August Awards

This week I will give my August Awards for the Rangers, American League, and National League. I didn’t have a July Awards, so I am writing this month’s awards a week early to make it a kind of combination.

Rangers Awards:

MVP: Josh Hamilton, TEX (.356 AVG, 27 HR, 85 RBI): I have Josh as my AL MVP, so he will pretty obviously be my Rangers MVP. He has an amazing batting average, with outstanding power numbers.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, TEX (.298 AVG, 21 HR, 88 RBI)

Cy Young: CJ Wilson, TEX (12-5, 3.02 ERA, 128 K): CJ has an ERA just barely above 3.00, which is amazing, especially for a guy in his first full major league season as a starter. He also leads the team in wins on top of that incredible ERA.
Runner-up: Colby Lewis, TEX (9-10, 3.37 ERA, 154 K)

Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz, TEX (30 SV, 3.46 ERA, 53 K): Once again, like Josh, I have Neftali as my American League winner at this award, so he will definitely be the Rangers ROY. He has one of the highest save totals in the AL this year, and already has more than the Rookie of the Year last season.
Runner-up: Alexi Ogando, TEX (3-1, 1.27 ERA, 28 K)

AL Awards:

MVP: Josh Hamilton, TEX (.356 AVG, 27 HR, 85 RBI): Josh leads the majors in batting average by a healthy 16 points, and has great power numbers to go with it. He is 6th in the AL in home runs and 9th in RBIs, just good enough to let his average make him the MVP.
Runner-up: Miguel Cabrera, DET (.340 AVG, 31 HR, 101 RBI)

Cy Young: Clay Buchholz, BOS (14-5, 2.36 ERA, 89 K): Clay leads the American League in ERA at 2.36, has 14 wins, which is 5th in the AL, and he’s only lost 5 games this season.
Runner-up: Trevor Cahill, OAK (13-5, 2.54 ERA, 86 K)

Rookie of the Year: Neftali Feliz, TEX (30 SV, 3.46 ERA, 53 K): Last year, Andrew Bailey won Rookie of the Year over Elvis Andrus with 26 saves on a bad team, while Neftali Feliz already has 30 saves for a good team, and has been very, very good.
Runner-up: Austin Jackson, DET (.306 AVG, 2 HR, 28 RBI)

Manager of the Year: Cito Gaston, TOR (64-57, 4th place): Cito has taken a team that was supposed to battle the Orioles for last place in the division into a team 7 games over .500 battling the Red Sox for 3rd place in the best division in baseball.
Runner-up: Ron Washington, TEX (68-53, 1st place)

NL Awards:

MVP: Albert Pujols, STL (.316 AVG, 32 HR, 88 RBI): Albert is tied for 4th in the National League in batting average, is first in home runs, and is first in RBIs. The only other player that is in the top 5 of every category in the NL is Joey Votto.
Runner-up: Joey Votto, CIN (.320 AVG, 28 HR, 81 RBI)

Cy Young: Adam Wainwright, STL (17-7, 2.06 ERA, 165 K): Adam leads the majors in wins with 17, and leads the majors in ERA at 2.06, and is tied for 6th in the majors in strikeouts. That’s a Cy Young.
Runner-up: Roy Halladay, PHI (16-8, 2.16 ERA, 180 K, 200 IP)

Rookie of the Year: Jaime Garcia, STL (10-6, 2.58 ERA, 105 K): Jaime has had a great year for the Cardinals, with an ERA well under 3.00, better than any NL rookie starter, and also leads NL rookies in wins this year. That’s Rookie of the Year numbers.
Runner-up: Buster Posey, SF (.342 AVG, 9 HR, 46 RBI)

Manager of the Year: Bud Black, SD (73-48, 1st place): Bud has really done a great job with the Padres this year, and has supposedly one of the worst teams in baseball in first place, and going strong.
Runner-up: Dusty Baker, CIN (71-51, 1st place)

Come back next week for a new interview if everything goes well.