Growing up, there was always one crazy Italian mason who would tell us "you gotta look out for the little guys, they'll fight ya until the end"...Turns out, he was right. If you would have told anyone....anyone....two years ago that Dustin Pedroia would be the AL Rookie of the Year in his first year, and follow it by earning the MVP, Gold Glove, and Silver Slugger awards in his sophomore season....they would have made a joke about his height and then questioned your sanity. Dustin Pedroia is standing about 7 feet tall this afternoon.
Pedroia was named the American League Most Valuable Player at 2pm today, making him the first Red Sox player to earn the honor since Mo Vaughn in 1995 (ITM note...I still can't believe the Hit Dog's career effectively ended when he feel down the dugout stairs). It is the 10th MVP award granted to a member of the Red Sox. Justin Morneau finished second, and Pedroia's teammate, Kevin Youkilis, finished third. Here is the point breakdown:
-Pedroia: 317 points (16 first place votes)
-Morneau: 251 points (7 first place votes)
-Youkilis: 201 points (2 first place votes)
In my opinion, what won this award for Pedroia was his five-game period as the "little guy" batting cleanup...the jokes were flying around every media outlet... and all Petey did was go 12 for 18 (.667) with four doubles, two home runs, seven RBIs, and six runs scored....not to mention how significant those late season games were to a team trying to nail down a playoff spot.
Pedroia was named on 27 of the 28 American League MVP ballots. The one writer to leave Dustin off? Evan Grant, of the Dallas Morning News. Either this clown is a complete dumb ass or he has some kind of problem with people under 5'7" (I know Pedroia is listed at 5'9", 180 lbs...but we all know that is crap and more of a joke than anything). Grant's ballot included 10 players...not one of them being Pedroia....boy does he feel stupid right now. He should have his voting rights revoked.
Perhaps even more surprising than all of the above...Pedroia is taking home a salary of only $457,000 this year for his MVP numbers....including no contract bonus for winning the award (Youk takes home 25K for placing third)......something tells me the Sox will giving Petey whatever he wants to lock him up for a long time.
More on Pedroia, the Sox and the hot stove as they develop here on ITM.....
2 comments:
Evan Grant of the Dallas Morning News left Pedroia off his voting ballot completly. When asked why he did this Grant said "I think the best way for me to sum it up is, in retrospect, obviously I was wrong." As a friend of mine said, kill yourself Mr Grant. No not really, but still want a moron.
Grant voted Youk 1, Krod 2 and Justin Morneau 3 on his ballot.
I just think this Grant guy did it for the publicity....would any of us actually know the guy if he hadn't? Doesn't make it right.
Post a Comment