Mid Season Awards

We have reached the All-Star Break so we will give you what many professional writers and analysts like to do around this time: Mid Season Awards. Here is what we have come up with for who we thought were the best of the first-half around the majors.

MOST VALUABLE PLAYER

AL: Joe Mauer. Mauer leads the majors in hitting with a .373 batting average. He has 15 home runs, which is already more than his career high, and 49 RBI in only 64 games played due to missing the beginning of the season with an injury. Not to mention he has thrown out 10 of 23 runners behind the plate and has a .994 fielding percentage.

Runner Up: Tori Hunter

NL: This one is a no-brainer: Albert Pujols. Pujols leads the majors with 32 home runs and 87 RBI. Pujols is also hitting .332, which is second in the NL, making him a threat to be the first Triple Crown winner since Carl Yastrzemski. In short, he's a machine.

Runner Up: Ryan Braun

CY YOUNG AWARD

AL: Probably the toughest choice. Zach Greinke, he's having a breakout season for the lowly Royals, with a 10-5 record and league leading 2.12 ERA. He gets the nod over Halladay because of he isn't on his way out the door.

Runner Up: Roy Halladay. Halladay has been great this season, but with the Blue Jays sinking fast in the AL East so his 10-3 record and 2.85 ERA will soon be headed to another team, possibly another league, making his bid at a Cy Young unlikely.

NL: Another close call, but I'll go with my fantasy stud Tim Lincecum. Lincecum is 10-2 with a 2.33 ERA and will be the starting pitcher for the NL All-Star team. He leads the NL in strikeouts with 149 and has 3 complete games and 2 shutouts.

Runner Up: Dan Haren. Haren is leading the league with a 2.01 ERA and is third in the NL with 129 strikeouts. He has a record of 9-5 and batters are hitting .189 against him.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
AL: Blue Jays pitcher Rickey Romero. He is 7-3 with a 3.00 ERA and 69 strikeouts this season. He will most likely be the ace of the staff once Halladay is dealt.

Runner Up: Andrew Bailey.

NL: The St. Louis Cardinals's Colby Rasmus. .278/.329/.478 11 HR 34 RBI, 46 R. Those stats don't lie.

Runner Up: Tommy Hanson

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
AL: Ron Washington of the Texas Rangers. The Rangers are notorious of having a power-filled lineup but they never had the pitching to contend. Well Washington, whose job was once in jeopardy, has the pitching straightened out and the team on the right track. They finish the first half only 1.5 games behind the LA Angels.

Runner Up: Mike Sciosca of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, California, USA. Or, for short, the Earth Angels. Sciosca's team has been battling with injuries all season long, but they finish the break sweeping the Yankees and standing atop the NL West.

NL: Our old friend, Joe Torre. Torre's Dodgers have the best record in the MLB. His team has had to deal with the absence of their best hitter and what was also a huge distraction in the Manny Ramirez steroid suspension, and they still are the best team in baseball.

Runner Up: Ken Macha of the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers lost CC Sabathia to free agency, and Ben Sheets to injury before the season began, yet Macha has them in the thick of the NL Central division race and wild card race.

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Blue Jays 7- Yankees 6

Blue Jays 7 8 0
Yankees 6 12 0

PLAYER OF THE GAME: Ricky Romero. Romero held the Yankees down very nicely, until the 7th inning when he began to tire. But only allowing 3 runs was enough because Pettitte allowed 6 and then the Bruney allowed another one to bring the total to 7.

PLAY OF THE GAME: Alex Rios's 3-run home run in the 3rd inning that gave the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead. The second base umpire had just blown a call at second base to keep the inning alive and Rios took advantage of it.

TURNING POINT OF THE GAME: Scott Rolen's 2-run double in the 7th inning made the Toronto lead too much to overcome. And it was very important considering the rally the Yankees put up in the ninth.


GAME NOTES:

• The Yankees obviously have the fire power to overcome big deficits, but there is a few things they need to do. First, they need to stop giving up tack on runs. When they fall behind, it is extremely important that the pitchers stop the bleeding, and hold the opposing team down from there on in. Second, the Yankees need to stop waiting until the end of the game to score runs. They scored 1 run in the 5th and then a combined 5 runs from the 7th inning on. Whatever switch they are flipping needs to get flipped earlier.
  
• It is also a lot easier to score runs when you get hits with men on base. The Yankees had 12 hits today but were 2 for 12 with runners in scoring position and left 11 men on base.
  
• The Yankees seemed to sleepwalk a little bit through the first part of the game. Maybe it's all the day games, or maybe its the fact that they already won the series, but it needs to stop happening. When they have there opponents by the throat in the series, they can't let up. Winning series is great. Sweeping them is better.
• The Blue Jays defense was excellent today. That makes you wonder if this team can make a run to get back into this AL East race.
  
• Nobody should try to blame the game on the umpires. I'll be the first to say that the umpires sucked (and if you know me, I usually am the first to say that the umpires sucked), but if you want to blame somebody for the loss, it's Andy Pettitte.
• Oh, and in case you didn't hear it a thousand times on YES, the Joe Girardi Show is on tonight.
  

TOMORROW:
Yankees at Minnesota


SEE YA!

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