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Joey Votto watches one of the many moonshots he hit on the season for the NL Central division leading Reds. (Photo: Zimbio)

The American League Cy Young and MVP races are compelling, but no race has more contenders than the National League Most Valuable Player. There is Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals, who is having his yearly  campaign as baseball’s most gifted player; Joey Votto, who is having an equally impressive season for the Cincinnati Reds, a team heading to the playoffs for the first time since 1995; Adrian Gonzalez, who has extraordinary power for the surprising San Diego Padres; and, finally, the two-headed monster of Carlos Gonzalez and Troy Tulowitzki in Colorado, a duo that fueled the Rockies into playoff contention before the team ran out of gas.

As I detailed in my American League MVP article, a team cannot have two MVP candidates. Why? Because if it is hard to decide who is more valuable, then it would be better of giving the award to someone who has put up similar numbers as a team’s lone force. If the Rockies battled all the way back and reached the postseason, I wouldn’t be against Carlos Gonzalez and Tulowitzki being named co-MVPs.

As it is, though, the award should come down to the trio of Pujols, Votto, and Adrian Gonzalez. All three have been very valuable for their teams, but in my mind Votto is most deserving. Pujols has 42 homers, 118 rbi’s, a .313 batting average, and a 41 percent on-base percentage: his usual numbers. He has three MVP awards putting up those statistics. He is the best in the game. But he isn’t the most valuable this particular season. St. Louis is out of playoff contention and has been for the past month.

So, leaving Pujols out of the equation, it comes down to Adrian Gonzalez and Votto. Given how poor the Padres offense is without Gonzalez in the lineup his case is a compelling one. He’s a .300 hitter, has 30-plus homers and 100-plus rbis while playing Gold Glove first base. But, Votto’s numbers are far superior, and his Reds are going to a place they haven’t been in a long time.

Votto, 27, has 37 homers, 113 rbi’s, a 42 percent on-base percentage, and, as ESPN’s Jayson Stark documents in his awards’ article, has a “.374 [batting average] with men on base, .369 with runners in scoring position, .355 in the late innings of tight games, .357 from the seventh inning on, .336 since the All-Star break and 27 homers that have either tied games, put his team ahead, brought his team within a run or broken open a one-run game.”

He has delivered when it has mattered most for Cincinnati, and that, quite simply, defines an MVP.

Honorable mention: Adrian Gonzalez, Pujols, Tulowitzki, and Carlos Gonzalez

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Roy Halladay is the presumptive favorite for National League Cy Young after leading the Philadelphia Phillies to an NL East title. But what about his candidacy for the MVP award?

Baseball pundits generally disqualify starting pitchers from MVP consideration because they only play in a fifth of the games. While this is true, it doesn’t mean that some pitchers aren’t just as valuable as the game’s best hitters.

MVP’s are typically offensive players, but there have been several pitchers to win the award. The last was Dennis Eckersley in 1992, a season in which the righty recorded 51 saves. The last NL pitcher to win the award was Bob Gibson way back in 1968. So can Halladay become the first pitcher in almost two decades to take home the award?

Let’s examine his case.

First, the numbers.

In 2010, Halladay is 21-10 with a 2.44 ERA and 1.04 WHIP. He has thrown 250.2 innings and struck out 219. He has nine complete games, four shutouts and a perfect game. His ERA+ is 166 and his WAR is 6.9.

He’s only made 33 starts so he’s averaging 7.6 innings per start. In other words he’s doing the jobs of both a No. 2 starter and a primary set-up man, at the same time.

To illustrate this let’s try to deconstruct Halladay’s stats using two players for comparison instead of just one. Here are two Atlanta Braves pitchers whose combined numbers closely resemble Halladay’s.

