This week saw the announcement of the Rookie of the Year awards. And I don't have a quarrel with
either league's winner. In fact, the writers selected the same two players that I did in my own 2007 wrap piece.

Some would gripe about the election of Ryan Braun, whose value with the bat is mitigated by the horror show he put on at third base. I'm not discounting that argument as it clearly has merit. But that's not what this column is about. This column is about the down-ballot choices made by some voters. The vote tally shows that sabermetric writers and analysts still have a lot of work to do.

The first egregious example is the less serious one. Kyle Kendrick came in 5th in the NL tally. That's not so objectionable, but he got a single second place vote, ahead of Braun, which is an inexcusably silly error. Nobody in their right minds would say that Kendrick had a better season with his 121 innings of work and reasonable, but not world-beating 3.87 ERA/3.94 RA than Braun had with his astounding .324/.370/.634 season. Braun destroyed Kendrick in VORP 57.2 to 27.1. It's one thing to give a courtesy vote to the hometown rook or to the pitcher who played well down the stretch and played a big part in a remarkable comeback. I don't agree with either of those uses of a vote, but they're forgivable if they're at the very bottom of the ballot. To put that guy ahead of a historic year, much less so. In the end, the plurality got this thing more or less right as Braun-Tulowitzki-Hunter Pense is a reasonable 1-2-3.

In the AL, the problem was much more widespread, due in no small part to the much weaker field. Dustin Pedroia was a runaway winner as he should have been. In fact he should have been a unanimous selection. The thing that sticks out in the AL vote tally is the presence of my 2007 Rey Sanchez Award winner, Delmon Young in second place. You can easily find the reason why voters were drawn to him. He hit .280 with 93 RBI. The problem is that he didn't walk or hit for power, dragging his value. .288/.316/.408 doesn't cut it for an everyday right fielder. Young will have a nice career. He's too talented to hang out in the land of below average corner outfielders for more than a year or two. But he's going to drag down his talented Rays teammates if he continues to fail at developing secondary skills.

There were even 3 writers who thought that Young was BETTER than Pedroia, giving him their first place votes. Given that Pedroia hit .317/.380/.442 as a second baseman, there really is no comparison. Pedroia lapped Young in value and even a little thought could have revealed this to the BBWAA. Kudos to the 8 writers who got it right and left Young off their ballots.

For the record, a short, incomplete list of players who would have been much better selections for a down-ballot ROY candidate than Young: Brian Bannister (who had one undeserved 1st place vote himself), Hideki Okajima, Joakim Soria, Jeremy Guthrie, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Young's teammate Akinori Iwamura, Reggie Willits, and Joba Chamberlain.

Next week we get to see what cringe-inducing choices the voters made for MVP.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

Derek Lowe held the red hot Rox to two runs over seven innings, allowing only five hits and no walks. He got the loss because Josh Fogg and the Colorado pen shut out LA.

This Season's Worst Luck: Gil Meche had a very nice season, with a 3.67 ERA and 23 quality starts in 34. But the KC offense didn't give him much help as he went 9-13.

Others of note:

Ian Snell was much the same story as Meche, going 9-12 despite a 3.76 ERA and 22 QS in 32 tries.

Matt Cain went 7-16 with a 3.65 ERA and 22 QS in 32.

Good Luck Division

Andy Pettitte on Saturday threw 5 innings, allowing 9 runs to the Orioles, striking nobody out. He got the win because Daniel Cabrera got lit up for 7 by the Yankee offense and his bullpen tacked on another 4 for good measure.

This Season's Lucky Dog: It's certainly Horacio Ramirez, who was awful this season, to the tune of a 7.16 ERA and a -22.8 VORP. He walked more than he struck out. He allowed 1.85 baserunners per inning. He only gave the Mariners 9 quality starts in 23 attempts. Yet still, fortuitous run support made him look like a perfectly average starting pitcher at 8-7.

Others of note:

Noah Lowry, who wasn't bad as measured by ERA at 3.92, but he went 14-8 despite only giving the Giants a quality start in half of his 26 times out. The Giants should probably look to sell high on his ERA and wins given that he too posted extremely pedestrian peripherals, striking out 87 and walking 87 in 156 innings.

I talked about Claudio Vargas's talent for this kind of luck earlier this summer. He has a 43 and 38 record despite having a higher than average ERA (92 ERA+) and batters have hit .272/.342/.481 against him. Well, overall this season Vargas went 11-6 with a 5.09 ERA but some of that came in relief. As a starter, he went 10-4 with a 5.04 ERA and 9 quality starts in 23.

Vulture Division

Sunday night Huston Street blew a 1 run lead but Kurt Suzuki had his back and gave him his 5th win of the year.

The Wes Littleton They Call that a Save? Award

Thursday Jamie Walker logged a save throwing a perfect ninth. He was protecting a three run lead with the feared Ray Olmedo, John McDonald, and Matt Stairs lineup core batting.

Season Leader:

With the way that bullpens are used these days, I really don't have much of an issue with the "closer" being the third or fourth best pitcher in a bullpen. They're rarely used in situations where they have to get somebody out of a jam. The setup men usually get that job. But it merits mention that Ryan Dempster and Joe Borowski are both significantly outclassed by the less famous members of their bullpen. With Borowski, he posted an AL leading 45 saves while Rafael Betancourt and Rafael Perez did his heavy lifting for the most part and when arbitration time comes, they should be paid like the guys with the flashy save totals. With Dempster it was Carlos Marmol with the quality work. While ERA is a lousy way of judging relievers, closers who have ERA's of 5.07 (Borowski) and 4.73 (Dempster) usually lose their jobs in short order.

Also of note is the guy who this award is named after. Bask in the glory of the most ridiculous save ever recorded.

The Rico Brogna Award

Troy Tulowitzki racked up 7 RBI in the season's final week, featuring 2 home runs. But he only hit .185/.214/.481.

Season Winner: Jeff Francoeur, who drove in 105 runs despite only producing a .782 OPS as a right fielder. That breaks down to a .293/.338/.444 line. In 642 at bats, he hit 19 home runs and only drew 42 walks. The walk total is an improvement on the 34 he had collected in his previous 908 career at bats. And his 40 doubles are a good sign, but that's only good for future projection. He still needs to improve his power and selectivity as he was just simply an average right fielder this season.

Runners up:

Francoeur's teammate Andruw Jones hit .222/.311/.413 with 94 RBI. It's good to hit behind Chipper Jones, Edgar Renteria, and Kelly Johnson.

Delmon Young collected 93 RBI with a .288/.316/.408 line.

Sammy Sosa had 92 RBI with a .252/.311/.468 line.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Kevin Fransden of the Giants only hit .261 on the week, but with 5 walks and a homer in 23 at bats for a .261/.393/.391 week.

Season Winner:  

I'm giving it to Jack Cust over Pat Burrell in a photo finish. Cust hit .256/.408/.504 with 105 walks and 26 home runs in 395 at bats while Burrell hit .256/.400/.502 with 114 walks and 30 round trippers in 472 at bats. They're similar numbers and I'm more certain that Burrell will be able to sustain that kind of production. But that's projection for next season and Cust's numbers came in a park that is much more hostile to hitters than Citizens Bank Park.

Other Deserving Candidates:

Ryan Howard at .268/.392/.584. More on him later.

Paul Konerko at .259/.351/.490

Jason Varitek isn't posting flashy power hitting numbers, but .255/.367/.421 from a catcher is still very nice.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Melvin Mora hit .276, but provided little else with a .290 OBP and a .310 SLG.

Season Winner:

Delmon Young was a runaway winner at .288/.316/.408. All of the things I said about Jeff Francoeur apply here. With 13 home runs and 26 walks in 645, he has to develop more secondary skills. I think the power is on the way, but I'm not as positive about the selectivity. Regardless, a .723 OPS from a right fielder is not pushing the Rays towards contention.

Others:

Nomar Garciaparra with a .283/..328/.371 line and 7 HR, 31 BB in 431 AB

Jeff Francoeur at .293/.338/.444

Aaron Miles .290/.328/.348

Pudge Rodriguez at .281/.294/.420 had power, but was an OBP sink.

The Steve Balboni Award

Jonny Gomes struck out 8 times in 13 AB on his way to a .154/.333/.462 week. There was a lot of good happening there with a home run, a pair of doubles, and 4 walks. But it was drug down by the K's.

Season:

This is another close one as Gomes edged out Josh Fields. Gomes hit .244/.322/.460 with 126 K in 348 AB. The good he did was limited by his batting average being drug down by his bloated K rate. 20 doubles, 17 homers, and 35 walks made for a good isolated slugging percentage and laid the foundation for an acceptable OBP. But it just didn't happen.

Others Matching the Criteria:

I mentioned Josh Fields, who is the official runner up. He had a similar season to Gomes with 373 at bats and 125 whiffs, but a healthy amount of power with 17 doubles and 23 bombs with 35 walks for a .244/.308/.480 line. Needless to say, the rookie needs to work on making more consistent contact.

Brandon Inge K'ed 150 times in 508 AB for a .236/.312/.376 line.

