heisman prediction and vote

if i had a vote for heisman, here's how i'd vote it. these are also the same as my predicted order of finish:

1. tim tebow, qb florida
2. darren mcfadden, rb arkansas
3. colt brennan, qb hawaii
4. chase daniel, qb missouri

i think tebow will win by only a handful of votes. more on this after dinner...

i am back. that was a good fajita. tebow won by more than i thought he would. and this is the end of this post.

if i had a vote, part 2

for part 1, click this

AL Rookie of the Year:

1. Dustin Pedroia, .317 avg .380 obp .442 slg 8 hr 50 rbi 86 r 7 sb
2. Delmon Young, .288 avg .316 obp .408 slg 13 hr 93 rbi 65 r 10 sb
3. Jeremy Guthrie 7-5 175.1 ip 123 k 3.70 era 1.21 whip .249 baa

i won't make any predictions as the award was actually already given today. these were the top 2 and brian bannister was #3. pedroia was a pretty obvious choice. this award was his to lose starting in about early september. i think delmon young was hurt to an extent by his own hype. and probably by this too. i think guthrie has a decent career ahead of him.

AL Cy Young:

1. C.C. Sabathia 19-7 241.0 ip 209 k 3.21 era 1.14 whip .259 baa
2. Erik Bedard 13-5 182.0 ip 221 k 3.16 era 1.09 whip .212 baa
3. John Lackey 19-9 224.0 ip 179 k 3.01 era 1.21 whip .254 baa

sabathia is a horse, doesn't walk guys, and pitched great all year, leading his team into the playoffs. this award should be his, HOWEVA, i won't be shocked if beckett wins it. that's what i'm predicting will happen, because of the undying media love for boston, but hopefully i'll be wrong. bedard would've gotten my #1 vote if he had had more innings. lackey is a solid #3. you could make a case for beckett there as well, it's really close.

AL Most Valuable Player

1. Alex Rodriguez, .314 avg .422 obp .645 slg 54 hr 156 rbi 143 r 24 sb
2. Magglio Ordonez, .363 avg .434 obp .595 slg 28 hr 139 rbi 117 r 4 sb
3. David Ortiz, .332 avg .445 obp .621 slg 35 hr 117 rbi 116 r 3 sb

uh, this one is pretty obvious. if any writer doesn't vote a-rod #1, he should suffer the fate of norv turner. magglio won the batting title by a mile and had a great year for the tigers. ortiz once again is a bridesmaid...er, doesn't finish 1st. my prediction is a-rod 1, ortiz 2, ordonez 3.

Comeback Players of the Year

I forgot to do this for the NL in my first post so I'll vote both here:

NL - Josh Hamilton, .292 avg .368 obp .554 slg 19 hr 47 rbi 52 r 3 sb
AL - Carlos Pena, .282 avg .411 obp .627 slg 46 hr 121 rbi 99 r 1 sb

if I had a vote, part 1

now that it's almost time for the 2007 baseball season individual awards to be handed out, i will make my selections as if i have a vote. obviously i don't have one, but if i did, here's how it would go for each of these awards, along with my predictions for what will actually happen.

NL Cy Young

1. Jake Peavy, 19-6, 2.54 ERA, 1.o6 WHIP, 223.1 IP, 240 K
2. Brandon Webb, 18-10, 3.01 ERA, 1.19 WHIP, 236.1 IP, 194 K
3. John Smoltz, 14-8, 3.11 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 205.2 IP, 197 K

it's pretty hard to not give this to Peavy. i tried and everything, but his numbers are just too much better than anyone else. i don't have much more to say about this race. my prediction for what will actually happen is the same, except that i predict cole hamels will be #3.

NL Most Valuable Player

1. Matt Holliday, .340 avg, .405 obp, .607 slg, 36 hr, 137 rbi, 120 r, 11 sb
2. Chase Utley, .332 avg, .410 obp, .566 slg, 22 hr, 103 rbi, 104 r, 9 sb
3. Albert Pujols, .327 avg, .429 obp, .568 slg, 32 hr, 103 rbi, 99 r, 2 sb

the race is not between holliday and rollins. jimmy rollins is not even the mvp of his own team, let alone the entire national league. anyone that watches baseball knows that chase utley is the better pure hitter, and had he not been out for a month, his numbers would've been much better. look no further than the phillies record when utley was out (15-13), and then how they quickly got better (22-11) when he came back. he's that influential; rollins isn't. pujols is just sort of a bail out pick. he's got good numbers, but i could've probably just as easily picked russell martin or prince fielder. my prediction is holliday #1, fielder #2, rollins #3.

NL Rookie of the Year

1. Ryan Braun, .324 avg, .370 obp, .634 slg, 34 hr, 97 rbi, 91 r, 15 sb
2. Troy Tulowitzki, .291 avg, .359 obp, .479 slg, 24 hr, 99 rbi, 104 r, 7 sb
3. Hunter Pence, .322 avg, .360 obp, .539 slg, 17 hr, 69 rbi, 57 r, 11 sb

i don't think the race between braun and tulowitzki should be as close as it will probably end up being. Braun's rookie numbers, in terms of OPS and HR/AB ratio, are up in the Mantle/Pujols territory. really, that alone should win it for him. though that's not to say that tulo isn't a good player, because he is, and his defense is certainly far better than braun's. but i think braun more than made up for it with his offensive prowess, while tulowitzki's .479 slugging percentage is fairly pedestrian. my prediction is this same top 3.

tomorrow: part 2, american league

Awards: The Baseball Trip

I recently went on a baseball trip with some friends from college. We started in Boston on Saturday, July 14th and then headed to these cities over the next six days: Philadelphia, New York (Yankees), Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Chicago (Cubs), Milwaukee. I handed out various awards to club officials at each stadium, which they graciously accepted. Here now is the list of awards in the order of the games we attended:

Boston:
- Best outfield walls
- Lamest visiting-team fans (Blue Jays)
- Gayest (in the literal sense of the word) visiting-team fans

Philadelphia:
- Most not-really-as-bitter-as-you'd-think fans
- Best cheesesteak (Pat's on 8th and Passyunk). This is also the only good cheesesteak I've ever eaten.
- Best 10,000th loss

New York (Yankees):
- Best overall experience
- Smartest fans (knew when to cheer, when to get quiet. you'd be surprised how many fans struggle at this without scoreboard assistance.)
- Best fan chanting (from Section 39 in the bleachers. If you've never been there, this alone is worth the price of admission. very cool.)
I'd also like to note here that I'm a Braves fan that pretty well dislikes the Yankees. But I can't even argue, the experience was that good.

Pittsburgh:
- Best ducks/geese
- Most lackluster fans
- Most forgettable game (but at least we got a baseball from Xavier Nady. Thanks X-Man!)

Cleveland:
- Worst downtown parking
- Best luxury boxes that look like weird tic tac containers
- Lamest scoreboard graphics

Chicago (Cubs):
- Coldest game
- As much as I hate to admit it, most exciting game (Barry Bonds 2 HR and 6 RBI)
- Best pizza (chicago deep dish > new york style)

Milwaukee:
- Best bratwurst ever
- Most bitter fans
- Most stuck-in-the-1980's fans
- Best scoreboards
- Best stadium overall

I'll post more about the milwaukee game in another post, as I got some pretty good pictures from that one.