If the sea of red in this image is evoking any memories from the catacombs of your mind, they are likely from a brisk October afternoon 4 years ago.  In full disclosure, despite the snarky indifference displayed in my last post, I’m happy for this fan base.

Oh, but I’m sure the party in Tampa would be just a vibrant had the Rays won.  The buzz of 300 motorized wheelchairs in Ybor City would have been louder than a swarm of 17-year-cicadas, am I right?

Look, if there’s a bright side to the outcome of the playoffs this year, it is that I (and most other Red Sox fans) have found a new team to hate.  Don’t get me wrong, I still hate our hairy-backed cousins in the Bronx just as much as I did in October of 2003.  I’m simply evolving.  I’m learning that my hatred is an equal opportunity emotion, and I can spread it around the map like acrylic paint.  My hatred does not discriminate based on race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, and lest of all…age.  If the Rays fan base happens to have the same median age as that collection of buffalo nickles I keep in a cedar box in my attic, I will not hate them any less than I do the loudmouthed tri-state area troglodytes.

Mildred from Bradenton?  Ebenezer from Thonotosassa?  Take this as fair warning.  You will be frequent targets of my acerbic wit in 2009.

Joe Buck’s final call was a terrific microcosm of the entire 2008 World Series:

“The Phillies are World Champions.”

That’s it.  A monotone 5 word summary is all that is needed.  No pithy puns, no witticisms are warranted here.  Buck nailed the call.  You probably missed this, since “House M.D.” and “South Park” and “Barack Obama” all had new episodes on this week, but here is what happened: five baseball games were played and the Phillies won 4 of them, and now it is 30 degrees outside.  Game over.  Season Over.  Blah.  Time for the holidays.  Shoot me in the face with an AR-15, please.

Next up: our prospect analysis continues, along with my recommendations on the Red Sox catching situation.

I figure this would be a great way to begin my position-by-position Red Sox prospect analysis, as our incumbent catcher is a free agent this offseason.  I’ll be going into greater detail on that situation in a separate post.

Like most organizations, the Red Sox are thin at the most critical defensive position on the field.  There are some promising young catchers in the league, but they are rare commodities worth their weight in gold, and thus are hoarded by the general managers lucky enough to possess them.

But, is the backstop situation in the Boston farm system really as grim as we’ve been led to believe?  Let’s take a look at what we’ve got.  The following is a list of the Top 5 catching prospects in the organization.

1) Dusty Brown
Age: 26
2008 Level: AAA

Perhaps the most overlooked player in the entire Red Sox organization.  Most folks would disagree with my ranking here, and some don’t even consider Dusty a prospect at this point in his career.  Dusty has toiled through the minor league system for 8 years after being drafted in the 35th round.  Up until 2007, Brown was considered mainly a defensive catcher, garnering praise for his strong throwing arm and sound game-calling ability.  However, he’s recently come into his own offensively, hitting .290/.377/.471 for Pawtucket last season, and is currently lighting up the Dominican Winter League with a .905 OPS.

I will have more thoughts on Dusty when I discuss the Varitek situation later this week.

2) Luis Exposito
Age: 21
2008 Level: High A

Luis has the highest ceiling of any Boston catching prospect, but still has quite a ways to go before reaching his potential.  Like Brown, Luis has received high marks for his defensive tools, including his arm and his game-calling.  Unlike Brown, Luis has a powerful 6′3″ frame, and could become a legitimate power threat at the Major League level.

He’s probably the most “exciting” catching prospect in the system, but we’ll have to see what Luis can do in the cold confines of Portland, Maine (a much different atmosphere than the Lancaster launching pad that Luis was accustomed to in 2008.)

3) George Kottaras
Age: 25
2008 Level: AAA

Kottaras, once considered a top prospect in the San Diego Padres system before the Red Sox acquired him in exchange for baseball’s version of Charles Barkley, repeated AAA in 2008 and displayed a mild improvement.  He’s relatively decent with the bat, flashing some power, taking walks, and hitting consistently against both righties and lefties.  However, the knock on George has always been defense related.  He has difficulty throwing out runners (even more so than Jason Varitek), but reportedly has improved in other areas.

