NL top pitcher, MVP: One group’s opinion

As previously mentioned on more than one occasion, I belong to the Baseball Bloggers Alliance where I serve as president of the category of the BBA that defies definition. While most of the 230 or so blogs in the Alliance are team-centric, this “miscellaneous” merry band of men and women (we’re working on  a better designation) take a wider look at the national pastime, including our choices for various post-season awards.

The previous posts announced Dusty Baker as our choice for the Connie Mack Award (Manager of the Year); Buster Posey, the San Francisco Giants catcher for the Willie Mays Award (Rookie of the Year); and Brian Wilson, the Giants’ closer, for the Goose Gossage Award (top reliever).

There are two pieces of hardware yet to distribute: The Walter Johnson (Cy Young) and Stan Musial (MVP) Awards for the National League.

Using a 7-4-3-2-1 system for the top five choices for pitcher, here’s the breakdown:

Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Philles, 78 points
Adam Wainright, Cardinals, 22
Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies, 11
Tim Hudson, Atlanta Braves, 9
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants, 8
Mat Latos, San Diego Padres, 3
Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins, 2
Matt Cain, Giants, 2

For MVP, we used a 13-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 format:

Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds, 79 points
Carlos Gonzalez, Colorado Rockies, 49,
Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals, 42
Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego Padres, 28
Troy Tulowitzki, Rockies, 26
Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies, 22
Matt Holliday, Cardinals, 19
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers, 12
Jason Werth, Phillies, 11
Dan Uggla, Florida Marlins, 11
Aubrey Huff, San Francisco Giants, 8
Martin Prado, Atlanta Braves, 8
Ryan Howard, Phillies, 7
Ryan Zimmerman, Washington Nationals, 4
Adam Wainright, Cardinals, 3
Adam Dunn, Nationals, 2
Tim Hudson, Braves, 2
David Wright, New York Mets, 1

So congratulations to Messers Halladay and Votto on their sensational seasons.

Halladay pitched a perfect game during the regular season and added a no-hitter in the post. he led the NL in wins, complete games and innings pitched and was second in strikeouts, WHIP, and winning percentage. He also had the third-lowest ERA in the league.

Votto ranked first in National league slugging; second in batting average, OBP, and OPS; third in home runs and RBIs; and fourth in walks and runs scored.