Tommy Hanson: 10-11, 3.33 ERA, 1.17 WHIP, 202.1 IP, 182 H, 75 ER, 14 HR, 53 BB, 173 SO

Takashi Saito: 2-3, 2.83 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 54.0 IP, 41 H, 17 ER, 4 HR, 17 BB, 69 SO

Now, if we combine them, we get Tommy Saito. Let’s compare this fictional pitcher to Halladay

Tommy Saito: 12-14, 3.23 ERA, 1.14 WHIP, 256.1 IP, 223 H, 92 ER, 18 HR, 70 BB, 242 SO

Roy Halladay: 21-10, 2.44 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 250.2 IP, 231 H, 68 ER, 24 HR, 30 BB, 219 SO

Tommy Saito registers a combine ERA+ of 157 to Halladay’s 166, and a WAR of 3.2 to Halladay’s 6.9.

Halladay generally has better numbers than this pitcher, but not by a significant margin. So the question becomes how actually valuable Halladay is to his team?

If both Hanson and Saito were taken off the Braves roster, it is more than likely that Atlanta would struggle to maintain a winning record let alone challenge for a playoff spot. If Halladay suffered an injury that kept him out for the entirety of the 2010 season, where would Philadelphia be now? That’s a question Phillies fans hope they never have to answer.

Of course the fact that Halladay alone does what it takes two good players to do is a testament in itself of his value. His 6.9 WAR trails only Joey Votto (7.3), Albert Pujols (7.3), and Ryan Zimmerman (7.1) in the National League. 

He may not be the MVP this year, but he doesn’t belong very far behind the company of Votto, Pujols and Carlos Gonzalez. Give Doc his due and put him on the ballot. 

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The playoffs are when legends are made. You can be a great player in the regular season, but if you fail in the playoffs, then you will be served a cold dish of doubt and ridicule.

Nobody wants to be Mr. May.

Just ask Alex Rodriguez. Until last year he was considered Mr. Regular Season, a choke artist, a joke, and overpaid. He still may be overpaid, but he has a ring on his finger to keep him happy.

Every year there are a new crop of players with something to prove, either to themselves or to the baseball world in order to solidify their stance in the history of the game.

Here are the players with the most to prove in this postseason.

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Since the franchise was born 127 years ago, the Philadelphia Phillies have never finished the season with the best record in the MLB.

Their 11-5 win over the Atlanta Braves, coupled with a loss by the Tampa Bay Rays, have given the Phillies a 2.5-game lead over the Rays, with two games remaining.

The Phillies could clinch the best record today if the Yankees lose half of their doubleheader with the Red Sox, or if the Phils pull off one more win versus the Braves.

In a finishing stretch for the ages, the Phillies have literally gone where no Phil has gone before and they look to continue that trend.

This postseason will consist of a mountain of franchise firsts that the 2010 Phillies look to accomplish, including:

1. Be the first team to win three NLCS in franchise history, and the first in NL history.
2. Be the first team in franchise history to make three consecutive World Series appearances.
3. Be the first team in franchise history to win two out of three World Series.

The last time they ended their season with the best record in the National League was in 1977.

The Phils await their opponent in the first Divisional Series of the playoffs. As it sits now, they’d face the Cincinnati Reds, who have already clinched their place as well.

If the San Diego Padres could catch the Braves in the wild card race, the Phils would face them in the NLDS.

As powerful as this team is, and experienced as they have become, they face more unmarked territory.

With the summer heat being pushed south, a band of rain passing through the east coast ushered in the crisp air of October…and it’s that time again. 

Time to make your postseason picks. Time to set your alarm clock to the maximum volume for the morning, when your team plays the late game, and time to map out where you will follow the scores from the early games in the Division Series match-ups.  

The season, as usual, brought a lot of drama, controversy and disappointments. But there have also been a few stories of redemption. 

Dusty Baker and the Cincinnati Reds are a good example. 

The excitement of the Red’s franchise and fan-base is evident.  It’s the first time in 15 years they’ve clinched a postseason berth, a position the Phillies found themselves in in 2007. 

That fact alone makes the Cincinnati Reds America’s favorite comeback story this year.

