ballot: Santana, Garland, Colon, Buehrle

NL Cy Young: Roger Clemens, Astros- Now how much fun is this? The game’s most exciting young pitcher and the game’s most dominating old guy are the best two pitchers in the game. Clemens ERA is so miniscule that Bob Gibson himself would even have to tip his cap. Don’t let Clemens win total deceive you (those darn Astros aren’t giving him much help); he is the best pitcher in game at this point. Willis will probably challenge as the season progresses but I don’t expect the Rocket to relinquish any of his dominating stuff. The rest of my ballot: Willis, Livan Hernandez, Roy Oswalt, Chad Cordero

AL Rookie of the Year: Chris Yong, Rangers- Young pitches in a park that reigns the hitter supreme and his ERA is a measly 3.33. If he can stay consistent then there’s no reason why this award won’t stay his at season’s end. But he better stay solid because there are a few other young arms who could challenge him. Huston Street and Jesse Crain have to be nails if they’re going to challenge since they’re relievers. The rest of my ballot: Gustavo Chacin, Crain, Street, Tadahito Iguchi

NL Rookie of the Year: Ryan Church, Nationals- For now Church is the leading of the candidate for this award, but not by much. If Church’s average drops below .300 then he could lose his edge. There are a few other rookies that are right on his heels. Lance Niekro (Giants) has put up arguably better numbers than Church, Clint Barmes (Rockies) could make some noise if he returns from his injury, and Jeff Francis is a serious contender if he can his ERA under 5.00. What a race this should be. The rest of my ballot: Niekro, Francis, Barmes, Brad Hawpe

AL Manager of the Year: Ozzie Guillen, White Sox- The Sox have been arguably the league’s strongest team of the first half and they have Guillen to thank. With an average lineup and a pretty good pitching staff Guillen has made the Sox excellent. They’re running away with the Central so don’t expect this award to change at season’s end. Wouldn’t it be fun if the Sox won the AL?

NL Manager of the Year: Frank Robinson, Nationals- Where did these guys come from? It wasn’t from their star power or their dominant pitching staff, of course, since they have none of that. No their success should be directly derived from their manager. Robinson has a done a miracle of a job in the nation’s capital as he has carried a whole group of no names and took them to the top of the East.

AL’s Biggest Surprise: Brian Roberts, Orioles- Just a year ago Roberts was a decent .288 hitter but no one (not even Roberts himself) expected him to be leading the AL in hitting. I hope this isn’t a one year fluke season because I like what I see from this guy. Maybe it was those crazy contacts he put in his eyes earlier in the year (if you haven’t heard about that I suggest you look it up) or maybe he’s just a gifted ballplayer who’s a joy to watch.

NL’s Biggest Surprise: Derrek Lee, Cubs- Lee’s a no-brainer here. No one expected Lee to become a triple crown threat this year. This isn’t to say that he wasn’t a gifted hitter before; but a .380 hitter with the possibility of a 50 home run season was on no one’s mind. Will he win the triple crown? Probably not but at least it’ll be fun to see him chase it.

Baseball All Star Game

The starting pitchers are now finally announced for the MLB All-Star game in Detroit. I'm sad, very sad. I don't want to see Chris Carpenter vs. Mark Buehrle in the mid-summer classic. I'd much rather see Roger Clemens or Dontrelle Willis vs. Johan Santana or Bartolo Colon (since Roy Halladay is now hurt). Sometimes I just don't understand people. Anyway, the fans did a crappy job voting... again. It doesn't hurt me as much now since I know that it's going to happen. Edmonds, Eckstein, and Rolen don't even deserve to be there as far as I'm concerned and the fans happily voted them in as starters. In order to right these wrongs I have compiled my own All-Star teams. I went through the same process as a manager would; 1) The starters are the players I would have voted for and the top 8 pitchers from each league who should be in the game. 2) I picked one reserve at each position just like the players did. 3) I made sure each team was represented. 4) With what was left I filled out the roster so that I had 12 pitchers and 20 position players. Without further adieu, the teams:

My NL All-Stars
C- Paul LoDuca, Florida
1B- Derrek Lee, Chicago
2B- Luis Castillo, Florida
3B- Aramis Ramirez, Chicago
SS- Felipe Lopez, Cincinnati
OF- Andruw Jones, Atlanta
OF- Bobby Abreu, Philadelphia
OF- Miguel Cabrera, Florida
*I would have Albert Pujols DH

My NL Reserves
C- Mike Piazza, New York
1B- Albert Pujols, St. Louis
2B- Chase Utley, Philadelphia
2B- Jeff Kent, Los Angeles
3B- Morgan Ensberg, Houston
SS- Bill Hall, Milwaukee
SS- Omar Vizquel, San Francisco
OF- Carlos Lee, Milwaukee
OF- Cliff Floyd, New York
OF- Jose Guillen, Washington
OF- Jason Bay, Pittsburgh
OF- Moises Alou, San Francisco
P- Roger Clemens, Houston (starter)
P- Dontrelle Willis, Florida
P- Pedro Martinez, New York
P- Jake Peavy, San Diego
P- Chris Carpenter, St. Louis
P- Chad Cordero, Washington
P- Jason Isringhausen, St. Louis
P- Brandon Lyon, Arizona
P- Brian Fuentes, Colorado
P- Livan Hernandez, Washington
P- Roy Oswalt, Houston
P- John Smoltz, Atlanta

My AL All-Stars
C- Jason Varitek, Boston
1B- Mark Teixeira, Texas
2B- Brian Roberts, Baltimore
3B- Alex Rodriguez, New York
SS- Miguel Tejada, Baltimore
OF- Manny Ramirez, Boston
OF- Johnny Damon, Boston
OF- Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles
DH- David Ortiz, Boston

My AL Reserves
C- Ivan Rodriguez, Detroit
1B- Paul Konerko, Chicago
1B- Mike Sweeney, Kansas City
2B- Alfonso Soriano, Texas
3B- Melvin Mora, Baltimore
3B- Jorge Cantu, Tampa Bay
SS- Michael Young, Texas
OF- Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle
OF- Hideki Matsui, New York
OF- Torii Hunter, Minnesota
DH- Travis Hafner, Cleveland
P- Roy Hallady, Toronto (starter)
P- Mark Buehrle, Chicago
P- Johan Santana, Minnesota
P- Kenny Rogers, Texas
P- Jon Garland, Chicago
P- Bartolo Colon, Los Angeles
P- Mariano Rivera, New York
P- Eddie Guardado, Seattle
P- Jim Duchscherer, Oakland
P- Matt Clement, Boston
P- Joe Nathan, Minnesota
P- B.J. Ryan, Baltimore

I realize that some of these guys got hurt (Halladay) or declined the invite (Pedro) but these teams were made regardless of attendance. They're my All-Stars and if you have a beef (like still leaving Jeter off) then chew me out.

-Fonda