I don't see how the Pujols-Howard analogy fits at all here. It was extremely silly, but it had nothing to do with the standings. The teams were 1.5 games apart, and St. Louis actually won its division, whereas the Phillies missed the playoffs. That was a classic example of East Coast bias, as well as pulling for the underdog (dominance from Pujols was expected, not as much from Howard).
didnt know Lee had to have surgery on it. if it was just a fracture he could have probably played in two weeks.
Damn, now Quintero with the hit pitch? Hope he's okay. If not, we need to start throwing at these dumbass Reds players for killing off our .1% chance at the playoffs.
First game without Carlos and we put up our best offensive performance of the season. Baseball's a funny old game.....
you said carlos lee had a higher OPS than braun, so it was silly for me to say braun is way ahead of lee. pujols had a higher OPS than howard.......are you still with me? pujols didn't win the MVP....so it wasn't silly for me to say that....just because lee has a higher OPS than braun. the phillies were in contention that year. the astros are not this year.
My mistake, then -- I thought you were arguing that Braun should be ahead of Lee. Of course most writers, like most fans, are dumb so anything can happen. Also, not sure how much I agree with the Phillies being in contention that year much more than the Astros are this year. They lost their division by 12 games, and the WC by 3 games. The Astros were 6 out as recently as a few days ago, and easily could have gotten closer than that with Lee healthy. Slight difference, but nothing significant. The big difference is in the geographic location of the teams.
very probable, and plausible. I don't get east coast bias, but I am fully aware of it's exsistence. I'm not trying to make any case for Braun, like i said, I don't care for Braun, probably because I wanted Pence to win ROY but, I think he has a much better shot at winning the MVP over Carlos just because his team is doing alot better and will probably make the playoffs, and he is the best player on that team. maybe it's not fair, but thats the screwy MVP voting.
yep, and another punching bag comin up. should get over .500 here i think. are we facing lincecum in this series?
what a bizarre season. whether we have a chance at the postseason or not, at least they've given us something to root for with the pursuit of finishing over .500. i certainly didn't think they'd have a shot at that a couple weeks ago. good to see them not laying down in the face of adversity. let's slaughter the giants.
I was reminded of this thread while looking at the NL leaders today. I've always had the opinion that the MVP is the player who has had the best season, regardless of where his team falls in the standings. Some feel the opposite, that a player is only truly valuable if his team is successful. I personally think that it's an individual award, and ruling out players on losing teams simply reward a player for having better teammates, not necessarily being a better player. IMO, none of the realistic contenders for NL MVP will go to the playoffs. The discussion for MVP (again, IMO) should begin and end with three names - Chipper Jones, Berkman, and Pujols. Holliday and Ludwick are in the next tier, and beyond that nobody is really even in the same class. I think it will be interesting to see how the balloting goes. I can see Ryan Howard getting some undeserved support since the Phillies probably will make the post-season and he leads the NL in the glamor stats HR & RBI. But he has really not had a very good season at all, and would not place on my ballot at all were I given a vote. Same goes for Ryan Braun to a lesser extent. He's having a pretty good season, but not an MVP-type year, but I imagine that Milwaukee's tremendous season will buoy his chances more than it probably should.
Having said all of that, I neglected all the buzz that Chase Utley has been getting, and I would actually probably call him the odds-on favorite to win the award. I think he's had a nice year, but still not close to the level that Jones/Berkman/Pujols have performed at.
i agree with Hammer. baseball should be on which individual player has the best season. basketball however team wins is more important cuz theres only 5 players on the court my vote is still Utley.