Andruw Jones struggled to the tune of 138 K in 572 AB and .222/.311/.413

Alex Gordon stumbled badly out of the gate but picked it up later. His numbers still paint a picture with 543 AB, 137 K, .247/.314/.411

Sammy Sosa was mentioned earlier, but his main problem was making contact, especially against RHP. 412 AB, 112 K, .252/.311/.468

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Rickie Weeks collected 4 homers, 5 walks, 9 strikeouts in 28 at bats.

Season:

Jack Cust was truly impressive, posting 26 homers, 105 walks, and 164 K in a measly 507 plate appearances for a 58.2% TTO figure. And while I like Cust and I'm extremely happy to see him succeed, I sincerely think that he's one of the leading candidates for next year's Balboni unless he cuts down on the strikeouts at least a little bit. He struck out in 32.3 percent of his plate appearances while Ryan Howard, who set the all time single season record, struck out in 30.7%.

Others worth mentioning:

As my mother would say, speaking of the devil, Ryan Howard had 199K, 107 BB, 47 HR in 648 PA for a 54.5 percentage.

Old TTO standby Adam Dunn did not disappoint with 165 K, 101 BB, 40 HR in 632 PA, 48.4%.

Carlos Pena had 142 K, 103 BB, 46 HR, 612 PA, 47.5%.

And newcomer BJ Upton fell short on the walks (65) and wasn't quite up with the others guys in the power category (24), but still managed 154 K in 548 PA for a very respectable 44.3%.

Say Hi To Parity

I haven't noticed anybody else mention this, but that could be because I'm still catching up on my reading after being out of action late last week and early this week while on vacation and in preparing for the above categories, but this season we had a very small difference in records between the best team and the worst team in baseball. The Indians and Red Sox each won 96 games and lost 66 while the Rays went the inverse 66 and 96, a mere 30 game gap. That's a .185 spread covering all 30 teams.

I was curious about this, so I did a very unscientific little survey of these spreads since the 1995 season and this year had both the "worst" wins leader and the "best" last place club for that period. It behooves me to mention that last year was close in that the win figures were 97 and 61 respectively for a 36 game spread, still not bad and down significantly from the 58 game spread we saw in '03 and the 54 in '04. The highest spread in that period was the 60 game gap between the 114 win 1998 Yankees and the 54 win Marlins of that same campaign.

Out of curiosity, I looked at how baseball stacked up with the NFL and NBA in this respect. I took a look at the least 13 full seasons in each league. The answer is an education in the power of sample size as the average spread between the worst and best records in baseball was a .277 gap. The most was .370.

The NFL had an average spread was a staggering .716, an 11.45 game gap. The biggest single season gap was 13 games (twice) for a .813. And the smallest was 10 games for a .625.

The NBA wasn't quite as bad as they have an 82 game season. The average gap was 47.2 games for a .576 differential. The most extreme was 57 games, .695. The least was 40 games, .488.

Clearly the 162 game schedule pulls teams much, much, much closer to .500 than the 16 game season in the NFL and significantly closer than the 82 game NBA calendar. This probably doesn't tell us anything about what league has the most parity and it's likely that I made a number of stupid errors that could be sniffed out immediately by somebody more savvy with an Excel spreadsheet than I. This was literally done in 15 minutes with a couple of scrap pieces of paper and a pocket calculator. But it is a fun piece of information.

Here are some more notes on the close standings of 2007. Every team in baseball was within 15 games of .500. Percentage-wise, this is like every team in football finishing between 9-7 and 7-9.

This Week's MVP

AL: David Ortiz had a smoking final week with 4 doubles, 3 HR, and 5 BB in 17 AB for a .647/.727/1.412 line.

Season:

Alex Rodriguez has owned this award for several months now. Any writer who doesn't vote for him is either letting personal grudges get in the way, isn't voting at all because he/she is trapped at the bottom of a ravine just out of sight of the passing highway traffic above, or is too dumb to actually fill the thing out. He posted the highest OPS of his career at 1.067 and his best OBP. The statistics speak for themselves .314/.422/.645, 96.6 VORP. He was clearly the best player in the game, the best hitter in the game. He still won't win some people over no matter what he does in the postseason, but it doesn't really matter much anymore. He is who he is and people will love him or hate him because of it.

Others on my ballot, though not necessarily in this order, but in the general ballpark:

Magglio Ordonez had a career year, driven mostly by the unrepeatable .363 batting average he posted. But it's nice to see him do this kind of work after being a very good player for a long time. Even as a Royals fan I've always liked him, both because he was the epitome of steady production for my fantasy team and because it's a pleasure to watch him work at the plate.

Jorge Posada was another player having a late career peak season when we expected a small, incremental decline. .338/.426/.543 isn't going to happen next year, but it's a nice crowning achievement in a wonderful career.

David Ortiz has spoiled us. We're now used to seeing excellence from him, so .332/.445/.621 doesn't really show up on our radar for most of the season.

Curtis Granderson hit .302/.361/.552, was a gold glove caliber fielder in center, and was 26 for 27 stealing bases.

Ichiro Suzuki .351/.396/.431. He's had either 48 or 49 in 4 consecutive seasons. That's weird. Anyways, he made for a good center fielder.

Carlos Pena was a scapegoat in Detroit, where he was always a passable offensive first baseman. His huge power spike is what we expected when he was a big time prospect in the Rangers organization. If there's a theme to this list, it's that almost everybody here outside of Ichiro will have a hard time duplicating their batting averages, but as long as Pena keeps mashing home runs and drawing walks, he'll be fine, even hitting .260ish.

Victor Martinez isn't a particularly good defensive catcher, but he's still passable most nights and he hit .301/.374/.505.

Grady Sizemore was another key member of the Indians, with a .277/.390/.462 season

Vlad Guerrero is another who has spoiled us with steady production year in and year out, posting a .324/.403/.547 line in 2007.

NL: Prince Fielder didn't quite match Big Papi's rate stats in the 26th week, but he had 2 doubles, 3 HR, and a staggering 9 BB in 17 AB and amazingly went 2 for 2 stealing bases in the season finale.

Season: I'm firmly a David Wright guy and from what I've read, my opinion is stronger in his favor than most of the others I've seen. Jimmy Rollins seems to be the golden boy at this point and I'd be mildly surprised if he didn't win it given the attention that was showed on him in the season's last weekend. There also seems to be a groundswell of support for Matt Holliday, which I think is more grounded in reality than the Rollins fixation, but I still believe in giving the award to the best player in the league and that was Wright.

The reason for this is simple. I think that a guy who hits .325/.416/.546 with half of his games being played in Shea Stadium, 34 steals in 39 tries, and gold glove level defense at third base is preferable to a good (but not great) defensive left fielder who hit .340/.405/.607 for a team based in Denver or a good, but not great defensive shortstop who hit .296/.344/.531 with 41 steals in 47 tries with half of his games in Citizens Bank Park. It's as simple as that. In a way, it's a shame that Chase Utley missed the time he did because he would make for a more compelling candidate than Rollins, hitting .332/.410/.566 as one of the best defensive second basemen in the NL. But the gap in playing time due to his broken hand makes him merely a notable down-ballot entry rather than a challenger to Wright and Holliday.

Don't get me wrong here. Holliday had a wonderful season. And if they do give it to him, it won't be anywhere near as poor a decision as Justin Morneau last year. But I believe that either Holliday or Rollins would be a wrong choice. The collapse of his team shouldn't be held against David Wright.

Others:

I mentioned Holliday, Rollins, and Utley. They're all top 10's.

Albert Pujols is actually my #2 in the NL ahead of Holliday. Hitting .327/.429/.568 in a neutral park while doubling as the best defensive first baseman in the game is huge.

Miguel Cabrera and Price Fielder are grouped together in my mind, with Cabrera, who should be a first baseman soon, hitting .320/.401/.565 in an extreme pitcher's park and Fielder, who is a first baseman and will at some point be a DH, hit .288/.395/.618 while playing in a hitter's park.

Hanley Ramirez had an incredible year at the plate, but he's outgrown the shortstop position and he cost his team a lot of runs there. It still doesn't make him any less than a remarkable player.

Lastly we have Jake Peavy, who was certainly one of the ten most valuable players in the NL this season. More on him in a minute.

Other Season Awards

Cy Young

AL: I like Fausto Carmona, groundball machine. I would accept his teammate CC Sabathia or Angel John Lackey as correct answers as well.

NL: I've mentioned it in the past here, but my favorite number for Jake Peavy is his BA/OBP/SLG allowed. .208/.272/.312 is ridiculous.

Runner up:

Brandon Webb posted a 3.01 ERA\ with 194 K, 72 BB, 209 H in 236 IP.

Rookie of the Year

AL: Dustin Pedroia hit .317/.380/.442

Runners up:

Brian Bannister and Jeremy Guthrie

NL: Ryan Braun was a butcher at third base, but he was remarkable with the lumber.

The Field:

Troy Tulowitzki was the best defensive SS in the NL and not a half bad bat.

Hunter Pense hit .322/.360/.539 and would win this thing in a lot of years.

Thank you for reading this season. I really do appreciate the feedback I recieved through the year and I hope to preach to you guys next year.