4) Mark Wagner
Age: 24
2008 Level: AA

Last season, Wagner was generally considered the top catcher in the Sox minor league system, but his stock plummeted after hitting only .219/.304/.363 and regressing defensively as a 24-year-old in Portland.  This should serve as caution for Luis Exposito, who, like Wagner, enjoyed a strong offensive year at Lancaster before reaching AA.  2009 could be a make-or-break year for Wagner, as he’ll likely repeat AA.

Wagner is currently playing in the Arizona Fall League, and has been decent at the plate, hitting .276/.344/.448 while catching for the Scottsdale Scorpions.  A recent Globe blurb mentions that his defense has been much improved in Arizona.

5) Tim Federowicz
Age: 21
2008 Level: SS A

Tim was selected in the 7th round of last year’s draft, and displayed strong defensive tools in his first professional stint at Lowell.  Still has room to improve offensively, especially in the power department (SLG% of only .315 last season).  Just missing the cut is Ryan Lavarnway.  He’s a quirky Yalie and has a Major League personality to go along with his strong offensive potential, but he’s also a 6′4″ and probably destined for first base.

When the Red Sox season ends after a string of intensely contested marathon games, I find it helps preserve my sanity if I take a short hiatus from baseball.  Honestly, I had my fill of national broadcasters after being subjected to the festering vomit offered by TBS.  Fox Sports is an upgrade.  Read what I just wrote:  Fox, i.e. Tim McCarver and Joe Buck, produce a better baseball broadcast than the clowns employed by Ted Turner.

Still, I needed a rest from the likes of Joe Buck (a similar robot model to Chip Caray, but slightly more advanced), and thus, the World Series.  Philadelphia is on the brink of victory, and it’s mildly amusing that “The Team Which Inspired a Nation” could lose with a whimper during the unprecedented continuance of yesterday’s suspended game.  However, at this point I just want the series to end and the offseason to begin.  All of the other crap, aside from the incompetent broadcasting, that comes with baseball’s post-season: the repetitive commercials, the ostentatious national anthem renditions, the pop culture bullshit, the fighter jets, the fair weather crowd, all of it…I’ve had my fill and I would like it to end.

It’s time to ignite the pilot light on the 2009 Hot Stove Season.

Coming Later:

• Prospect List - I’ll try something unique this year: a prospect depth chart at each position.  I’ll follow that with a standard Top 20 list and updates from the Arizona Fall League (we have some notable guys playing there).
• Revisiting the All-Time Red Sox teams - Obviously the top 2 or 3 lineups aren’t going to change from the beginning of 2007, but we could be seeing some new faces pop in at #4 or #5 in certain positions.
• Thoughts on CC and Teix - Should the Sox make a serious play of either (or both)?
• More…

Generally speaking, Phillies fans tend to be obnoxious.  If you were to ask their opinion on the four major Boston sports franchises, they would likely voice an expletive-laden disapproval.  They booed Mike Schmidt, and they booed Santa Claus.  When Tom Brady’s knee exploded last month, you could hear the raucous cheer all the way across the Delaware Water Gap.  They hate me, and they hate you.

And yet, we should root for their team to win the 2008 World Series.

Why?  Because those fans are just like us.

Well, let me clarify: those fans are lust like the 20th century versions of us.  Loyal, yet filled with angst and bitterness.  Long suffering, and desperately in need of a vacation from the endless misery and futility.  A World Series Championship will make a large number of people very happy, and during this time of national despair, I think I can live with that.

Back in October 2004, immediately after the Red Sox defeated the New York Yankees in dramatic fashion to advance to the World Series, a couple of my close friends (die-hard Yankee fans) had an unexpected take on the matchup of Boston and St. Louis.  They weren’t about to openly cheer for their arch rivals, but they gave us their passive endorsement.  I found this sentiment unbelievable at the time, but now it’s a bit more understandable.

