NYaT Gives Out Our MLB Awards: National League

We did our American League picks earlier today. Now let's look at those award winners (or losers) from the Senior Circuit:

Joey Votto has been huge for the Reds in '10 (CBS Sportsline)

National League MVP: Joey Votto.
Followed by:  tied for second Albert Pujols and Carlos Gonzalez (Adrian Gonzalez, Ryan Howard and Troy Tulowitzki).

It's amazing to think back to the fact that the only way Votto made the All-Star Team this year was because of a fan vote for the last spot. Who were his biggest competition? Carlos Gonzalez and Ryan Zimmerman, two people he'll be battling for to win the MVP this season. Amazing. Albert Pujols is just having another one of his years but with both the Cards and Rockies not making the playoffs, I think that Pujols and CarGo are out. Same going for Adrian Gonzalez who had a fantastic year for a surprise Padre team, but went flat the last week of the season as his team did the same. But Votto (.424 OBP and .600 SLG lead the league, .324 average was second) has been fantastic for the surprise Reds, overtaking Pujols' Cards and winning the division for the first time in a long time. Amazingly, according to FanGraphs, Votto hit ZERO infield fly balls all season. None. Unless Luis Castillo is on the other team, infield fly balls are the one guarantee out (outfield fly balls can find grass or go beyond the wall and ground balls can find a hole but infield pops find gloves almost all the time). The one thing working against Votto and CarGo, though? Home parks that favor hitters. That didn't stop every single one of our voters, from putting Joey Votto first on their ballots making him a unanimous pick for NL MVP.

National League LVP: Jason Bay.
Followed by:  Melky Cabrera and a tie for third between Jeff Francouer, Nyjer Morgan, Oliver Perez and Pedro Feliz (Jose Reyes, Luis Castillo, Manny Ramirez, Matt Kemp, Nate McLouth, and Pablo Sandoval also receiving votes).

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NYaT Gives Out Our MLB Awards: American League

What a year 2010 has been. No-hitters, perfect games, great rookies, saying good-bye to veterans, and watching playoff races come down to the very last day of the season. Well now that it's all over and we're turning the calendar to playoff baseball, here we are at NYaT to hand out our postseason awards to who we think is most deserving (panel consisting of Ben W, Jay, Ben P, Ari, Elissa, and myself). First up, the American League:

Hamilton looks to take home the AL MVP (Cleveland Plain-Dealer)

American League MVP: Josh Hamilton.  
Followed by: Robinson Cano, Miguel Cabrera and Evan Longoria.

Despite missing nearly all of September, Hamilton wins this award in a run-away. He got 4 out of 5 first place votes (Ben P put Robinson Cano ahead of Hamilton) and took home our crown. Hamilton had a very similar season to Joe Mauer's 2009 MVP season and although Robinson Cano and Miguel Cabrera were very, very good, Hamilton was better. The Rangers went 21-6 in June and Hamilton hit .454/.482/.815 for the month with 9 HR and 31 RBI. MVP material, indeed. This was a tough race to pick, though, with many good candidates not even listed such as Adrian Beltre, Jose Bautista and Carl Crawford. But Cano, Cabrera and Longoria were the only competition that Hamilton really did have for this race.

American League LVP: Chone Figgins.  
Followed by: Brandon Wood, and a tie for third between A.J. Burnett, Mike Cameron, Milton Bradley and Pat Burrell (Aaron Hill, Carlos Pena, Franklin Gutierrez, Garrett Atkins, and Matt Wieters also receiving votes).

It was a relatively close race between Figgins and fellow-AL West disappointment Brandon Wood, but Figgins huge contract gets him the "win" here. It really wasn't all Figgins' fault, but after being the one offensive free agent signing, he gets the blame which could have gone to Jose Lopez, Franklin Gutierrez, Casey Kotchman, or the rest of the Mariners historically anemic offense (minus Ichiro). Figgins was far from the worst, but a .259/.340/.306 line and highly negative UZR was far from what the Mariners were expecting when they gave him 4 years, $36 million (with an easily vesting option for another year). FanGraphs put Figgins worth at 0.5 WAR while Baseball-Reference was a lot more generous at 1.3 WAR. Either way, it's part of the reason that the Mariners have cleaned house in the clubhouse and have started to change around front-office personnel as well.

American League Cy Young: Felix Hernandez.  
Followed by: CC Sabathia and David Price (Jon Lester also receiving a vote).

