NL MVP in Review

Without much surprise, Albert Pujols was announced as a repeat winner of the NL MVP award. Unanimous this time, Pujols led the National League in homeruns (47), runs (124), OBP (.443), slugging (.658), total bases (374), and intentional walks (44). This while also hitting .327, with 135 rbis, 45 doubles, and almost twice as many walks as strikeouts (115 to 64).

Voting (First)

Pujols - 448 (32)
Hanley Ramirez - 233
Ryan Howard - 217
Prince Fielder - 203
Troy Tulowitzki - 172
Andre Ethier - 113
Pablo Sandoval - 89
Chase Utley - 84
Derrek Lee - 66
Matt Kemp - 49
Ryan Braun - 43

No real issue with the voting, as a lot of top players for this season ended up at the top of the voting. Further down the voting, I always wonder when I see things like this:

Jeremy Affeldt - 1

Now, Affeldt had a very good year. And he was definitely of some good value to his team. But the 10th most valuable player in the National League? That seems like a bit of a stretch to me.

Later today, I should have an article up about Pujols in the context of history.

World Series Thoughts

Been a bit busy, and didn't get to catch anything but the highlights for Game 5...

• Chase Utley is hopefully becoming a household name. He's played extremely well, and if the Phillies do manage to come back and win this Series, he's a lock for MVP.
• Game 6's matchup, when I first heard it, made me initially think Red Sox-Yankees. Guess Pedro really was known for that, even more than I thought previously.
• I would love to see the Phillies win tonight, and force a game 7 tomorrow. I love seeing games where they will throw anyone and everyone out there if need be.
• It has been a much better and more interesting World Series than I thought it would be initially. As much as it annoys me that the Yankees may very well have purchased this title, the players on the field still have to execute.
  

Game 1 Thoughts

Congrats to the Phillies for winning game 1 last night. Some thoughts from the parts of the game I watched...

- Cliff Lee looked really sharp. The Yankee hitters didn't see to have a very good feel for what they want to do up there. 10 Ks will do that.
- Sabathia seems to have less control tonight, but made it work.
- Umpiring controversy in the 5th, but thankfully they got that call right.
- Chase Utley is a simply amazing player. 2 HRs last night. Hopefully everyone is getting a feel for how good he really is.
- ESPN provided a really interesting stat: Lee was the first pitcher to have 10 K, 0 BB, and 0 ER in a World Series start. He was also the first to have 10 K and 0 BB in a World Series game 1 in 106 years.

I had hoped it would be a good pitching matchup, and was definitely not disappointed. Sabathia pitched well enough to win on most days, but ran into the buzzsaw that is Cliff Lee.