Program Note  

Next week's Awards will be late, probably Wednesday due to my having a 4 day weekend in Michigan, coming back late on Monday. It will be the year-end extravaganza with official season awards being handed out.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

This one comes courtesy of Peter Sherwood, who points out that Adam Wainwright did everything in his power to win on Wednesday, giving the Cards 8 innings of one run ball. He even drove in one of the two St Louis runs on the day but he walked away with a no decision because of the comically bad lineup they threw out there with Scott Spiezio batting cleanup and Miguel Cairo and Skip Schumaker following him. There was no Albert Pujols to be found and Wainwright was doomed from the start.

Good Luck Division

On Saturday, Radhames Liz and Edison Volquez combined for 11 runs in 8 and a third and both came away with no decisions because neither team could get anybody out. The loss ended up going to Wes Littleton, who allowed 4 in an inning and a third of relief.

Vulture Division

Here's another one courtesy of Mr Sherwood. Brad Lidge (also on Wednesday) blew a two run lead in the ninth, but Matt Wise of the Brewers gifted him a W by allowing a run in the bottom of the 10th.

Holds Suck Too

Friday night, Leo Nunez got both a blown save and a hold in the same game.

The Wes Littleton They Call that a Save? Award

It demonstrates the ridiculousness of the save rule as it is currently constructed, but I also have something to compliment here. On Sunday night, Raphael Betancourt came into the game for the Indians in the 8th inning with two on and two out and got Nick Swisher to strike out before pitching a perfect 9th for a 4 run save. Now I don't think that should be counted as a save, but I do appreciate the fact that the Indians didn't use their regular "closer" Joe Borowski in the situation. I put closer in quotes because Betancourt is three times the pitcher that Borowski could ever think about being. Borowski, with 43 saves, a 1.41 WHIP, and a 4.96, is living proof that you don't really have to be special to post special save totals. The Indians have done a good job this season of assigning higher leverage situations to Betancourt, who has been dominating

The Rico Brogna Award

Melky Cabrera drove in 8 runs in 21 at bats despite hitting a limp .238/.292/.238

Season to Date: Jeff Francoeur is now over the Joe Carter line at 101 RBI on the year. Nevertheless, he's only hitting .290/.335/.432 as a starting right fielder.

PS, I feel bad about not saying this earlier, but thank you Mike. The world needs to hear the truth.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Jack Cust is just going to alternate weeks where he wins this award and the Balboni and I think he'll be alright with that. He posted a pedestrian .238, but 7 walks and 3 home runs in 21 at bats gets you to 1.143 OPS.

Season as a whole: Adam Dunn is hitting .264, but with 101 walks and 40 home runs for a 940 OPS.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Michael Young hit .300 on the week, but went without an extra base hit for a .300/.323/.300 line. His slugging is down to .413 on the season, his worst since his pre-breakout .262/.308/.382 in '02.

Season: Delmon Young is going to win this thing with his .294/.322/.418 line. He's coming close to giving Francoeur some competition with his 93 RBI.

The Steve Balboni Award

Jayson Werth smoked a pair of triples, a home run, he drew 5 walks, and was 2 for 2 stealing bases, but his 13 strikeouts led the Majors, bringing him down to .179/.303/.429.

Leader: Jonny Gomes only has 335 AB this season, but he has 118 K's, contributing to his .248/.322/.460 season. 19 doubles, 16 homers, and 31 walks are nice, but the strikeouts erode the batting average enough to make him a marginal value this season.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Ryan Howard outdid himself. 36 plate appearances, 4 home runs, 12 walks, 11 K.

Leader: Howard has put some distance between himself and the pack. 42 HR, 103 BB, and 195 K in 623 PA.

This Week's Completely Made Up Award

The Fugly Award goes to these awful, ugly uniforms. Please look at these uniforms before you okay them for "throwback" specials.

This Week's MVP

AL: Josh Fields was out of his mind this week, hitting .524/.615/1.190. He collected 3 doubles, a triple, three home runs, and five walks in 21 at bats.

Season: ARod update: .310/.416/.637, 52 HR, 90 BB

NL: I mentioned Ryan Howard before. The Burly One Pwned the week with a .348/.583/.913 line.

Season: David Wright remains the choice at .321/.414/.551. He now has 71 extra base hits and 91 walks.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

It's week 24 already?

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

Curt Schilling has had a tough time of things recently. He hasn't pitched as well as we're used to. On Monday night he allowed 1 run in 6 innings, but got the loss because Scott Kazmir and a pair of relievers shut out the powerful BoSox offense.

Good Luck Division

Kelvim Escobar had none of Schill's bad luck as he allowed 6 runs in 5 and a third against the Orioles. He got bailed out by Daniel Cabrera, who allowed 10 and 3 O's relievers, who allowed 2+ runs each. As long as he reached 5 innings, there was pretty much no way that Escobar could blow that lead.

Vulture Division

On Tuesday night, Matt Lindstrom of the Marlins allowed Ryan Zimmerman to score on a Dmitri Young double in the 7th, tying the game. The Fish promptly tallied 3 runs in the next frame and Lindstrom got the W.

The Wes Littleton They Call that a Save? Award

Takashi Saito had 3 run saves on two consecutive nights. On Thursday, he faced the Padres with Marcus Giles, Mike Cameron, and Adrian Gonzalez scheduled up and on Friday it was Jeff Salazar, Emiliano Bonifacio, and Justin Upton. One inning, 3 run saves are a horrific waste of a pitcher as good as Saito, especially when you're facing batters like Salazar and Bonifacio.

The Rico Brogna Award

Pudge Rodriguez drove in 6 runs in 19 at bats on the week, but hit a meager .263/.286/.368.

Season to Date:

Raul Ibanez has 95 RBI in his 524 at bats, but is at best an average left fielder at .282/.343/.462.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Mark Reynolds of the Snakes hit .211, but secondary skills were at play and his line ended up being .211/.400/.526.

Season as a whole: Jim Thome deserves some credit in this lost season for the White Sox. He's hitting .268, but with 87 walks and 28 home runs he's sporting a .402 OBP and a .520 SLG.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Delmon Young hit .300/.323/.367. Drawing walks has been a problem all season and he hasn't hit for nearly the kind of power anybody expected of him. Things will improve next year, but you have to hope that he learns that he doesn't have to swing at everything white that floats by him.

Season: Pudge Rodriguez with his .282/.296/.427 line. He has 468 at bats and 9 walks.

The Steve Balboni Award

Ryan Howard demonstrated some secondary skills with his two doubles, one home run, and four walks in 28 at bats, but his 11 K's killed his week at .179/.281/.357.

Leader: Josh Fields has the classic Balboni skill set with 19 home runs in 332 at bats, a fair 25 walks, and an ugly 114 whiffs. All of that combines for a .232/.285/.446 line.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

I mentioned Mark Reynolds in the `Brew Award. He hit a pair of home runs, drew six free passes, and struck out 6 times in 25 plate appearances.

Leader: Ryan Howard leads baseball with 184 K's, is 5th in homers with 38, and is 11th in walks with 91.

This Week's Dumbest Thing Ever

I remember seeing the Kansas City Chiefs getting flagged for 2 illegal blocks in the back and a hold on the same kickoff return and still not manage to get the ball across their own 20 yard line this Sunday.

But really there was no contest. This kind of ineptitude is really one in a million.

This Week's Completely Made Up Award

I've been asked to talk about the Mariners abrupt fall from contention. The thing is, it's a truly remarkable thing to behold, but I don't have an awful lot to say about it. They were dramatically overachieving. When you look at their batting and pitching numbers, it's hard to believe that they were relevant in the race for the playoffs. When you give the roster the eyeball test, it's hard to believe that they were relevant in the race for the playoffs. They really didn't belong in the first place and they're about where I thought they'd be when the season started. Count me in as a believer in the theory that a premium relief ace like JJ Putz can help a team with unremarkable runs scored/runs allowed figures to overachieve, but it doesn't make a 75ish win team into an 88ish win team.

I find it also remarkable that the Cardinals have followed them on the spiral staircase out of the playoff race and they too had no business ever entertaining the notion of being a playoff team. There are too many gaping holes in that roster with the old guard of Rolen and Edmonds decaying, a rotation that is currently anchored by two guys I figured would be decent middle relievers.

This Week's MVP

AL: David Ortiz hit .450/.577/1.000 with 5 extra base hits and 6 walks in 26 plate appearances.

Season: Alexander Emmanuel Rodriguez

NL: Matt Holliday hit .407/.500/1.148 with 6 homers on the week. I really didn't buy into the purported Holliday dark horse MVP candidacy until recently because of the Coors Field effect. However, with a .334/.396/.594 line and a lack of any candidates running away from the pack the way that ARod is doing in the AL, he might just be a valid option for voters. He's certainly in the pack.

Season: Speaking of the pack, I still think that David Wright leads that pack with his .313/.411/.547 line and excellent third base glove. But it's a shame that Chase Utley missed that month with a broken hand because he likely would have run away with this thing. Utley is hitting .333/.414/.565, but in 476 at bats against Wright's 543 at bats. With his above average glove at a premium defensive position AND a bat like that, he's an insanely valuable player. His VORP of 62.9 is right there in that pack behind Wright (69.7)  with Pujols, Holliday, Fielder (63.4, 64.0, 63.1) and a few others.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

Pardon me if this is a bit short and poorly written this week. I feel like crap after I tweaked a hamstring working out this weekend and had an unfortunate dentist appointment this afternoon.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

Gavin Floyd and Kenny Rogers combined for 11 innings of work where they allowed 2 earned runs, 8 hits, 4 walks, and struck out 12. No decision for either of them.