But now, with the 2010 postseason only days away, the match-ups are close to being set and it’s time for each team to bring their A game. 

Let’s analyze the Phillies personnel and approach:

Batting Lineup

It is possible that Phillies’ skipper, Charlie Manuel, could put Jimmy Rollins back in lead-off position where he’s been for some seven or eight years, or he can keep the hot bat Shane Victorino there. 

Otherwise, here’s the rest:

Shane Victorino/Jimmy Rollins

Placido Polanco

Chase Utley

Ryan Howard

Jayson Werth

Raul Ibanez/Jimmy Rollins

Shane Victorino/Jimmy Rollins/Raul Ibanez

Carlos Ruiz

Ruiz has had a phenomenal year, increasing his statistics in almost every category tremendously, making an already dangerous bunch more lethal.

It’s no secret that due to injuries the Phillies batting numbers this season have cooled down. 

Their 21-6 September proved that when everyone is healthy they are still every bit as powerful as they have ever been.

Pitching Rotation:

The Phils announced a pretty vicious pitching rotation for the Reds series on Friday night. 

Game One on Oct. 6: Roy Halladay.

Game Two on Oct. 8: Roy Oswalt.

Game Three on Oct. 10: Cole Hamels.

Game Four, if necessary: Roy Halladay.

Game Five, if necessary: Roy Oswalt.

The three have had a combined record of 20-7 and an outstanding September record of 13-1.

Bullpen:

Joe Blanton, Kyle Kendrick, Brad Lidge, Ryan Madson, Jose Contreras, J.C. Romero and Chad Durbin.

If Roy Halladay, Roy Oswalt and Cole Hamels give us seven solid innings, we’ll see a lot of Ryan Madson in the eighth and Brad Lidge in the ninth.

Brad Lidge is crucial to the Phillies postseason success. If he can continue to have a solid year, the Phillies will be very difficult to beat.

Fielding

The Phillies don’t make many mistakes in the field.

They have arguably the best set of infield men in the MLB. Ryan Howard accounts for most of the errors committed in the infield. 

Otherwise, don’t expect to see too many mistakes from the Phillies this postseason.

Keys to winning the series

The Reds have a very potent lineup, so the first key is to keep H2O (Halladay, Hamels, and Oswalt) on the field as long as possible. 

The other key is continuing their timely hitting. 

There needs to be at least one game in which the Phillies unleash their bats. If not, the Reds just may.

If Carlos Ruiz keeps his excellent season going, he will be another key to outlasting the Reds as a 1-8 threat always wears on starting pitchers. 

Prediction

My prediction is that this series goes, at the most, four games. The Reds may take game three at Great American Ball Park, against Cole Hamels who Stamp predicts will go up against, Travis Wood. 

As a Reds columnist, Matt Stamp reminds us:

“..as some of you may recall, Wood was three outs away from pitching a perfect game in Philly. Wood finished that game (which the Reds lost 1-0 in 11 innings) pitching nine innings of one-hit ball with eight strikeouts.”

So, timely hitting will have to do the trick. 

The Phillies will ultimately prevail because of the Red’s lack of experience. 

For more writing from Vincent Heck, visit: www.vincentheckwriting.com

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Though the 2010 season in Major League Baseball has not quite ended, most fans have an idea of who they think deserves awards to symbolize their excellence this year.

Some votes should be extremely close, while others may not be as close as expected.

Here are my predictions for the 2010 MLB Postseason Awards for debate and perhaps even ridicule by all the experts out there.

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The season is almost over, bones and hearts have been broken, while arms and dreams have been restored.  We have come a long way since April, but for Cincinnati, the fun is only beginning. 

This 2010 edition of the Reds was picked by most to finish fourth or worse in the NL Central this year.  Not enough offense, not enough pitching, not enough experience, and on and on and on.

The Reds didn’t get the memo.