While the national media might be billing Tampa Bay as the Cinderella at this dance, remember that they are heavy favorites.  Their road to success has been paved with constant high draft picks, acquired after years of last-place finishes as a result of passive ownership and low payrolls.  World Series championships did not help maintain a fan base in Miami, and it will not do so in Tampa Bay.  A week after the ring ceremony, there will once again be empty seats dotting the interior of that concrete monstrosity they call a ballpark, and players will once again be complaining about the lack of fan loyalty for their talented baseball team. Contrary to popular belief, a Tampa Bay victory will not “inspire a nation” (an actual headline from yesterday).  It will mildly please about 8,000 people, who will then go back to their tarpon boats and their dialysis machines.  They will go back to not giving a shit about baseball.

It’s time to spread the joy of victory to a large, like-minded fan base.  An obnoxious Northeast fan base.  People like us.

Go Phillies.

I’m not sure what to make of the fact that a World Series will be played in Tropicana Field.  You can probably file it under “Evidence that God Does Not Exist” along with Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and reality television.

Suffice it to say (again) that a team with the 7-8-9 hitters employed by the Sox last night is not championship caliber.

Later, I’ll have the Top Prospects, some proposed offseason changes, ect.

Right now, I’m going back to bed for a while.

I suppose it is fitting that last night’s dramatic effort was the biggest playoff comeback since 1929, the year of the stock market crash leading to the Great Depression.

We’ve spent all summer reading and learning.  Learning that our world isn’t as foolproof as we once thought.  We learned about CDO tranches and credit default swaps, and how they could potentially destroy our economy.  We learned that David Ortiz was a 33-year-old human being, whose knees and wrist and back were made of the same bone and cartilage as everyone else.  We learned that a steady ROI from real-estate purchases were not always a sure thing, and neither are the returns on top prospect pitchers with “plus plus” changeups and curveballs.

This October has been a particularly dark one.  In 25 of the past 28 innings, the Red Sox had suffered a complete breakdown of baseball fundamentals in this ALCS.  It’s as if they had completely forgotten how to pitch and how to hit.  The Rays were not just beating Red Sox, they were embarrassing the Red Sox.  They were grabbing us by the scruff of the neck and rubbing our faces in dog shit.
Last night was a bit of the same, all up until the bottom of the 7th inning.

Suddenly, something clicked.  Ortiz was Ortiz again, and the Pedroia/Youkilis combo was the MVP worthy tandem weve seen all season long.  J.D. Drew reprised his role as postseason hero, a role which has suited him since his first season in a Red Sox uniform.

I’m going to use a word that I hate using to describe baseball players, but I think it fits here, regardless of the outcome of Game 6 tomorrow night: this team has heart.  There, I said it.  These guys are not as talented as the 2004 or 2007 Red Sox, they’ve been hurt by injuries and natural veteran regression, but to muster up enough focus to score 8 runs in 3 innings with their season on the line, after they’ve been beaten and bloodied and embarrassed by the same players over the past week?  That, my friends, requires a little something more than the ability to hit and throw.  “Mental toughness” would certainly be a better noun to describe this trait, but I’ll just give a nod to the old school this morning and use their term.  Heart.  The 2008 Red Sox have it.

And just like that, the Tampa Bay Rays are no longer the story of Major League Baseball in 2008.  The Underdog Halo was been transferred, and is now fixed above the caps of Terry Francona and the rest of the Red Sox.  The drooling halfwits in the TBS broadcast booth will not see it this way, but if you mute your television and watch the action on the field, you will see that Tampa Bay is clearly the more talented team, the team more likely to win the series. The Red Sox are underdogs fighting their way out of the corner, and a neutral observer would see that and root accordingly (without being coaxed in either direction by voices on the television).

Now the team finds themselves in a similar position as they were at this time in 2004 and 2007.  They just need to win one more.  (And then one more after that.)

Mike Lowell is scheduled to have hip surgery on Monday.  The surgery will repair his labrum and “shave off a big bone spur”.  Even though I’ve watched dozens of episodes of House, I’m not sure what the shaving of bone spurs entails.  I imagine it’s something I would not like to see.