Also, John Lackey on Friday spun a marvelous 7 innings of work against the Indians, with 1 run, 6 hits, a walk, and 6 K's. He walked away with a no decision because Francisco Rodriguez blew the lead.

Good Luck Division

Don't tell Matt Cain about this because he may go and stab Ray Durham, but Daisuke Matsuzaka allowed 7 runs in 5 and a third on Monday against the Blue Jays but he still got the W.

Similarly Felix Hernandez got the golden W despite allowing 7 runs of his own in 5 innings on Sunday because Jeremy Bombedagain got lit up. It must be nice to get that kind of run support.

Vulture Division

After Brad Hennessey let a 1 run lead vanish with a James Loney solo shot, Dan Ortmeier went yard off of Jonathan Broxton to give Hennessey a completely undeserved W. When that happens, does the pitcher buy the rookie first baseman a steak dinner or something?

Reader Peter Sherwood mentions that on Thursday, Kelvin Jimenez threw all of 7 pitches...in the second inning of a 2-2 game and walked away with a win. Granted it was kind of a tight spot with the bases loaded and Jason Bay at the plate, but it was 7 pitches in the second inning for chrissake.

The Wes Littleton They Call that a Save? Award

Thank you to Jeremiah M for the submission on the new name. It's a winner since I poked fun at Littleton's cheapest of all cheap saves in the Rangers 30-3 win a few weeks ago.

On Sunday, we had four 3 run, 3 out saves. Chad Cordero, Joe Nathan, Mariano Rivera, and Billy Wagner all got the glory for something that an inferior pitcher should have been doing.

The Rico Brogna Award

Mike Lowell collected 6 RBI but hit a meager .222/.323/.333 on the week.

Season to Date: Jeff Francoeur with 91 RBI, but he's a right fielder hitting .294/.337/.443.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Rick Ankiel hit .261, but with a pair of doubles, 3 home runs, and 4 walks. This led to a .370 OBP and .739 SLG. And no, I'm not going to mention the HGH.

Season as a whole: Adam LaRoche had an extremely rough start in 2007, but he fought his way through it. His BA is still a little pedestrian at .269, but he has 56 walks and 21 home runs, which gives him a line of .269/.342/.460, which isn't spectacular by any stretch of the imagination, but it's not too bad.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Casey Blake isn't a usual suspect for this award as his biggest asset rather than batting average, but hitting .292 with a pair of doubles and one walk in 24 at bats gets you to .292/.320/.375 and that gets you a Sanchez Award.

Season: We're still going with Delmon Young, who is hitting .293/.322/.416 as a starting right fielder. But let's give an honorable mention to Jose Vidro, who is hitting .313 and drawing walks with his .379 OBP, but he has 6 home runs all year and is the primary DH for the Mariners. He's slugging .393. That's an isolated slugging percentage of .080.

The Steve Balboni Award

Ryan Howard and Jonny Gomes share the award this week. Howard went .105/.261/.263 weighted down by 8 K's in 19 AB while Gomes went .188/.316/.375 with 7 K in 16 AB. They both did other things right. They both hit a home run and Howard drew 4 walks, Gomes 3. But you have to make at least some contact.

Leader: Josh Fields might be running away with this thing, hitting .234/.288/.446. He has power to spare with 18 homers in 316 at bats, but he's struck out 108 times.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Rickie Weeks had 16 at bats and a pair of home runs, 9 walks, and 8 homers.

Leader: Ryan Howard with 38 HR, 87 BB, 175 K in 560 plate appearances.

This Week's Completely Made Up Award

I talked about Clay Buchholz's no hitter last week. But the thing that has to terrify the rest of baseball is the idea that the Red Sox and Yankees are trying out youth movements right now. For years they've been justifiably painted (especially the Yanks) as a collection of mercenaries. The organizations have epitomized big dumb money, once again especially the Yankees. But after producing some valuable commodities like Jon Papelbon, Melky Cabrera, Robinson Cano, Kevin Youkilis, Chien-Ming Wang, they've brought up Dustin Pedroia, Phillip Hughes, Joba Chamberlain, Ian Kennedy, and Buchholz. It was one thing for the Yanks and BoSox to have more money than God when they blew a lot of it on flukes like Jaret Wright and Carl Pavano and the decline phases of Jason Giambi. But brains and money is an infinitely more dangerous combination. It's a completely different thing if they use that money more wisely by dumping a significant amount into the farm system and work the best talents from that system into the team.

This all being said, caveats about here. Even smart teams with good farm systems have uneven results, often going through droughts and deluges. And even those good organizations run into traps where they are prone to falling in love with particular players that they've produced, overlooking weaknesses. The Yanks have been masters at overlooking weaknesses, especially defensively where they stuck with Bernie Williams in center well past his expiration date.

It also bears mentioning that recently found wisdom didn't prevent the guys from the Bronx from paying way too much for Johnny Damon declining bat and glove or for Kei Igawa's overrated stuff or the Red Sox from making mistakes with Julio Lugo and JD Drew. And for all of the compliments I'm paying here to the Red Sox and Yankees farm systems, I still hated the idea of Andrew Brackman. It's certainly possible that this isn't a recognition of how to prevent errors of the past (A.K.A. throw money at it) but rather an extension of the big, dumb money strategy into the farm system coupled with an arrogance that will undermine these efforts in the long run. But if it is a genuine change in strategy towards actually listening to their scouts and trusting younger players instead of reflexively trading them and trying to build squads of 25 mercenaries, then they will go a long way towards accomplishing that state of perpetual competition for the top spot and prevent the kind of organizational collapses that led to the Yankee and Red Sox teams of the early 90's.

This Week's MVP

AL: ARod hit .565/.630/1.478 with 7 bombs, 3 walks, and 4 K in 23 AB. That's amazing

Season: ARod's MVP week has his season stats up to .318/.424/.672. It put him up over 50 home runs and up to 82 walks. He's even 22 for 25 stealing bases, which has made at least one of my fantasy league teams very happy.

NL: Where did this come from? Jack Wilson hit .615/.621/.077 with 6 doubles, 2 home runs, 2 walks, and 2 K. Unbelievably he's hitting .349/.401/.534 since the All Star break.

Season: ARod's crosstown rival at third base, David Wright is having an MVP caliber season of his own with a .315/.410/.539 line. He's doing this in Shea Stadium which is no mean feat and he has a pretty good glove. He's carrying 34 doubles, 27 homers, 84 walks, and he's stolen 30 bases, only getting caught 4 times.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

Greg Maddux and Micah Owings had a nice duel going on Wednesday. They combined for 14 innings of 11 hit ball, allowing only 2 runs and only one walk. They got matching no decisions for their trouble.

Good Luck Division

Scott Kazmir had run support that Owings and Maddux could only dream about on Thursday. He let 5 Orioles score (remember that this is the same squad that got no-hit this week...more on that in a moment) in 5 innings, but he got the W because Jeremy Guthrie got absolutely blitzed for 6 runs in 6 frames.

Vulture Division

Huston Street blew a 2 run lead on Friday night against the Tigers, but Joel Zumaya bailed him out by allowing a run of his own.

They Call that a Save?

Brad Hennessey of the Giants got the 3 run, 1 inning save against the Rox on Monday. Even with Todd Helton and Garrett Atkins coming up at the top of the 9th, there still wasn't much of a danger to "save" the boys by the bay from. He only contributed 3.8% to the Giants win probability that night, but he still gets the big S next to his name.

As an aside, what was Yorvit Torrealba doing batting 6th, ahead of Brad Hawpe? What kind of insanity is that anyways?

Oh, also I'm looking for a better name for this award. If you have a suggestion, contact me.

The Rico Brogna Award

Tori Hunter drove in 5 despite hitting a measly .148/.172/.296.

Season to Date: Garrett Atkins has 95 RBI on the season, good for 15th in the Majors. He's hitting .281/.348/.466, which isn't bad, but for a third baseman playing in Coors (which has returned to being a friendly place for hitters), it isn't great either. It's about average. This is what happens when you spend all season batting behind Matt Holiday's .397 OBP and Todd Helton's .424.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Kevin Youkilis had this great line: .235/.500/.588 this week. That's what a couple of home runs and seven walks will do for you.

Season as a whole: Pat Burrell is up to .262/.401/.504.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Juan Pierre is one of my favorite targets. His tendency to hit the way he did this week, with a .308/.308/.346 line is the primary reason why.

Season: Delmon Young won last week and at .296/.326/.412, he still has a nice little margin built up. But let's take a moment to appreciate the brilliance of Sean Casey's .283/.339/.378 and Shannon Stewart's .283/.345/.385.

The Steve Balboni Award

Akinori Iwamura hit a pair of doubles, a triple, a home run, and he drew 4 walks in 27 at bats, but his 10 K's doomed his batting average, leading to a .185/.281/.444 week.