This team played spoiler all year long.  The Reds, who weren’t quite ready, showed early on they were here to stay.  Joey Votto had the best year of his young career and very well could end up with the NL MVP award.  He threatened for a triple crown and somehow, SOMEHOW, almost missed being an All-Star. (Charlie Manuel better hope Votto doesn’t hold a grudge.)

Rolen, Cabrera, Rhodes, Cairo, the Reds were too old, and wouldn’t be able to stay healthy.  Sorry wrong again.  Rolen and Rhodes were All-Stars, Cairo was clutch all year and Cabrera added stability at SS, which had been a revolving door of failed experiments since 11 left town.  These guys were winners, and the funny thing is, winners win. 

Phillips took heat for starting the Cardinal Clash by saying what we all were thinking, but he continued flashing that gold leather again all year.  He hit lead-off, hit second, hit fourth, Brandon did whatever Dusty needed.  Reds fans want to trade Phillips for his Ocho Cinco-ness, but ask the Reds’ starting rotation if they appreciate him being up the middle. Psst….I bet the say yes!

Hanigan, Ramon and Fu Manchu himself, Corky Miller were more than any of us could have hoped for behind the plate.  They all brought their big bats and were big behind the plate.  Those three guys have done wonders for this pitching staff all year. 

The outfield wowed us with their bats before the All-Star break.  Gomes was unstoppable, Stubbs ran on everyone, and no one ran on Jay Bruce.  Jay was under the gun.  Many said this was his put up or shut up year, very unfairly by my accounts, but Bruuuuuce put up in a big way.

You mean you didn’t hear?  Bruce crushed a walk-off home run to clinch the NL Central for Cincinnati.  I saw grown men do things I couldn’t have imagined.  They hugged, they cried, they rolled around on the beer stained, peanut littered concourse at Great American, all because Jay saved the day.

The pitching was great all year, Leake was too cool for the minors and pitched great.  Our favorite hamburger jingle writer, Arroyo won 17 games.  Travis Wood stood toe to toe with Roy Halladay.  The list goes on and on.

We have to give some credit to Dusty too.  The guy who couldn’t win with young players, the guy who burned up young arms.  He flipped the right switches all year and did something not one other Reds manager had done since 1995: make the playoffs.  So Dusty, even though we scratched our heads sometimes, here’s to you.

All that is nice, but will it matter?  Can Cincinnati make it a Reds October?  I believe in these guys, and I know they believe in each other.  I’m going to keep my Gomes-esque ski goggles ready for when these Cincinnati Reds crash the postseason party.

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With September suddenly turning into October, that can only mean one thing for baseball fans.  The playoffs are finally here: eight teams vying for one elusive trophy.  

Before that happens, there is other hardware to be handed out.

Both leagues have awards for individual success which often times parlays into post-season success come October.  These men were the very best in the sport over the last six months and will now be rewarded.  Here are my 2010 MLB award winners.  

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With the 2010 postseason fast approaching, the MLB awards will be announced in the coming weeks. One thing baseball lacks, unlike the NFL and NBA, is that there is no All-MLB team announced. They simply hand out individual awards. Given the timing, I decided to make an all-playoff team that consists of nine players from teams still in contention that need to come up big for their team to advance in the playoffs.  These players have displayed not only excellent skills, but also that clutch gene, which so many great athletes possess. So let’s start it off with an obvious name…

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Everyone knows the playoffs are about pitching, especially pitching depth. However, of course some lineups are easier to pitch to than others. The teams that can support their pitchers are the ones that are going to win in the postseason. These are the teams with the lineups that are going to give pitchers the most trouble in October.

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The Cincinnati Reds are the 2010 NL Central division champions.
 
I’ll repeat: The Cincinnati Reds are the 2010 NL Central division champions.
 
Who in their right mind could have predicted this back in March? The Reds’ goal was to play over .500. Progress was the key.
 
Well, the team that never quits sped up the progress tenfold.
 