Hopefully, this procedure will allow Mike to resemble his 2006-2007 self next season.  He’ll be 35 in 2009.  Old, but not ancient by 21st century MLB standards.  He just might have another year or two of quality baseball left in him.  Or, we might have witnessed the end of Lowell’s career as a productive baseball player.  It could go either way, and we won’t find out until the warm embrace of spring.

On a side note, I’m going to apologize for my lack of coverage of these ALCS games.  My main problem is this: when it comes to the Boston Red Sox, I’m a fan first and a writer second.  These last two games have been so putrid, so revolting, that the act of conjuring up a memory of a single inning will give me polio.  If I try to write about even a minute detail, I will swallow my tongue and choke to death.  You want to know how I watch these games?  I mute the TV, turn off the lights, and sit in silence.  I ignore the reassurances and pleading of friends and loved ones, focusing solely on the unforgiving screen in front of me.  The only sensory stimulation I allow myself are the colors.  Beautiful, horrifying colors.  It’s a sight that might be amusing to some, frightening to others, but sad to most.

The good news is that the worst is over.  I’ve developed a che sera sera attitude towards the remaining game(s) of the ALCS.  Daisuke might win another one, or he might not.  Either way, I’ll have lunch on Friday.

The Red Sox are certainly not out of this after going down 2 games to 1 in the ALCS.  In 1986, 2003, 2004, and 2007, the Red Sox battled back from seemingly vast deficits, dramatically forcing a Game 7 in each instance.  They could certainly do it again in 2008.

However, let’s acknowledge the elephant in the corner.  This 2008 Red Sox team is not nearly as talented as their counterparts from ‘86, ‘03, ‘04, or even last year.

The Rays are simply a better baseball team.

“We’re Back!”

  - Chip Carey, national impartial ALCS broadcaster, calling Evan Longoria’s game tying HR on 10/11/08.  No, I did not make this one up.

Playoff baseball at Tropicana Field.  It’s a bit like putting a boutonniere on a pile of elephant dung, isn’t it?  Here’s memo to the groundskeepers down there: guys, it’s the ALCS!  Lots of people are watching.  The least you could have done was improve the aesthetics of the turf, maybe paint it and try to at least make it not look like Mike Timlin’s camouflage undershirt? That star in centerfield (a color I like to call “Babyturd Green”) is not going to cut it.   

And you’ll have to excuse me for playing the cynic here, but there is no way that 35,000 people willingly put on Tampa Bay Rays gear and entered that stadium.  There’s just no way.  The theory I’m going with: TBS sent busses to a dozen Central Florida methadone clinics and asked people to grab a cowbell and see a baseball game in exchange for a little bag of Afghani Brown Sugar.  Judging by the crowd shots on television last night, it’s a theory I’m sticking to.

I didn’t think it was possible, but the fine gentlemen at TBS have managed to accomplish it.  They’ve made me pine for the “good old days” of FOX.  If I had to pick a favorite moment from last night, it would be this:

Chip Caray: “Oh, And Dice-K walks Pena.  Ohhhh, the sensational Evan Longoria is going to do something dramatic here.  Oooooh, I can feel it in my bones.  By the grace of God, Evan will come through here, he will tie this game and I will get to raise my voice dramatically.  Can you feel it, ladies and gentlemen?  Because this (points to himself with both thumbs) guy sure can!”

Ron Darling: “Chip, I don’t think you’re supposed to…”

Chip Caray: “Now you just shut your mouth, okay?  You just shut it.  I can root for whomever I please, nobody tells me how to call a game!  Back to the action, Longoria digs in!  Oooh, I would love to see this sensational player naked.  Let me clarify, I’m straight as an arrow, see?  I just have an extremely deep appreciation for this athlete and the way he is currently making me feel.  He just oozes superstardom from every pore and you just know he’s going to deliver here!  The crowd can feel it!  I can feel it!  This great nation can feel it!  LISTEN TO THOSE COWBELLS!”

(Longoria strikes out)

Chip Caray: “what…oh.  It looks like that’s strike three.  Well, goddammit.  Heh…didn’t see that coming.  Now that’s just…it’s just not fair.    God DAMMIT!!  That wasn’t supposed to happen!  IT’S NOT FAIR!  IT’S NOT F***CKING FAIR!!!”