Leader: Brandon Inge is another repeat winner with his 137K and .234/.314/.376 season. But also worth mentioning is Bill Hall, who has always been a serious free swinger, but his 107 whiffs in 403 at bats has dragged him down to .258/.320/.432, which would be disappointing but not a killer if he was still playing primarily second and short. But when he's taking up an outfield spot, which just isn't acceptable.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Carlos Pena homered 4 times, walked 8 times, and struck out 7 times in 36 plate appearances.

Leader: Ryan Howard hasn't run away with it, but he's been on top of the charts for quite some time now as he's tied for second in the NL in HR with 36, tied for 5th in walks with 83, and leading the Senior Circuit in K with 165.

This Week's Completely Made Up Award

In lieu of an actual award, I'm taking the opportunity for some commentary on Clay Buchholz's no hitter. It was a very well pitched game, but there were some things in here to keep in mind. First, while this game ranks very high among the best pitched games of the season, it only ranks 5th best in game score at 93. It is tied with Scott Baker's 1 hitter from the day before. As an aside, the best game score of the year doesn't actually belong to any of the three no-no's that we've seen or Johan Santana's brilliant 17 K gem against the Rangers. It's Erik Bedard's 15K shutout of the Rangers on July 7th, which garnered a 98.

The other thing to think about is that this was a lineup that was vulnerable to this kind of thing. Let's run down the order.

2B Brian Roberts, who is a good hitter, hitting .304/.392/.453 on the season, but he bat .257/.351/.398 in August.

CF Corey Patterson has no business as a starting outfielder, hitting an anemic .272/.308/.387 on the season. Could somebody tell me what he was doing batting second? It will be interesting to see where he latches on in the off season. With speed and defense, he could be very interesting for some teams, but they need to minimize the damage he does with his weak bat.

SS Nick Markakis is hitting .294/.360/.467 in 523 at bats in 2007. No argument here, but he's solid, not spectacular and not my idea of a #3 hitter.

SS Miguel Tejada is hitting .306/.363/.471. He was the most likely one to get a hit, but everybody has some oh-fers.

DH Kevin Millar: .261/.373/.430. He's drawn some walks this season, but at this point in his career that's just about all he has and that's not a ringing endorsement for a DH.

1B Aubrey Huff: If you hadn't noticed by now, this piece could alternately be named "Why the Orioles Are Where They Are". Huff was one of the Orioles key acquisitions and he's hitting .271/.320/.435.

3B Scott Moore was playing his first ML game this season after hitting .265/.373/.526 in Des Moines. Now I like the trade that the Orioles made to get him, giving up Steve Trachsel for Moore and another player. He'll be an asset to the club with his lefty pop. I think he could be one of the better "4 corners" supersubs in the game. But his weaknesses, mostly contact and the associated batting average issues, perfectly align with being no-hit.

C JR House only had 15 ML at bats on the season for Baltimore and he had hit .200/.250/.400, but that's not statistically significant. He hit .298/.365/.463 for Norfolk in a much more robust 419 at bats. Actually, I like him too as a pinch hitter, backup catcher, and backup first baseman/DH. But this is another backup level bat.

LF Jay Payton: I'm kind of stunned that he can still buy his way onto a ML roster, let alone have a team voluntarily pay him to play. At least the Orioles had the smarts to bat a guy who is sporting a .259/.298/.368 line 9th in the order.

To review, that's a lineup that isn't really going to threaten many good pitchers. You're immediately forfeiting two spots in the lineup by playing Patterson and Payton. Huff and Millar are well past their sell by date. Markakis is a good young player that I like and he makes for a solid start to a lineup with Tejada and Roberts, but three guys does not a lineup make. I like Moore and House going forward, but more in the way that I'm looking forward to seeing how a good, smart manager can put them to good use rather than waiting to see what they can do with 500 at bats in a season.

This Week's Dumbest Thing Ever

There were no shortages of candidates in this race. The world abounds with people and events that qualify. Adam Dunn missed third base on his way home, costing his team in a situation where they would have been assured to have scored at least two runs, and maybe would have scored more as it would have been 2 on, 2 out. Joey Gathright attempted to bunt in the first inning of a game against the Tigers even though Andrew Miller had allowed the first 7 hitters in the game to reach base, and managed to strike out after he was unsuccessful with the bunt. But having watched my friend Jeff Sullivan's descent into madness during the Mariners recent losing streak, I thought it might be an appropriate occasion to give him the floor and let him get some things off his chest. So I asked him if he would like to have the floor for a minute. In the first ever guest spot on the Weekly Awards, here's Jeff's nomination of John McLaren for Dumbest Thing Ever.

A lot of new managers are given a little grace period during which they're free from criticism while they familiarize themselves with their job and their players. For John McLaren, though, a dugout veteran of more than 20 years, there is no excusing the mess he's made of the Mariners' recent losing streak.

Now, I'm not going to sit here and blame McLaren for the skid. More than anything else, it's the players who have to perform up to their abilities. But John McLaren did not handle the whole thing very well, and it all kind of boiled over in last Thursday's latest Cleveland makeup game. Let's recap:

-Started Jose Vidro - arguably the worst defensive infielder in baseball - instead of Jose Lopez or Willie Bloomquist at second base with groundballer Horacio Ramirez on the mound

-Batted Raul Ibanez cleanup against a left-handed starter

-With men on first and second with none out in the ninth inning of a one-run game against Joe Borowski, had Adam Jones bunt on a 3-1 count

-Relieved Eric O'Flaherty with two on and one out in the bottom of the ninth with Rick White, even though JJ Putz hadn't pitched since the 24th

Put all these things together and you've got yourself a 6-5 loss and a six-game losing streak. During those six games, Putz made zero appearances, while White made four - in a tie game against Texas, in a one-run game against Los Angeles, in a tie game against Cleveland, and in a blowout. Three high-leverage appearances given to a 38 year old nobody who couldn't even get hitters out in Houston before getting released. White was predictably terrible, and it cost the team severely. That's what happens when you make far and away the worst pitcher in your bullpen throw important pitches.

It's like the team didn't learn at all from the failed John Parrish experiment before. For whatever reason McLaren falls in love with crappy veterans who've "been through wars", and for whatever reason Bill Bavasi allows him to indulge in his weird little fantasies rather than build the idiot-proof bullpen we thought we had before. It's a dangerous combination, and God only knows how much it's already cost us.

John McLaren doesn't know anything about groundball/flyball profiles, he doesn't know anything about platoon splits, he doesn't know anything about when to yank certain pitchers, and he doesn't know anything about how to run a Major League bullpen. The sabermetric principle that field managers have little impact on a team's final record falls short here, because McLaren occupies his own little world of stupid, and with more than 20 years' dugout experience under his belt, it's hard to see him evolving in the role. John McLaren: major tool. That the Mariners are somehow still in playoff contention is nothing short of a Christmas miracle.

This Week's MVP

AL: It's a tough choice between Carlos Pena, who smacked 4 long balls and drew 8 walks in his .296/.444/.852 week and Curtis Granderson, who hit a pair of bombs to go with 4 doubles and a steal in going .531/.519/.923. I think I'll go with Pena because he had an extra 9 plate appearances for his rate stats.

Season: Alex Alowishus Devadander Abercrombie Rodriguez.

NL: Jimmy Rollins had the best week in baseball, going .515/.556/.909. He was the ultimate stat sheet stuffer with a pair of doubles, a triple, three homers, three steals (caught once), and three walks. It bears mentioning that I never saw this mid-career power spike coming. There was no warning. He had hit 14 home runs in 2001 and 2004, but he hit 25 last season and he has 25 right now. He went from having a career high in isolated slugging of .166 to going for .201 last season and .237 this season. He's hitting .299/.350/.536 and he's become quite a valuable little player, more than making his 5 year, $40 million contract a bargain. There were some doubts about giving that much money over that amount of time to him.

Season: Jake Peavy spun a pair of spectacular starts this week, combining for 14 innings of 1 run baseball, allowing only 5 HITS, striking out 19, walking 4. That brought his ERA down to its current 2.10. It's certainly aided by his home park, but an ERA+ of 196 is hard to mitigate through park effects alone. Batters are now hitting an impotent .202/.268/.282 against him. That's simply insane.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

Welcome to the only corner of the American sports landscape where you won't hear about a certain guy who used to wear shoulder pads on Sunday and just admitted to doing something very, very bad. That's right, no coverage of that one guy, what's his name? Something like Hans Laos, or Jim Nigeria, maybe it was Eddie Chile. Whatever his name is, we here at the weekly awards love dogs, except for that one that lives one block west and one block north of the Weekly Awards headquarters, the one we've nicknamed Snarls Barkley. We just wish he'd shut up. But all of the other dogs are cool. Good doggy. That's right, goooood doggy.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

On Thursday, Jake Westbrook and Nate Robinson combined for 16 2/3 innings of shutout ball, allowing only 9 hits and 2 walks in that time. They got matching no decisions and the win went to Rafael Perez, who threw a grand total of 6 pitches.

If you're looking for an actual loss, the go to Westbrook's teammate Fausto Carmona, who took the L on Tuesday despite giving the Indians a complete game, allowing only 2 runs on 3 hits and no walks. A pair of solo home runs were hit undoing and rookie Jair Jurrjens got the win.

