Not an Easy Choice

 

Every year, the Wriz does a blog where he names the Phillies season MVP. Usually, it’s pretty easy or at least to be able to narrow it down to a few worthy players. This year the pickings are pretty slim. Not just because, the team was so down this year but so many players played half a season.  Only Jimmy Rollins has the necessary plate appearances to qualify for the batting title.  A player needs 502 PA to qualify. John Mayberry is second with just 454. Then its Pence and Victorino and they haven’t donned a Phillies uniform in 2 months.

Chooch was well on his way to coasting to the team MVP when he landed on the DL. In fact the Philadelphia writers still gave him their version of the award. Can you be MVP and only play half the season? Well, guess if you a pitcher it’s possible. Or if you still end up leading your team in RBIs as Chooch may do. He’s only 1 behind JRoll. But still, it just doesn’t seem right.
 

 

Who else could win it? Well JRoll has had a decent season, his batting average is a bit low but he leads the team in homers. Cole and Paps joined Chooch on the all-star team and have had solid seasons. I knew this would be a damn near impossible decision. I saw a sportswriter say in an interview when asked who should get the AL MVP award, Mike Trout or Miguel Cabrera that they should be co-MVP’s. It got me thinking.  Fuck it. It’s my award.  First Half MVP: Chooch. Second Half MVP: Jimmy Rollins.

It pains me as much not to just give it to Chooch as it does to give it to JRoll after the non-hustling bit, but he has had a productive second half. (14 HR, 34 RBI’s 16 SB) And my personal feeling is unless a pitcher has a ridiculous season; it’s just not possible to be the MVP. Hamels had a very good year but not great. Maybe it’s me but it seems when the Phillies give him a big lead, he gives up a more runs than usual. Maybe it just hurts his personal stats but I’d still like to see him shut down the opposing team like he’s capable of doing. There are just 8 games left and no postseason and no real hopes of any of the Phillies winning a legit award, but Fan Appreciation night is tomorrow and I better feel appreciated. After all, I need a year’s supply of SuperPretzels.

See ya at the ballpark! 

Jay Wrizight

 jaywrizight@yahoo.com

Its a Major Award!

There is always a lot of debate on who the MVP is or should be.  It’s funny that some writers will discredit a player because his team blows. If anything that should make it harder to put up the type of numbers required to have an MVP season.  Anyway, this week I’m giving out my MVP award for the Phillies.

Last year, I gave it to Wilson Valdez because I take the MVP at face value. It’s the player who is most valuable to his team. Last season, Valdez was the glue that held the Phillies together for most of the year. He put up numbers far beyond what he is probably capable to do on a regular basis and played stellar defense. I still feel the Phillies would have missed the playoffs without Valdez last year. My Valdez MVP story was such a good idea that fat slob Bill Conlin stole it and did the same article in the Daily News.

This year, much like last year there is no clear cut team MVP. A case can be made for several players. In fact, it is much easier to say they each won it for a month or two.

Month            Player              Avg                HR                  RBI                 SB

April              Polanco             .398                 2                     19                    3

May              Ibanez                .315                 7                     19                    0

June             Howard              .269                 5                     22                    1

July              Ibanez                .284                 7                      25                    0

August          Victorino            .316                 6                      16                    2

September    Pence               .310                 3                      17                    1

But the Wriz doesn’t take the easy way out I’mma make a decision in a minute but how about this fun fact. John Mayberry Jr hit .275 with 15 homers, 49 RBI’s and 8 steals. Jayson Werth went .233, 20, 58 and 19. Werth had 558 AB’s. Mayberry had less than half that at 262. In the immortal words of CJ Hood how about a slow clap for Young John Mayberry.

Even with his September struggles, the Flyin Hawaiian easily wins the team MVP. His numbers in the dog days of summer were just ridiculous. Besides August, he also hit .364 in July and scored 25 runs in June. For the season, he went .280 17 HR, 61 RBI, 19 SB and 16 triples and played his usual gold glove caliber defense.

As for the team Cy Young, you can make a case for either Halladay or Lee. Hamels might have been right there too had he not had the DL stint. Their numbers are so close it’s almost impossible to choose.

                      G  GS W     L      GS       IP         H      ER HR  BB  K          ERAWHIP

Roy Halladay	32	32	19	6		25		233.2	208	61	10	35	220			1.04	2.35
Cliff Lee	32	32	17	8		25		232.2	197	62	18	42	238			1.03	2.40

But Big Roy’s W/L gets him the nod. The Philly chapter of the Baseball writers gave the nod to Cliff. I wonder if this cost Halladay Cy Young votes? It’ll be interesting to see.

See ya at the Ballpark (for RED OCTOBER!!!!)!

Jay Wrizight

jaywrizight@yahoo.com