1st half:
AL mvp: a-rod. i dont care what magglio is hitting, there's no excuse for someone who will end up with 55 hrs and 130+ rbi (and batting .300) not winning MVP.
underappreciated: grady sizemore. the guy's on pace for .280, 30 hrs, 100 rbi, 150 runs, and 50 steals. who does that? i put him third behind magglio
NL mvp: prince fielder. quietly closed in on a-rod in hrs.
underappreciated: chase utley. projected to hit .325, 30 hrs, 140 rbi (sick), 130 runs, 12 steals. held the team together while howard sucked for two months. i put him 4th after matt holliday (2nd) hanley ramirez(3rd).
AL cy young: haren. i never thougth he'd be THIS good. underappreciated: erik bedard. 149 k's in 121 ip (siiiiiiick). slow starts hurts his overall numbers but he's in the zone. 4th after santana(2) and beckett (3).
NL cy young: chris young. best era in baseball, 2nd best whip after santana. 0.71 era over the past month. has given up more than 3 runs twice all season. these are his runs allowed per start since may 1st: 0, 2, 1, 1, 1, 0, 0, 3, 0, 0, 2, 0. that's an era of 1.17. even his k's are up. never thought he'd be this good in a million years.
underappreciated: young, but since i picked him for cy young i'll say john maine. i have him 4th after young, peavy (2), penny (3). and i think he'll pass penny when penny has his annual 2nd half dropoff. obviously he should've made the all-star team over smoltz, oswalt, hamels, and sheets. thank god for anna benson's dress and rick peterson. would love to see what he could do with daniel cabrera when the mets acquire him for newhan and one of golfinkid's pink shirts.
AL manager: i would've went with hargrove but he took himself out of contention by randomly resigning. music to the yanks ears since they haven't been the same since. gotta give it to leyland. he's still doing it despite sheff's early season slump and his two best bullpen arms hurt. francona deserves credit for keeping the sox steadied and focused despite their huge lead, and special consideration to ron washington for keeping the rangers competitive and not letting them give up.
NL manager: it's tempting to say ned yost because of the brewers improvement, but they have a ton of talent, play in a crappy division, and beat up on bad teams. i'll give it to grady little. a lot of people have been high on the dodgers since the offseason and most are still convinced they'll win the division. honestly, i can't see why. their lineup is garbage, their starting pitching has either been hurt or shaky after penny and lowe, and their defense leaves much to be desired. yet they've been right there behind the padres all season because they win close games--that's all grady. melvin is 2nd--i've maintained from the beginning that the d-backs young bats are still at least a year away but they have been competitive all year. i think they'll drop off significantly but i'll give credit where credit is due so far. i have bud black 3rd. even though the pads won the division the past two seasons i think bud black handles this team--especially the bullpen--way better than bochey. the clubhouse is relaxed and loose enough to absorb milton bradly and michael barrett and not miss a beat. they haven' thad a cold month yet which you could never say about them when bruce was managing.
AL ROY: okajima. no argument so far, but all it takes is one horrendous appearance to fuck up those pretty numbers. dice-k is on a roll and i think he'll move past his teammate.
NL ROY: hunter pence. you can make the case for ryan braun but he's just had a hot month. pence has consistently hit the shit out of the ball since he's come up. he leads the league in hitting and he's starting to hit for power. the guy is scary good.
2nd half:
AL:
seattle will fall out and i think cleveland will too. their bullpen sucks outside of betancourt and borowski's numbres are going to catch up with him. cleveland's offense is really impressive but they have a recent history of fading down the stretch and although hafner will heat up like he always does i dont think the indians have the arms to stay in it in september. oakland will get hot in the 2nd half like they always do so i think they will stay in the wild card hunt and make it a three team race with the twins and.............(drumroll please) the yankees.
no i am not counting out the yankees. clemens is heating up, hughes is due back soon, wang is doing his thing, and pettitte will be fine. i have no faith in mike mussina but regardless that's still a good rotation down the stretch if they all stay healthy. little is being made of cano starting to hit again over the last month (i have no idea why), the bullpen has been a little better too. most importantly, the yanks won two huge series coming into the all-star break and they have 4 or 5 ridiculously easy series in a row over the next month. they will be at least 8 games over .500 when those games are over. i think they win the wild card adn the other division leaders remain the same. but my money is on boston winning the pennant this year.
in the NL i see the d-backs, brewers, and eventually the braves dropping out of the wild card race. philly will heat up but so will the mets. i see the wild card spot being between philly and the dodgers with the dodgers prevailing due to their ability to win close games and superior bullpen. i know they are right behind the padres but sd is 21-4 against them in their last 25 meetings. cubs are hot, and zambrano is lights out again. he'll have a great 2nd half in his contract yera and lead them to the division title. plus i have no doubt lee's power numbers will improve. mets, pads, cubs, dodgers. when both teams are firing on all cylinders i think the mets are a better team than the padres, but the padres are absolutely built for the playoffs like no other team. they might have the best two starting pitchers in the NL, they have the best bullpen in baseball, and they have capable guys in germano, wells and maddox to pitch behind the big 2. sure their lineup sucks but they now have a legitimate power hitter who hits well over .300 (when he's not in a huge mid season slump), they have a very underrated bench, and they play defense with the best of them. they also, despite what espn's latest power rankings erroneously say, have very good timely hitting. i'm also a big homer, so i say the pads beat the mets in the NLCS and upset the red sox in the world series. a guy can dream cant he?