Good Luck Division

On Friday, Andrew Miller and Roger Clemens both got bombed, Miller allowing 6 runs in 4 and a third and Clemens getting shelled for 6 runs in 5 frames. Both escaped with no decisions, spared the indignity of being the pitcher who killed their team in a very important game.

Special Recognition for Good Luck

I hadn't planned on recognizing season pitching awards this week, as I usually leave those for every few weeks. But I got an email from an anonymous reader pointing me to Claudio Vargas, who has a ridiculous 10-4 record despite a 1.56 WHIP and 5.13 ERA. But do you know what? I think it goes beyond this year. Digging into the numbers, he hasn't had a sub-.500 season he was a rookie in 2003, and even then it was a comparatively tame 6-8. He has a career 42-36 record in 657 innings. This despite a career whip of 1.46 and an ERA of 4.96. Batters this season are hitting a combined .287/.352/.482 against him. Career, it's .273/.343/.483. For context, the average NL hitter is batting .264/.332/.418. Yet here he is, standing among baseball's leaders in win percentage.

Vulture Division

In Thursday night's Padres/Mets matchup, Billy Wagner entered the game with his Mets up 7-6. He gave up 2 runs, handing Trevor Hoffman a 8-7 9th inning lead. HE coughs up a run, making it a tie ballgame. Aaron Heilman then gives Hoffman a helping hand by hanging one to Adrian Gonzalez. Heath Bell finally ends the madness by throwing a scoreless bottom 10th and Hoffman walks away with the golden W.

The Rico Brogna Award

Marlon Byrd drove in 7 runs in 21 at bats, but only managed to hit .190/.286/.333.

Season to Date: Andruw Jones has made a hash of the season, hitting .223/.315/.429, but he gets a big pat on the back for being tied for 26th in the Majors with 83 RBI. He's a "PROVEN RUN PRODUCER", whatever that means.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Nate McLouth had a nice week despite hitting .258. 2 doubles, 3 home runs, and 5 walks in 31 at bats will do that for you. His .974 OPS is pretty nice.

I hadn't noticed, but McLouth is up to a very respectable .251/.331/.455 this season. I had seen him play here in Indy and had viewed him as strictly a kind of 4th outfielder virtuoso in the making. I'll also mention that I may be alone here, but I've always thought that the name Nate McLouth just sounds like the name of a player from 1924.

Season as a whole: Ryan Howard's .264/.386/.564 gets it done. He may not hit many singles, but he has 20 doubles, 34 bombs, and 81 walks. Nifty.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

We have a tie for the top spot with two very similar performances. Nook Logan hit .308/.308/.346 and Jose Lopez .308/.308/.385. That's 52 AB, 3 doubles, no homers or walks.

Season: Delmon Young has a .288 BA, but he's not hitting for power or drawing walks. .317/.403 OBP/SLG is anemic, even for a player as young as he is. In 511 at bats, he's hit only 9 home runs and drawn only 22 walks.

The Steve Balboni Award

There are two really good candidates here too. Rookie Josh Fields popped 2 homers, a double, and drew a pair of walks. But his 11 K's pulled him down to a .179/.233/.429 line. Meanwhile, Brad Hawpe likewise tallied a double, a couple bombs, and a pair of walks while striking out 10 times for a .167/.231/.458 week.

Leader: Brandon Inge: 408 AB, 130 K, .246/.319/.380

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Carlos Pena had a very solid TTO week, with 3 HR, 8 BB, 4 K in 20 AB.

Leader: Ryan Howard is tied for 7th in the Majors in walks with 81, leads in K's with 152, and is 4th in HR with 36.

This Week's Completely Made Up Award

I was talking with my friend Dan Wesley and a couple other people about various hitters and we went about comparing the virtues and weaknesses of a pair of Devil Rays. When looking at the careers of Jonny Gomes and Carlos Pena, it's very strange to see just how similar they are statistically. Gomes has had about half the ML career that Pena has had, due in no small part to his being two and a half years Pena's junior. The two of them get the "Separated At Birth" Award.

Pena
2383 career PA
102 2B: 3.6% of PA
114 HR: 4.78%
279 BB: 11.71%
608 K: 25.51%
Career line: .248/.341/.478

Gomes
1183 career PA
48 2B: 4.06%
55 HR: 4.65%
121 BB: 10.23%
322 K: 27.22%
Career Line: .246/.338/.473

Pena gets some bonus points for playing his home games in Comerica Park for most of his career. He also gets bonus points for being a Gold Glove darkhorse. Gomes theoretically has more career ahead of him, though he might get hurt in the future by his questionable glove and that's part of the famed "Old Player Skills" that portends sudden performance drop-offs and early ending careers. It'll be interesting to watch their lines going forward.

This Week's Dumbest Thing Ever

A save in a 30-3 game? When the pitcher in question entered the game with an 11 run lead? The situation was actually presented to me by Lone Star Ball founder and proprietor, and friend of BTB and the Awards Adam Morris. And indeed, it's worthy, perhaps overqualified.

In the original concept for this weekly column, I intended to hand out an award based on cheap saves and the silliness that tends to follow that particular stat around. For one reason or another, I really never got around to it. Two things happened this week to prompt me to mention it. First, the Littleton save, which points a spotlight at the dumbest provision in a dumb set of rules for a dumb stat. The second is that Dave Pinto laid out a new set of procedures for the save, or if you prefer a stat that better accomplishes what the save was originally set out to measure.

This Week's MVP

AL: David Ortiz hit .478/.600/1.043 with 2 doubles, a triple, 3 homers, 7 walks, and only 1 K.

Season: ARod

NL: Having Mark Teixeira in the NL is going to take some getting used to for me. He's done well there though, going .414/.514/.793 this week for the politically incorrect team from Georgia.

Season: Hanley Ramirez is still hitting .332/.389/.561, but David Wright is gaining on him, as the Mets third baseman is up to .319/.413/.535 himself. He's even stolen 28 bases this year with an 87.5 percent success rate. He drew 10 walks this week. But even being the best player on a playoff contender isn't likely to be enough as he's trailing in RBI, which BBWAA voters love, and for all of his popularity, the national media has seemed to have been hyping Prince Fielder  and Ryan Howard more than Wright.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

The press attention deservedly went to Johan Santana after the Rangers/Twins pitcher's duel on Sunday, but it bears mentioning that Kevin Millwood, who has struggled this season, threw 7 innings of nearly scoreless baseball, allowing only 1 runner to touch home. He got the loss because he had the bad luck of throwing his best start of the year on the same night that the best pitcher in baseball had one of his best games ever.

Season Leader: As sad as Millwood's misfortune on Sunday, Matt Cain sheds no tears for the big sinkerballer. He's had an entire season of heartache, posting a 3.78 ERA with 124 K in 157 innings. His 16 quality starts in 25 attempts puts him in a tie for 8th in the NL. Nevertheless, he's 5 and 13. That's 5 wins, 13 losses.

Good Luck Division

On Thursday, San Diego starter Clay Hensley gave up 6 runs in 5 innings to the R0x0rs at Petco. He gave allowed 10 baserunners and still got the W because the Padres dropped 10 runs on Elmer Dessens and Jeremy Affeldt.

Season Leader: Horatio Ramirez of the Mariners has a 7.38 ERA and is 7 and 4 in only 14 starts. He's only struck out 3.88 batters per nine and is allowing almost 2 baserunners an inning. Do you think he buys Ichiro a steak dinner for every underserved win?

Vulture Division

This really is endemic. Bill Bray came in and threw one pitch on Sunday and got the win versus the Brewers. This was pointed out by reader Ethan Stanislawski. I will say in Bray's cause, his one pitch was a pretty critical one for the Reds as he got Price Fielder, who is a very tough out and he stranded a runner on second in the process.

The Rico Brogna Award

Magglio Ordonez collected 8 RBI on the week and while his outstanding work with the lumber all year makes any criticism of him mere nitpicking, this column is here both for large statements and indeed for nitpicking. The Venezuelan hit a modest .250/.300/.357 on the week, which doesn't help the team's cause very much.

Season to Date: Jason Bay is tied for 10th in the NL with 79 RBI and is "on pace" to end the year with 106. However, he's hitting a meager .253/.328/.424.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Russ Martin Hit .240 this week, but 2 of his 6 hits were home runs and he walked 4 times, to give him a .240/.367/.480 line.

Season as a whole: A .400/.500/.800 week has Lance Berkman's line up to .268/.378/.474. It isn't the elite Berkman that we're used to, but he still has 24 dingers and 72 walks, which makes him a pretty valuable player.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Tad Iguchi hit .296 on the week, but his .321 OBP and .370 SLG only nets him a .691 OPS. Pass.

Season: Delmon Young has a .290 BA, but only 21 walks and 9 home runs in 486 at bats for a .290/.320/.407 line.

The Steve Balboni Award

Jeff Francoeur's 9 whiffs in 21 at bats negated his otherwise worthy work by holding down his average. 2 homers, 2 walks, and a steal are nice, but a .190/.261/.476 line is subpar for a right fielder.

Leader: Brandon Inge has a very good glove at third and he has 37 walks in 393 at bats, but his 130 strikeouts have been a drag on his numbers and by extension, the Tigers numbers. .242/.317/.389 isn't helping them hold off the Indians.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Adam Dunn reigns with 4 HR, 8 BB, and 5 K in 20 at bats.

