Midseason Awards (AL)

What is more fun in baseball than giving away awards, especially at the All Star break when we still have almost half a season to play. Here are my first-half award winners, and my predictions for the end of the season.

AL MVP (First Half) - Magglio Ordonez, OF, Detroit Tigers. No apologies to Alex Rodriguez, his wife, his girlfriend, or his 30 homeruns. MVPs don't play for losers, and that's what the team from the Bronx is this year. (I love it.) Mags leads the league in batting average, by a lot, over Ichiro Suzuki, and made the last out in Justin Verlander's no-hitter. Good enough for me.

AL MVP (Season) - Victor Martinez, C, Cleveland Indians. I still don't think Rodriguez wins it. I expect someone to put up a huge second half and make a push. Possibly Justin Morneau of the Twins, whose 24 homers are second in the league already. But Martinez will help the Indians make the playoffs, plus he catches, which is even more impressive.


AL Cy Young (FH) - Justin Verlander, SP, Detroit Tigers. His numbers aren't the best. Even Mark Beuhrle threw a no-hitter. Dan Haren has a better ERA. Josh Beckett has more wins, even with a stint on the DL. But no one else has made batters look as foolish as Verlander did against the Brewers. No one else has thrown 102 !! mph after their 100th !!! pitch of the game. Most impressive moment for me all year.

AL Cy Young (S) - Johan Santana, SP, Minnesota Twins. How about the Central Division. Does anyone really expect Santana to not win this award? He's had his best first half in recent memory, and we all know how dominant he has been in the second half lately. If he keeps the twins anywhere close to in contention, give him another one.

AL ROY (FH) - Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Boston Red Sox. You knew there had to be some Red Sox love somewhere. One Japanese pitcher has exceeded expectations, but he's not getting paid like the one who hasn't. Unfortunately, he's a middle reliever, and they don't win awards. Pedroia gets it with the best batting average among rookies and for filling the two spot for the Red Sox when no one else has been able to. After that horrible April slump, Pedroia is hitting .358.

AL ROY (S) - Dustin Pedroia, 2B, Sox. I'm gonna stick with my guy. I don't think Dice-K has enough to get to 20 wins, and I still don't like Okajima's chances. I think this category belongs to a Sox player this year, because they really don't have an MVP candidate, and I don't like Beckett's chances for the Cy.

AL MOY (FH) - Eric Wedge, Cleveland Indians, and Terry Francona, Boston Red Sox. Here is the reason I have a tie. No one expected the Indians to be in first place until the day before the break. We knew they were good, but not this good. As for Francona, ignore the payroll. His three best hitters--Ramirez, Drew, and Ortiz (slightly)--have underperformed. Three starting pitchers have underperformed--Schilling, Daisuke, and Wakefield. His three biggest free agent signings--Drew, Lugo, and Dice-K--have underperformed. Yet the Red Sox have the best record in baseball.

AL MOY (S) - Eric Wedge. I think the Indians make the playoffs. For a team this young and inconsistent, including their manager, that deserves the award.

Those are my votes if I could vote, based on what I think players will do after the break. As for real predictions of the players I think will win:

AL MVP - A-Rod (boooooooo!)
AL Cy - Johan Santana
AL ROY - Pedroia
AL MOY - Mike Scioscia.

On to the National League later.