BASEBALL
Phillies' Howard Captures MVP
Ryan Howard receives 20 first-place votes and 12 seconds for 388 points in balloting by a panel of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Albert Pujols received 12 firsts, 19 seconds and one third for 347 points.
(AP)
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Ryan Howard, the precocious first baseman of the Philadelphia Phillies, led the National League in homers (58) and RBI (149). Albert Pujols, the history-making first baseman of the St. Louis Cardinals, led the NL in on-base percentage (.431) and slugging percentage (.671).
The two prodigious sluggers were the only true candidates for the NL Most Valuable Player award, and when the results were announced yesterday, Howard had 20 of 32 first-place votes, Pujols had the other 12, and Howard -- who two years ago was in danger of being buried in the Phillies' minor league system -- came away as the winner in just his second major league season.
"It's been a fun ride," Howard said yesterday in a teleconference with reporters.
"You can't just sit there and kind of dwell on what's gone on in the past and what's going to happen as far as being traded or what my future was with the Phillies. The only thing I could've done was go out and play."
He has done that with remarkable results. In tallying 388 points to Pujols's 347 in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, Howard not only beat Pujols, last year's MVP, but he became just the second player to immediately follow a rookie of the year award with an MVP the following season. Cal Ripken was the American League rookie of the year in 1982, the MVP the following season.
Howard won the award with a monstrous second half when the Phillies, who appeared to count themselves out of the playoff chase by trading outfielder Bobby Abreu, made an unexpected charge. After the all-star break, Howard hit .355 with an absurd 1.259 on-base plus slugging percentage -- a number that was .138 better than the next-best hitter during that time span, Boston's David Ortiz.
Pujols, who at 26 is actually close to two months younger than Howard, was second in the NL in homers (49) and RBI (137) despite a stint on the disabled list early in the season, and he posted a .331 average, compared to Howard's .313. He has finished no worse than fourth in the MVP voting in his six major league seasons. [Complete Voting, E6]
-- Barry Svrluga