Leader: Ryan Howard retains last week's title. He's up to 33 HR, 79 BB, 149 K in 474 plate appearances.

This Week's Dumbest Thing Ever/Some Brief Draft Signing Deadline Notes

I really, really dislike the Andrew Brackman contract from the Yankees. I don't so much dislike the pick itself or the money involved. Money is just money, and Brackman is probably worth the last pick in the first round. He has talent. He's just much, much, much too raw to get a Major League contract. He's a project at best. He has very little real domination in his track record. He has very little experience, messy mechanics, and a possible major surgery in his immediate future. Exactly how many warning lights need to go off here? And he's now on the 40 man roster. If he struggles or recovers slowly from his anticipated trek to Dr James Andrews, then he'll be pushed to the Bronx before he's ready. For players like David Price and Matt Weiters, a Major League contract is a reasonable demand. They're almost certain to be in the Majors in 3 or 4 years and if they aren't, then something very, very, very bad has happened and running out of option years is the least of everybody's concerns. With a project like Brackman or a high schooler like Rick Porcello, it's tempting fate.

On the positive side, my favorite PICK in this draft is the Braves taking Jason Heyward at number 14. Heyward is one of my favorite players in this class, combining advanced skills with a very high ceiling. He has athleticism and raw power with contact ability and a good idea of what he's doing at the plate. I would have rather had him than 5 of the guys taken in the top 10.

This Week's MVP

AL: Jack Cust hit .409/.533/.864 in 22 at bats.

Season: ARod hit .360/.467/.400 on the week to bring him up to .304/.411/.623 in 451 AB on the year.

NL: Chris B. Young has had a couple of huge weeks interspersed in a season full of very challenging weeks. .393/.433/1.036 with great defense is one hell of a week. He smacked 11 hits, 3 of which were doubles and complimented by 5 homers. He drew a pair of walks and stole a base.

Season: The Fish have what I think are the two most valuable players in the National League this season. Hanley Ramirez is hitting .339/.392/.574, leading the league in batting and generally wrecking havoc, collecting stats in every category. Doubles, triples, homers, steals. Meanwhile, a few feet to his right, Miguel Cabrera is hitting .330/.409/.606. But even with these two, the Fish are currently 14 ½ games out in the NL East. Why is that? Well, there are 3 main reasons behind it.

1. The pitching, which was a strength last season, allowing the 12th fewest runs in the Majors, has become a liability as injury and regression have taken their toll. They current rank 28th in runs allowed and have walked more batters than any team in baseball.
2. The defense behind the pitchers has been a weakness as well. According to Baseball Prospectus's Defensive Efficiency rates, they rank 29th in turning batted balls into outs. This might be seen as 1A since much of their difficulty with pitching is exacerbated by their porous defense. Ramirez and Cabrera here are partially culpable here as they're among the worst defenders at their positions this season, as are secondbaseman Dan Uggla and left fielder Josh Willingham. By and large, this team isn't going to make the kind of mistakes that lead to embarrassing SportsCenter highlights, but rather they are loaded with defenders who just don't cover a lot of ground relative to league norms.
3. They've had a certain number of massive liabilities in the lineup, chief among them catcher Miguel Olivo, who is hitting a putrid .237/.254/.379. Among other issues have been Marlin catchers, hitting a combined .266/.345/.413, center fielders (.268/.326/.374), and right fielders (.236/.329/.405).

Ramirez and Cabrera have virtually no chance to win the hardware and would have to go to Bondsian lengths to get the attention required to be considered legitimate candidates in the eyes of most voters. That's a shame. We'll probably end up with a player who was clearly inferior but benefited from having better teammates.

This Week's Completely Made-Up Award

The Helping His Own Cause Award goes to rookie pitcher Micah Owings of the Diamondbacks, who single-handedly beat the Braves despite throwing less than 80 pitches on the night. By now you already know that on Saturday night, he smacked 2 home runs, a double, and a single, driving in half of the Diamondbacks 12 runs on the night. I confess that I had to work at 4 AM on Sunday, so I didn't watch the game. The first time I heard about his feat was at 3:15AM when I was watching ESPNews. They expressed shock that Owings was able to hit for power, not realizing that he was a very good two-way player at Georgia Tech and Tulane before becoming a full time pitcher after being drafted by the Snakes in the third round in 2005. He plowed his way to a .719 SLG as a junior at Tulane as a first baseman. I was going to blast away on the anchors for not doing basic research before they went on with the story, but I watched the morning SportsCenter a few hours later and the oversight was at least partially corrected with the highlights of the game mentioning that he was a very good hitter in high school. No mention of his college career, but I can forgive that since the basic premise being that he was a good amateur hitter remaining intact.

On the subject of good hitting pitchers, Owings has the talent to be one of the better ones out there. Among those who are cited as being historically proficient hitters, I'm surprised to learn that Greg Maddux, who was widely hailed for his stick, is a modest .173/.193/.208 hitter in his career. In truth, Mike Hampton is probably a much better example as the prototype pitcher with a good bat, as he is/was a .242/.292/.354 career hitter. The other players who are noted as being proficient hitters right now are Dontrelle Willis, at .214/.262/.319 (he's even having a down year at the plate; .159/.245/.273), Carlos Zambrano at .219/.228/.356 (obviously power, but no patience), and Livan Hernandez at .233/242/.317. For sense of perspective, the average Major League pitcher is hitting .145/.177/.181.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

 I'll be honest, I have no idea who John Lannan is, but I do know he got screwed last week. The Nats lefty spun two gems on the road and came away empty handed. On Monday, he tossed 7 innings, allowing 1 run in PacBell/AT&T/Ma Bell Park, but he came away with a no decision because the DC lineup couldn't figure out Tim Lincecum and his friends. Then on Saturday, he was victimized by Brandon Webb's reign of terror, coming away with a loss despite another 7 innings with only one run allowed. For those of you who haven't done the math yet, that's 14 innings thrown with a 1.29 ERA and a 0-1 record for his troubles.

Good Luck Division

Contrast Lannan's luck with Horatio Ramirez, who "knows how to win" and gave his team a decrepit 5 inning effort, allowing 10 baserunners and 7 runs to the sub-par Orioles offense. He got the win because Daniel Cabrera isn't a good pitcher either. Furthermore in Ramirez's favor, the M's bullpen is a strength, while the Baltimore management team used free agency as their chosen method of building a bullpen, resulting in "proven veterans" Danys Baez and Jamie Walker giving the Ho a much easier victory than he ever should have expected.

Vulture Division

Our vulture this week comes from reader Rich Poupard, who put it about as well as I could expect to do when he says:

Last night [Monday] in the game between the Tigers and the Devil Rays, Justin Verlander battled for 6 innings, Macay McBride got two batters out, and Fernando Rodney and Todd Jones each got through an inning.  Zach Miner threw one pitch in the game - a strike in the 6th inning.

Miner got the win.

The Rico Brogna Award

Rockies utility infielder Jamey Carroll has 7 RBI in 14 at bats despite hitting .143/.250/.357. It was almost half of his season total in RBI (18) in one poor week.

Season to Date: Jeff Francoeur and Andruw Jones share the award. Both are among the NL leaders in RBI, Francoeur with 76, Jones with 74, but they owe much of that to batting behind Kelly Johnson (.395 OBP), Edgar Renteria (.392), and Chipper Jones (.403). Francoeur's batting a respectable, but hardly elite .309/.351/.466 and Jones is batting .214/.309/.414.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Ryan Howard only hit .250 this week, but 3 of his 5 hits were home runs and he walked 4 times in 20 at bats for a .250/.385/.700 line.

Season as a whole: Pat Burrell has a run of the mill .266 batting average, largely because of the 80 times he's whiffed in 319 at bats, but he also has 83 walks. .266/.418/.486 isn't bad.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Jose Lopez singled 7 times in 22 at bats, but didn't collect an extra-base hit or a walk for a punchless .318/.318/.318.

Season: Memo to the Dodgers; RE: Nomar Garciaparra; When you have a corner infielder hitting .281/.327/.365, that's a problem. Down in Vegas, Adam LaRoche's little brother hit .411/.486/.922 in July. I'm just saying...

The Steve Balboni Award

Nelson Cruz had a double and 3 walks in 19 at bats, but he struck out 9 times, contributing to his .158/.273/.211 week.

Leader: I'm getting concerned about Jason Bay. The guy has 110 K's in 427 AB and is only hitting .255/.328/.431.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Brad Hawpe smacked 3 bombs, drew 6 walks, and struck out 8 times in 19 at bats.

Leader: Josh Fields has 12 HR, 17 BB, and a staggering 75 K in 219 AB since getting called up. He's hitting .247/.304/.457, which sounds a lot like the guy he replaced, Joe Crede's career .259/.305/.446 line.

But just so you know, this isn't a fluke for Fields. Before coming up, he had 19 HR, 39 BB, 60 K in 205 AB with Charlotte for a .283/.394/.498 effort. And in 2006, also for Charlotte, he had 19 HR, 54 BB, 136 K in 462 AB for a .305/.379/.515 line. We know what he will do at this point. He will strike out a lot. He will draw some walks, and he will punish a hanging curve.