The offense led the NL in the most important categories for the vast majority of he season. The pitching staff is overloaded with above-average starters. The bullpen was up-and-down, but never let the team down in an important game.
 
GM Walt Jocketty has done an excellent job of blending young studs with wily veterans. Nobody liked the Scott Rolen trade at the time, but now it looks brilliant. His wisdom and leadership really lit a fuse under the losing mentality that had plagued the franchise for 15 years.
 
Since the trade, the Reds are 97-63 when Rolen starts.
 
The biggest reason for success is the leading candidate for the National League’s Most Valuable Player, Joey Votto, who has gone above and beyond all expectations placed on him this year.
 
He ranks second in the NL with a .325 batting average, third in home runs with 37, and third in RBI at 111. He has been a force in the middle of a potent lineup. He has played an excellent first base, possibly worthy of a Gold Glove.
 
Speaking of Gold Gloves, Brandon Phillips is in line for his second. He made his first All-Star team and has drank the hustle Kool-Aid. His numbers have fallen since hurting his wrist, but don’t be mistaken—he had a career year.
 
Johnny Gomes didn’t have a contract offer from any team until the day before spring training began. He lead the NL in RBI at one point in late May.
 
Miguel Cairo, Arthur Rhodes, and Orlando Cabrera were considered washed up, and now all three of them will play pivotal roles in October.
 
For the sixth time in seven years, and with five different teams, Cabrera will be going to the postseason. His ability to stabilize the shortstop position offensively has been a huge asset.
 
With the Reds’ rotation getting younger with Johnny Cueto, Travis Wood, Edinson Volquez, Homer Bailey, and Mike Leake, it was Bronson Arroyo who was old reliable.
 
Arroyo was a steady veteran presence that could be counted on to deliver every fifth day. He set a career high with 16 wins, and has pitched at least 200 innings every year as a Red. He is the No. 1 starter.
 
Mike Leake may have been shut down for the rest of this season, but his eight wins are nothing to sneeze at. He was the Reds’ best starter in the month of May.
 
Travis Wood almost threw a no-hitter against the defending NL champs in his third major league start. Incredible!
 
It’s hard to believe that Aaron Harang was the opening day starter back in the beginning of April. Sad to think that he won’t even make the 25-man playoff roster, but that’s another testament to how spectacular the pitching has been.
 
The beauty of the Reds is in their bench. Cabrera got hurt, Paul Janish stepped up, and the team didn’t miss a beat. Ditto with Chris Heisey.
 
The two-headed RH combo at catcher has kept both players fresh. Ramon Hernandez has hovered around .300 all season while playing stellar defense. When Hernandez gets hurt or Bronson Arroyo is starting, Ryan Hannigan steps in and puts up similar numbers.
 
Then there is the $30 million phenom.
 
Aroldis Chapman exploded onto the scene in September and will be a Red for at least the next five seasons. He may not have contributed a whole lot to the ’10 club, but Chapman will be a vital component for the playoffs and beyond. He is spoiled with winning already.
 
Then there’s Dusty Baker, one of only two managers to win a division title for three different National League teams; he seemingly pulled all the right strings for his club. He stuck with youngsters Jay Bruce, Nick Massett, and Drew Stubbs. He never called out a player or had a blowup caught on camera.
 
Don’t forget owner Bob Castellini. He famously said, “We are here to bring winning baseball back to Cincinnati” back when he took over in 2006. It may have taken a few years, but he made good on his promise.
 
The lost decade is over.  Nine straight losing seasons is history. The Reds are legit once again and are relevant to the rest of the nation. Cincinnati really is a “baseball town,” and record setting attendance in August proves it.
 
The entire 2010 Cincinnati Reds organization deserves credit.
 
It took a total team effort by everybody from the front office brass to the ball boy: The long-term vision from the top, the guts of the manger, the focus and superb talent of the players. Put it all together and you have one scrappy bunch of winners.
 
Congrats Reds, you did it.

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