Buck Martinez: “OK, let’s go to commercial”

Chip Caray: (incoherent sobbing)

Anyway, Daisuke Matsuzaka exceeded my expectations last night.  He pitched the way he’s been pitching all year.  He rams the opposition with an oil-tanker at full speed, and last night he broke through without any damage to himself or his team, as is his custom.  You watch it with one eye open and a stiff drink in your hand.  Matsuzaka took a no-hitter into the 7th-inning, and it was still an excruciatingly tense game.  It should be fun, because it’s baseball, but last night’s game (like most of the playoff games thus far for Boston) was agonizing.      

Would it kill this team to outscore an opponent by 3 runs for once?    

Sox Defeat Anaheim, Advance to the ALCS

I would consider this an unexpected result.  Yes, I was one of the detractors, one of the folks who expected the Angels to win this series.  After Torii Hunter’s 2-out game-tying single in the 8th inning, that expectation continued to grow inside my brain like a tumor.  With 2 outs in the 9th inning, and Jed Lowrie at the plate, the expectation was alive and well, nourishing itself on my negative thoughts.

What can I say?  I’m happy to be wrong.

___________________________________

NOTES:

- You’ll hear the praises for Lowrie, Lester, Papelbon, and Bay, and they are well deserved.  But, let’s give some props to a native son.  Manny Delcarmen pitched 2.1 critical innings of relief, giving up only a hit and an HBP.  His accomplishments have been somewhat unappreciated this season.  The guy is now a legitimate upper-tier MLB setup man.

- Mike Lowell was removed from the ALCS roster (actually, he was removed from the ALDS roster yesterday, but this move makes him ineligible for the ALCS).  No word yet on who would replace him, I’m hoping the choice is Jeff Bailey.  Bailey at 1B and Youkilis at 3B would help the lineup retain some offensive clout.  Make no mistake, Bailey (the 2008 International League MVP) can hit.

- Anaheim pitcher John Lackey was interviewed after the loss, and he apparently was doing his best impression of “Charley” from Flowers for Algernon (the pre-op version).  Read some of his intelligent comments here.  A tidbit: “It’s way different than last year.  We are way better than they are. We lost to a team not as good as us.”  Suffice it to say, he’s not a fan of Bill James’ Pythagorean Record Formula.

- The Rays scare me.  More on that later.

Angles 5, Red Sox 4 (12)

As I was shamefully trudging from Fenway Park at 1:00 AM last night, I overheard some fellow Sox fans taking a rather pragmatic view of the event.  “Hey, it was a hell of game at least, right?  Right?”.

Well, no.  It wasn’t a good game.  In fact, it was quite heinous.  The Red Sox scored the majority of their runs on a pop-up which dropped in between the shortstop and center fielder.  Their October ace was in February form, as hitters put on a laser show during the rare instances when Josh Beckett was able to throw the ball over the plate.  It was a game of squanders and fluke plays, and the score could have been 10-1 as easily as it was 5-4.  It was a 6-hour symphony of rat diarrhea, and Josh Beckett was the conductor.
And that is the sole consolation I take from last night.  The fact that the Red Sox had no business winning that game.  It was a miracle of bleeding Virgin Mary statue proportions that they were able to come within 1 run of victory.

NOTES:

• 8:37 game tonight.  There is a 60% chance that I will end up unemployed this week, due to some catastrophic error I make while sleepwalking at work.  Other teams have had early division series games.  Can’t the scheduling gods spread the love?
• You could hear a resounding chorus of “boos” when Julio Lugo was announced during the pre-game ceremony last night.  The way I see it, you have to be a really miserable piece of shit to boo a Red Sox player at that moment.  Folks, this is why the rest of the country hates you.  Look inward.
• Mike Lowell and Dustin Pedroia are a combined 0 for 21 in this series.  Dustin has had some hard luck, hitting a few bullets that happened to wind up in the gloves of the opposition.  Mike Lowell, however, probably shouldn’t be playing.  He can’t swing, he can’t run, and he has minimal range at 3B.  It’s been painful and frustrating to watch his every movement on the field.  Hey, I give guys credit for playing through pain, but you need to be cogniscant of the line where your presence in the lineup is actually hurting the team.  At this point in time, Alex Cora is a better player than Mike Lowell.
• You’ve been hearing the grumblings all season long.  “We have a new ace”.  Tonight, Jon Lester has a chance to chisel this into stone on baseball’s biggest stage.

