November 20, 2007

Holliday, Rockies Get Screwed by Voters

In one of the closest races for NL MVP, Jimmy Rollins literally stole the award from Matt Holliday. I love the East Coast as much as anyone, but this is ridiculous. Story here.

Rollins was 1st in the NL in Runs, Triples, AB, and Games, and 2nd in Hits and Extra-Base Hits. I applaud him for playing all 162 games, but doesn't leading off and playing every game on a high-scoring team automatically mean you should lead the league in AB's and Hits? Also, he probably had so many AB's because he hardly walks at all. His .294 batting average and .344 OBP do not impress at all, even though a leadoff man should pride himself on those.

Holliday, on the other hand, hit .340 (1st) and had a .406 OBP (2nd), even though he's a power hitter. He hit more HR's (4th, 36), more XBH's, and more doubles (50, 1st), scored a very respectable 120 runs (3rd), knocked in 137 (1st), and walked more than Jimmy. Only the third player since 1967 to lead the league in both BA and RBI's, he led the NL in hits (with way fewer at-bats than Jimmy), total bases, and doubles. And I don't want to hear any crap about Coors Field. Citizens Bank is just as homer happy, opponents had a higher slugging % there than at Coors this year.

The Rockies as a team also got screwed because they received 0 Gold Gloves, in spite of leading the league in fielding percentage, and Clint Hurdle did not win NL Manager of the Year (Melvin was deserving too, but anyone who takes Colorado to the playoffs on that kind of streak...). Troy Tulowitzski also got edged for the NL Rookie of the Year.

I know the games are on late, and the Rockies were almost never on TV on the East Coast (or the West Coast when I was in Seattle), but they deserved more credit than this for a great year and a great run at the end.

4 Responses:

J-Red said...

When I saw the headline I immediately checked ESPN.com and CNNSI.com for the "Holliday Got Screwed" article. Nothing yet...

michael said...

Thanks for sticking up for the West, ECB!

J-Red said...

Sadly, he just as easily could have written "Wright, Mets Get Screwed by Voters"

Dan said...

Man I've been saying the same thing on my blog, except I have a much better picture to go along with it (Rollins getting beaned in the mug - I would have posted it here if blogger allowed pics in comments). I was a bit more upset about Troy getting beat out in the Gold Glove after leading in EVERY defensive category, but Holliday losing the MVP is still a slap in the face to anyone west of Pittsburgh.

Summer is here and there's never been a better time to try your hand at online sports betting. Place your bets on your favorite horse with horse racing or even try your luck with your favorite football team. Enjoying sport is just a click away!