This Week's MVP

AL: Raul Ibanez had an inexplicably huge week, going off for a .481/.533/1.111 line in 27 at bats. He homered 5 times and added a pair of doubles and walks.

Season: ARod again. He's really, really good and he's having a really, really good year, even for him. I've heard some people call it a career year, but it's hard for me to really get behind that notion with full force provided that he has a number of similar seasons, such as his .358/.414/.631 in 1996 as a 20 year old, his .316/.420/.606 in 2000, .318/.399/.622 in 2001, .300/.392/.622 in 2002, .298/.396/.600 in 2003, and his .321/.421/.610 in 2005.

NL: Troy Tulowitzki posted a .483/.531/.931 line with 4 doubles, 3 home runs, and 3 walks in 29 at bats.

Season: I'm going with Jake Peavy. Batters are hitting .216/.277/.292 against him. That means that an average hitter becomes the equivalent of the worst regular in the Majors. Wrap your head around that for a second. Peavy has a 2.23 ERA, 164 K's, 44 BB, and 124 H in 157 and 2/3 innings.

This Week's Completely Made-Up Award

Edwin Bellorin and Rick Ankiel get the Welcome to the Show Award. As reader Steve Sheehan points out, Bellorin had what has to be one of the most unfortunate Major League debuts in history. The poor guy spends years in the minors, collecting 1823 at bats down there. He gets the call to replace the disappointing Chris Iannetta, and in his first ML plate appearance, he grounds into a double play and adding injury to insult, he strains his hammy trying to leg it out, landing on the 15 day DL. If there's a bright spot here, he at least is guaranteed a ML salary while he's on the shelf. I hope the guy sticks around for at least a little while once he's healed. For one, you don't want to go out like that. Secondly, he has an outstanding name that just rolls off the tongue.

We all know the Ankiel story. I include it here as a counter to the Shakespearean tragedy of Bellorin. He hits 3 homers (one in his debut) in his first week back in the show after years of exile learning how to be an everyday player. One word of caution thought, he won't hit for much average or draw many walks in the long run. His career line in the minor leagues is .266/.328/.546. He was hitting .267/.314/.568 in Memphis. On the plus side, he didn't have much of a platoon split this season.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.

If you are new to the awards, see Week 1's column to see the award definitions.

This Week's Proof That Assigning Wins and Losses to a Pitcher is a Silly Practice that Must Stop

Bad Luck Division

On Friday, the Dodgers Chad Billingsley went 7 and 2/3, allowing 7 baserunners and only one run, but still got the L because the Fightin' Nomars got shut out by Doug Davis and the Snakes pen.

Good Luck Division

Compare Billingsley's fate with that of Odalis Perez, who lucked into a win on Wednesday, giving up 5 runs in 6 frames to the Brew Crew. He should send Claudio Vargas a thank you gift. Maybe he has an Amazon wish list.

Vulture Division

Today's vulture was a submission by reader Tom Endicott, who points out that Javier Lopez threw a grand total of 2 pitches on Wednesday and came away with the pitcher's version of a gold star. He came into the game with 2 out in the 7th and induced a grounder to end the inning. After that the BoSox offense tallied 4 runs and he was well on his way to getting a vulture win.

The Rico Brogna Award

Jason Lane racked up 8 RBI despite hitting only .174/.259/.435. You'll hear his name again.

Season to Date: Garrett Atkins is tied for 13th in the Majors with 75 RBI. He's hitting .270/.335/.463 (79th in MLB) while playing half of his games on Planet Coors.

The Harmon Killebrew Batting Average is for Wussies Award

Mark Teixeira had a nice beginning to his career as a Brave with a .261/.370/.739 week. That's only 6 hits, but 2 of them were doubles and 3 were bombs. He also contributed 3 walks.

Season as a whole: Lance Berkman is hitting a very mediocre .260, but he's retained his walk rate and boasts a .373 OBP and a .451 SLG.

The Rey Sanchez Batting Average is all I've Got Award

Alfonso Soriano posted a .286 batting average, but that was 7 singles and a double to go with one walk for a .286/.310/.321 week.

Season: Yuniesky Bettancourt's line is .290/.313/.402 in 373 at bats on the season. He has a little pop for a shortstop, but 13 walks dooms him to be far less than what his batting average would have you believe.

The Steve Balboni Award

Here's Jason Lane again. The Astros outfielder hit a pair of home runs and drew a couple of walks in 23 at bats, but his 8 K's drug down his batting average and took his OBP with it for his previously mentioned .174/.259/.435.

Leader: Craig Monroe is really turning into Balboni personified. His .222/.265/.378 is plagued by 92 whiffs in 333 at bats. Last season was more of the same with his .255/.301/.486 and 126 K in 541 AB. He has a good amount of power and has a decent glove, but he just doesn't do enough to overcome striking out once every 4 times to the plate.

One thing that may help things is if the Tigers find the courage to platoon him. Monroe just can't hit right handed pitchers, striking out in 30% of his at bats against them in '07. This year he's really beating up lefties to the tune of .308/.323/.560. For his career he's .278/.322/.504 against southpaws.

3 True Outcomes Alert!!!

Adrian Gonzalez had 28 plate appearances last week with 1 home run, 7 walks, and 8 strikeouts.

Leader: Ryan Howard has passed Adam Dunn as the God of TTO this season. He passed Dunn in K's, and is now leading baseball with 131 of them, is 7th in walks with 73, and is 3rd in homers with 30. That's 234 TTO events in 422 plate appearances or 55%.

Please Stop Running

Willie Harris has done a commendable job in the Braves left field platoon, hitting .328/.397/.447. But he's stolen 16 bases this season while being caught 9 times for a 64% rate. That just isn't good enough. If you can't be successful 75% of the time, you really shouldn't try.

This Week's Dumbest Thing Ever

I really have no idea what Dave Littlefield accomplishes by trading for Matt Morris and his abysmal contract. Morris isn't much (if any) better than the pitchers he replaces. He's much more expensive. And he's old enough that he will be nowhere around the next time the Pirates are fighting for something more meaningful than 5th in the NL Central. It's a huge waste of organizational resources, especially when the team has been playing it cheap in the draft recently. This is one of the worst trades in recent memory.

This Week's MVP

AL: Robinson Cano was amazing all week, hitting .478/.556/1.087. He smoked 3 doubles, a triple, and 3 home runs to go with 3 walks in 23 at bats.

Season: Here's your ARod update. He's on pace for about 50 home runs and if the season ended today, he'd have a career high in OPS+ with 174.

In the grand scheme of things, it's small, but it's the kind of thing that the mainstream media would love to talk about if they didn't by and large loathe the guy, but the fact is ARod is a good baserunner. He steals bases at a high percentage, going 13 for 15 this season and 254 for 316 in his career for an 80% success rate.

NL: Kelly Johnson makes the week's MVP's a pair of second basemen. Johnson hit .522/.577/.826 in 23 at bats.

Season: Hanley Ramirez is having an amazing season, hitting .341/.394/.573  with 33 2B, 5 3B, 19 HR, 32 SB, 9 CS, and 34 BB in 431 AB as a SHORTSTOP.

Least Valuable Player

AL: Mike Piazza hit .167/.231/.167. That was 4 singles and 2 walks in 24 at bats.

Season: Can we officially call Nick Punto's .352 OBP last year a fluke? Have we done that yet? Have we made it official? If not, let's do that now. Punto is hitting an anemic .208/.297/.271.

I have a question here. Why do pitchers continue to walk Punto? It's nominally the only real skill he has at the plate. If you just fire some fastballs right down the pike, the worst thing that is likely to happen is a sharply hit single. He has 9 career home runs in 1383 at bats. Pitchers really should just throw it up there and dare him to hit it because there's no excuse for walking the guy.

NL: Gritty, gutsy, scrappy David Eckstein "hustled" his way to a .091/.192/.136 line this week.

Season:  Miguel Olivo plays a defensive position in a pitcher's park, but that really only goes so far in explaining his .231/.250/.380.

This Week's Completely Made-Up Award

The You're Better Than This Award is Buster Olney's property this week. In the process of analyzing Tom Glavine's 300th win, Olney said on ESPN News "Tom Glavine may well be baseball's last 300 game winner." He should have added in a "for a while" in there at the end because there will be another 300 game winner. Olney gives several relevant reasons for why 300 wins continues to get harder and harder to achieve, such as teams protecting their investments by limiting their pitchers innings and not being shy about the DL, and the fact that pitchers get fewer decisions because of bullpens and 5 man rotations. But at some point, somebody out there will be a freak of nature who is really good for a really long time and he will collect his 300th win. That somebody is probably in pro baseball right now. We just don't know who it is yet. That person isn't going to do it for another decade or decade and a half, but it almost certainly will happen. Wording that the way he did makes Olney just plain wrong. He really is better than that. We've seen people declare the 300 game winner extinct as a species before. They were always wrong.

Here's Where You Come In

I need your help. Please drop me a line nominate players for awards maybe entire team for awards. Make up your own award. Point out something stupid that your local color commentator said during a recent game. I can only watch so much baseball in a week, even with the miracle of MLB.TV. I have to use you as a crutch.