Perhaps there was a good reason for Terry Francona choosing to let Hideki Okajima pitch to Anaheim slugger Vlad Guerrero in the 7th inning of last night’s game, while having righty killer Justin Masterson ready in the bullpen.  There has to be something I’m not privy to, some reason why this obvious move would not be made.

As of right now, I’m not seeing it.  I’m writing this entry while the Angels have the bases loaded in the 7th.  2 outs.  5-4, Boston.  This game has been one of the most nerve-wracking games I have watched in my lifetime.  Between the blatant partisan rooting of Buck Martinez and Chip Caray, the ridiculous fans and their plastic noise-making apparati, and the fact that Red Sox pitchers could not find the plate if it was sewn into their skulls.

At 9:30 tonight, I was in perfect health.  It is now 12:35, and I now have 3 ulcers the size of Susan B. Anthony dollars.

It’s amazing, the power this sport has over us.

ALDS Game 1
Red Sox 4
Angels 1

What a difference a day (or night) can make.

Maybe I’ll never appreciate Jason Bay as much as I did Manny Ramirez.  He certainly will never come close to accomplishing anything close to Manny’s legacy on the baseball field, and he won’t deliver nearly the amount of key hits as Manny did in a Red Sox uniform.  Last night, however, all of that was brushed aside for a split-second.  In the sixth inning, Jason Bay was the guy.  He might just be the guy in Boston for the next month, and the next season after that.  He’s not Manny, but he might be good enough for whatever the coming situation dictates.

Notes:

• Jon Lester is building up an impressive post-season resume.  He now has a 1.10 ERA in 16.1 career playoff innings.
• Jonathan Papelbon’s dominance was a pleasant surprise.  Apparently, he’s been saving the split-fingered fastball in his back pocket for these critical moments.  A wise decision…
• Tonight’s starter, Daisuke Matsuzaka, has only had 1 career start against this Angels team, and it was a stinker: 5 innings, 6 earned runs.
• Last, but not least, the best news from last night (aside from the actual game result): J.D. Drew and Mike Lowell are both relatively pain-free.

It’s an unpleasant feeling that tormented us during many autumns in the late 80’s and 90’s, and much to my chagrin, it’s back.  The feeling of fear, uncertainty, and the cold wind howling from the nearby abyss.  The Boston Red Sox enter these playoffs as heavy underdogs, like they have done many times before.

Just take a look at the ESPN expert picks.  You know ESPN, right?  Many folk living to the left of the Appalachian mountain range believe that the “E” stands for East Coast Bias.  Well, 7 out of 19 participants (37%) believe that the Angels will defeat the defending champions.  If a gun were held to my head and I had to pick a winner, I’d probably side with the consensus.

Look, the Sox made it to the postseason mainly on the strength of guys like Josh Beckett, Mike Lowell, and J.D. Drew, and all three are gigantic question marks.  The players we have filling in for these guys (Paul Byrd, Alex Cora / Sean Casey, Mark Kotsay) are enormous drop-offs in talent.  You’re essentially factoring out three guys with game-breaking ability, and their understudies are players who you’d be happy with if they miraculously managed to give you league-average play.

Add to this the fact that David Ortiz has not been himself this year (despite a late-season surge in power), the fact that the lineup is weaker without Manny Ramirez, and the fact that our “lights out” reliever has been very shaky lately, and the prospect of facing a 100 win juggernaut is as pleasant as a snuff film.

The next three days have the potential to be extremely miserable.  We have:
1) Late-night west coast games which might last 3.5 hours each (factoring in all of the ancillary television bullshit which usually goes hand in hand with post-season baseball) 2) a team which abused the Red Sox in the regular season like mentally disabled children from the 1920’s, and 3) the overall mountainous level of angst and despair created by the state of the economy.

