Pujols Wins MVP, Howard Finishes Second
There will be no Phillies MVP three-peat.
Pujols Wins MVP, Howard Finishes Second
Todd Zolecki
There will be no Phillies MVP three-peat.
St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols has been named this year's National League MVP. Ryan Howard finished second.
Pujols received 18 first-place votes, 10 second place votes, two third-place votes, one fourth-place vote and one seventh-place vote to finish with 369 points. Howard received 12 first-place votes, eight second-place votes, six third-place votes, one fifth-place vote, one sixth-place vote, two seventh-place votes and one 10th place vote to finish with 308 points.
In the end, I think Howard's .251 average sunk him. No MVP in either league has hit less than .267, which Marty Marion did in 1944. I personally think Howard should have been MVP. He led the majors in home runs and RBIs. He played great when it mattered the most. His team made the postseason. Pujols had an incredible year, but for a fourth-place team.
Interestingly, Brad Lidge, who finished eighth with 104 points, was the only other player to receive first-place votes.
Chase Utley finished 15th.
Pujols said in 2006, when he finished second to Howard, that Howard didn't deserve to win because the Phillies didn't make the playoffs. Pujols said he was misquoted (or something) and said Howard did deserve to win. He was asked today about that.
“Thanks for opening the door that was already shut,” Pujols said. “I said it in 2006. That guy misunderstood my words. And what I said is the players who take their teams to the playoffs should have some consideration to win the MVP. Obviously, Howard had the numbers that year, just like I had it (this year). His team was in the playoff race until the last week of the season, so I think the writers made the right choice in 2006. He did deserve it. He hit over .300. He hit 58 homers. He had a great year, just like I had, and that’s just how it is.”
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The Phillies have fired minor-league field coordinator Bill Dancy, who had been the Phillies' third base coach from 2005-06. Mike Compton will take Dancy's place.
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The Phillies officially announced they have hired Scott Proefrock as assistant general manager to Ruben Amaro Jr.
Sorry for the double posting :-)— KarenA- If Howard had been more consistent throughout the duration of the season he would have won. A lot of voters could not forgive him for his horrendous start. MPT29 you're right its not about best player on best team anymore, but you're mistaken to compare it to the CY Young. Cy Young award is for BEST pitcher, simple as that. MVP is not always the BEST player, if it was Pujols would win almost every year.— Ni Boo
- Sorry, I just can't see giving this award to a player on a 4th place team . Sure, Howard struck out too many times ; but he did carry his team into the playoffs . Plus he put up monster HR and RBI stats . Hmmmm .— Joe R.
- anybody looking to get into a season ticket group? I've had season tickets in 125, 29 rows off home plate for 4 years. Two seats. Looking to go to fewer than 80 games this year. If so, email: scott_carcillo at yahoo dot com— diehardphan
- MLB.com has a complete list. Chase tied with Santana for 14th.— Norma
- Now we're even. 2006 Pujols was close with Howard. The Cardinals made the playoffs and the Phillies didn't. This year Howard had a terrible first two months, and did very good in September. So because he didn't have a good year the whole year the post season was his only hope. They sort of had to vote for Pujols.— unknownblogger
- Now we're even. 2006 Pujols was close with Howard. The Cardinals made the playoffs and the Phillies didn't. This year Howard had a terrible first two months, and did very good in September. So because he didn't have a good year the whole year the post season was his only hope. They sort of had to vote for Pujols.— unknownblogger
Comment removed.- Pujols should of won. MVP is defined as most outstanding player in baseball, regardless of team achievements. Only Hockey has MVP defined as most valuable to their respective teams. If people understand this, then everyone agress that Pujols should win— Sports4Life
- Comment removed.
- An argument can be made whether Howard deserved it (I think one can also make the case for Lidge); but I'm not 100% sure Pujols deserved it either. When Howard won it two years ago, the Phils were at least in the playoff hunt down to the last weekend. The Cards this year were fourth in their division and out of the playoff race by September. If the award was the "Best Player in Baseball Award," then Pujols certainly has a claim. I agree with the above poster (Sgasda4) who made the "value" argument. Howard was valuable to the Phils two years ago even though the Phils didn't make it since Howard at least kept them in the playoff run. Individual statistics aside, what real value was Pujols? Anyone really talking about how the Cardinals were the team of the year this year? Two final points: 1) Use better stats (like game-winning HRs, GW RBIs, etc.) to determine MVP. 2) I'll take the WS Trophy over the MVP anyday (and I'm pretty sure Howard feels the same way).— davesju93
- Joe R.....A lot of people would agree that a player on a 4th place team shouldn't be MVP. But stike-outs aside, Pujols had an all around MUCH better season than Howard. Howard got us to the play-offs by having a great Sept. The rest of his season was just about average. It's not Pujol's fault that he didn't get any support from the rest of his team.— Norma
- Well Ni boo, if that's the case, you would be hard pressed to argue that Lidge didn't deserve the Cy Young this year, he had the best season, as a pitcher. Lincecum 18-5 2.62 ERA, Lidge 2-0 1.95 with a higher WHIP, LIGHTS OUT!— mpt29
- Don't care about a stinking MVP award WORLD CHAMPS— douglasrdd
- Don't care about a stinking MVP award WORLD CHAMPS— douglasrdd