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"Rookie of the Year" and the Rest of the Sports Movies of My Youth

I have to admit I was shocked today when CNBC's Darren Rovell tweeted and then HarballTalk's Aaron Gleeman wrote that this is the 17th anniversary of Rookie of the Year. Although the movie is about as ridiculous as it gets, it was always, as Gleeman mentioned, my goal to have Henry Rowengartner's arm after breaking my arm--but it never happened. I was still shy of my 10th birthday when the movie came out and this movie, plus a bunch of other sports movies from the era, helped to shape me in some strange way. Here's a quick look at 5 sports movies (1990-1995) with a tidbit about each--and a few others worth mentioning:

Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery

Rookie of the Year

• My Tagline: "Boy breaks arm and befriends Gary Busey who throws the high cheese".
• Real Tagline: "The Chicago Cubs needed a miracle... They got Henry Rowengartner" 
• IDMB plot summary: "When an accident miraculously gives a boy an incredibly powerful pitching arm, he becomes a major league pitcher for the Chicago Cubs."
• My quick thoughts: Just a great movie and "pitcher's got a big butt" must have been said on the baseball field at least once a game after this. Can still go back and watch Daniel Stern as the pitching coach and laugh.
• The adult/child stars of the movie: Thomas Ian Nicholas as Henry Rowengartner and Gary Busey as Chet "Rocket" Steadman".
• Where the stars are now: I can't believe Nicholas is 30, but after his American Pie days, he's sort of fizzled out a bit. Gary Busey is still insane.
• "Wait, they were in this movie<": This honor goes to the future Scrubs Janitor, Neil Flynn, who played Okie, the Cubs first baseman in the movie
• Lasting effect on my childhood: After I broke my arm, I was sure I was going to be a pitcher. Damn, you Hollywood!
• Jay's Take: "Loved this movie. Loved that the villains were the Mets and specifically a goon named Heddo. Loved Gary Busey and his grunts."

Pics Digger

The Mighty Ducks

• My Tagline: "Quack, Quack, Quack, Quack. The flying V! Watch out for the knucklepunk, cake-eater!"
  
• Real Tagline: "He's never coached. They've never won. Together they'll learn everything about winning!" 
• IDMB plot summary: "Gordon Bombay, a hotshot lawyer, is haunted by memories of his childhood, when, as the star player in his champion hockey team, he lost the winning goal in a shootout, thereby losing the game, and the approval of his coach. After being charged for drunk driving, the court orders him to coach a peewee hockey team, the worst in the league, Gordon is at first very reluctant. However, he eventually gains the respect of the kids and teaches them how to win, gaining a sponsor on the way and giving the team the name of The Ducks. In the finals, they face Gordon's old team, coached by Gordon's old coach, giving Gordon a chance to face old ghosts."
• My quick thoughts: There were two others after it but the original still stands out. I think that it brought other kids to love hockey as much I did--at least for a little while. And what kid didn't try a triple deke at some point while playing hockey after seeing this movie? 
• The adult/child stars of the movie: Emilio Estevez as Gordon Bombay and Joshua Jackson as Charlie Conway
• Where the stars are now: I have no clue where Estevez is since Bobby (which he wrote, directer and acted in). Jackson is in Fringe but was recently pushing Pacey-Con.
• "Wait, they were in this movie?": My Cousin Vinny's Jim Trotter III (Lane Smith) as Coach Jack Reilly. LOST's Tom Friendly (M.C. Gainey) as Lewis. Wet Hot American Summer's Katie (Marguerite Moreau) as Connie Moreau (they were real original with that last name). Law & Order: Criminal Intent's Detective Alexandra Eames (Kathryn Erbe) as Michelle MacKay in the sequel. 24's Larry Moss (Jeffrey Nordling) as Coach Ted Orion in the third. Great cameos from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Cam Neely, Chris Chelios, Luc Robitaille, Greg Louganis, Kristi Yamaguchi, and Wayne Gretzky. And, of course, Kenan Thompson as the knucklepucking Russ Tyler.
• Lasting effect on my childhood: I was involved in a P.E. class shootout and triple deked the goalie for the win and gym class glory.
• Jay's Take: "The girl who plays Henry's crush in Rookie of the Year is the same girl who played Julie "The Cat" Gaffney in Mighty Ducks 2"

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