If lack of sleep and crippling depression are your idea of a fun time, just buckle your seat belts and enjoy the rest of the week.

By the way, the Sox have announced their ALDS roster:

Starters: Josh Beckett, Daisuke Matsuzaka, Jon Lester, Tim Wakefield, and Paul Byrd
Relievers: Manny Delcarmen, Javier Lopez, Justin Masterson, Hideki Okajima, and Jonathan Papelbon
Catchers: Jason Varitek, Kevin Cash, and David Ross
Infielders: Kevin Youkilis, Sean Casey, Dustin Pedroia, Alex Cora, Jed Lowrie, Mike Lowell, and David Ortiz
Outfielders: Jason Bay, Coco Crisp, J.D. Drew, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Mark Kotsay

The silver lining here: since Terry Francona decided to only carry 10 pitchers, he must be somewhat confident that Josh Beckett’s oblique injury is not very serious.

NL MVP Award: Albert Pujols - 1B/STL
There comes a time where you have to put aside the “unwritten rule”.  You know what I’m talking about, the invisible guideline for MVP voters which restricts candidates to contending teams.  The Cardinals did win 86 games, yet finished in 4th place, an unfortunate footnote which might preclude Pujols from winning his 2nd career MVP Award.  That fact that he only has one so far is astonishing to me, given his unprecedented streak of dominance.  He deserves another one.

Runner Up: Chipper Jones - 3B/ATL

NL Cy Young Award: Johan Santana - NYM
The Mets are baseball’s laughingstock, but it has nothing to do with their big offseason acquisition.  No, Johan has been worth every penny, leading the league in innings and ERA.  Let me give you a hint: when a pitcher leads his league in innings and he has been the most effective pitcher in preventing earned runs during those innings, it’s safe to say that the player should win this award unanimously.  Unfortunately, we have another talented pitcher in Arizona who obtained a flashy milestone: TWENTY WINS!!1!!! (twenty-two, actually).  So, you can probably expect Brandon Webb to give Johan a run for his money in the actual voting.  When you can publicly see which writers voted for Webb over Santana, you’ll have a clear litmus test for journalistic incompetence.

Runner Up: Tim Lincecum - SFG

NL Rookie of the Year: Edinson Volquez - P/CIN
This is a tough one.  There are a handful of guys who could easily lay claim to this, and at the top of the pile are Reds pitcher Edinson Volquez and Cubs catcher Geovany Soto.  I rank the performance of a dominant 200 inning pitcher as more valuable than decent offense from a catcher, and thus, Volquez brings home the award.  (Yes, thanks to my diligent readers for the correction - Chad Billingsley is not the rookie pitcher in LA’s rotation.)

Runner Up: Geovany Soto

NL Manager of the Year:  Lou Piniella - CHC
You’re probably looking at my picks and thinking to yourself: “Yawn. So predictable.  Of course he picks Pujols and Santana.  Of course he picks Piniella.  You are one unoriginal scumbag, Jimmy.  I hope you die is an avalanche, you uncreative tumor on society.”  Well, Occam’s Razor applies here, as it usually does.  Piniella is thriving in a tough environment.  He made the wise decision to switch Ryan Dempster from a reliever back to a starter, and that move probably won him the division title.  Oh, and speaking of Dempster…

Runner Up: Cecil Cooper - HOU

NL Comeback Player of the Year: Ryan Dempster - P/CHC
I’m in an odd position here, as the BBWAA has already voted for the winner of this award (they chose reliever Brad Lidge of the Philadelphia Phillies).  Now, when I openly defy their decision and attempt to show the world how hip and clever I am, it appears that I am doing it intentionally.  I swear to you, I was going to pick Ryan Dempster.  Take my word on it.  He went from being a below average reliever in 2007 to an ace-quality starter in 2008.  Lidge went from being merely “good” to “dominant”, and I don’t think the spirit of this award really applies to that type of transition.

Runner Up: Carlos Delgado - 1B/NYM