Major League Awards

[doublee]

Originally Posted by chiefsfan27

My main argument is that Keith Law keeps saying that both Vasquez and Lincecum had less run support and less defensive support, but it's a nonsensical argument.

The fact of the matter is that the ultimate goal of baseball is to win by giving up as few runs as possible, and by scoring as many runs as possible. Given this, a pitcher's goal is to allow as few earned runs as possible. ERA reflects a pitchers performance in spite of bad defense (hence Earned Run Average), so his argument for defense is debunked, and his run support argument is even more pathetic considering that doesn't affect a picher's ERA at all.

He also wants to say that no one should be upset, because, according to him, there's very little difference between 3rd and 4th place for Carpenter. But Carpenter, Wainwright, and Lincecum were all so superior to every other pitcher, that none of them should have been left off of anyone's ballot.

My guess is that Keith wanted some face time on TV. Smells like a publicity stunt to me.

I think part of rationale is that because Lincecum and Vazquez had more strikeouts they relied on the defense behind them less than the others.

I would argue it takes more pitching acumen to rely on your defense and get batters to hit it where you want them to as opposed to just throwing it by hitters.

[Nate]

No real surprise here:
Minnesota Twins' Joe Mauer near-unanimous pick as AL's MVP - ESPN

[catman]

Not a surprise at all. He had a tremendous season.

[Nate]

On the National League side...
Albert Pujols of St. Louis Cardinals is unanimous National League MVP - ESPN

[catman]

Again, no surprise.
This season, there were 2 players that were clearly the best in their leagues.