May Awards

This week I will post my May Awards.

Before getting to them, though, I want to mention my great baseball weekend over Memorial Day. I got to see three levels of the Rangers’ system in four days. On Friday night, we went to the RoughRiders game and on Sunday afternoon, we were at the Rangers game, where we got to see Mike Napoli’s walkoff slide. Then on Memorial Day, I went down to Round Rock to see the Express play against the Iowa Cubs. It was my first trip to Dell Diamond and it was a very fun experience. The Express have a great ballpark. I probably like the RedHawks’ old park better, because it’s in a downtown setting and has more history and character, but that’s nothing against Dell Diamond. Pros for Dell Diamond were the covered concourse that provided a lot of shade on a hot day, the Nolan Ryan grill area that is nicely covered and provides picnic tables for eating, a restaurant on the suite level, and rocking chairs (also in the shade) that you can reserve for the game on a first-come, first-served basis. I’m too old for it but they also had a great kids’ area with rock climbing, a basketball court, and bungee trampolines. One negative is that the seats are very narrow. Before the game, we walked over to the Salt Lick Barbeque, which is right next door.

My dad, granddad, and I saw Seth McClung pitch in Round Rock, and he got pounded, giving up 7 runs on 10 hits in only 4 innings. Justin Miller then came in and did a very good job, as he threw three shutout innings. Hitting wise, there wasn’t much for the Express, but they did have three players with two hits a piece (Matt Kata, Doug Deeds, and Luis Cruz). Doug Deeds also had two RBIs in the game. Iowa beat the Express 8-6 in the game.

Rangers Awards:

MVP: Michael Young, TEX (.329 AVG, 3 HR, 37 RBI) – Michael is second on the team in RBIs and leads the team in batting average. He is having a fantastic year.
Runner-up: Mitch Moreland, TEX (.310 AVG, 7 HR, 18 RBI)

Cy Young: Alexi Ogando, TEX (6-0, 2.20 ERA, 53 K) – Alexi is my runner-up for my AL Cy Young, so he is definitely my Rangers Cy Young. He is undefeated and has an ERA of 2.20.
Runner-up: CJ Wilson, TEX (5-3, 3.32 ERA, 75 K)

Rookie of the Year: Craig Gentry, TEX (.225 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 5 SB) – Craig was my Rangers Rookie of the Month by using the process of elimination. The Rangers hardly have any rookies this year.
Runner-up: Yoshinori Tateyama, TEX (0-0, 3.00 ERA, 5 K)

AL Awards:

MVP: Jose Bautista, TOR (.360 AVG, 20 HR, 40 RBI) – Jose leads all of baseball in average and home runs, and is one of the top RBI men in the American League.
Runner-up: Adrian Gonzalez, BOS (.335 AVG, 10 HR, 47 RBI)

Cy Young: Josh Beckett, BOS (4-2, 1.80 ERA, 63 K) – Josh might not have the best record, but that isn’t his fault, as he leads the American League in ERA.
Runner-up: Alexi Ogando, TEX (6-0, 2.20 ERA, 53 K)

Rookie of the Year: Michael Pineda, SEA (6-2, 2.30 ERA, 73 K) – Michael was a Cy Young candidate and you hardly ever see that from a rookie. He has a very bright future.
Runner-up: Jeremy Hellickson, TB (6-3, 2.80 ERA, 46 K)

Manager of the Year: Manny Acta, CLE (33-22, 1st place) – The Indians were expected to be in last place (that’s where I predicted them), but Manny has the Indians in first place.
Runner-up: Eric Wedge, SEA (30-27, 2nd place)

NL Awards:

MVP: Ryan Braun, MIL (.309 AVG, 13 HR, 42 RBI, .405 OBP) – Ryan has a batting average above .300 (11th in NL), 13 HR (t-2nd in NL) and 42 RBI (t-4th in NL). He may not be the leader of anything, but he has had a very good all-around year.
Runner-up: Jay Bruce, CIN (.294 AVG, 17 HR, 46 RBI)

Cy Young: Jair Jurrjens, ATL (7-1, 1.51 ERA, 38 K) – Jair Jurrjens is tied for second in the NL in wins, and has the best ERA in baseball. He is the obvious choice for the NL Cy Young.
Runner-up: Kyle Lohse, STL (7-2, 2.13 ERA, 47 K)

Rookie of the Year: Craig Kimbrel, ATL (17 SV, 2.79 ERA, 43 K) – Craig is the Braves closer and has had a very good year with 17 saves and an ERA under 3.00.
Runner-up: Freddie Freeman, ATL (.278 AVG, 5 HR, 21 RBI)

Manager of the Year: Kirk Gibson, ARI (32-26, 2nd place) – After a bad start to a season expected to be terrible, the Diamondbacks have gone on a run and are now half a game out of first place.
Runner-up: Edwin Rodriguez, FLA (31-24, 2nd place)

Come back next week for the third edition of my ballpark rankings.