Blog post

November 24, 2010 [LINK / comment]

Votto, Hamilton win MVP awards

In both the American and National Leagues, the choice of Most Valuable Player this year was by an overwhelming margin. In the NL, Cincinnati's Joey Votto received 31 first-place votes, compared to just one for Albert Pujols, while in the AL, Texas outfielder Josh Hamilton received 22 first-place votes, compared to 5 for Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera. Votto hit 37 home runs this year, had a .324 batting average and 113 RBIs. He was probably the biggest single reason why the Reds made it to the postseason for the first time since 1995. Hamilton missed a few weeks late in the season due to injury, but likewise played a big part in the Rangers' first-ever World Series appearance. He led the AL in batting average (.359), while racking up very respectable totals in home runs (32) and RBIs (100). Hamilton almost ruined his career by indulging in drugs and alcohol several years ago, but managed an amazing comeback, drawing national attention during the Home Run Derby in July 2008. Of his big achievements he said, "With God, all things are possible." See MLB.com.

In the Washington Post, Adam Kilgore lamented that Ryan Zimmerman finished 16th in MVP voting, even though he ranks in the top ten in most of the statistical measures of batting performance. "It seems Zimmerman was punished by several voters for playing for the Nationals, the sixth-worst team, by record, in the majors."

Arbitration for Dunn?

The Washington Nationals have offered their star slugger Adam Dunn -- now a free agent -- arbitration, keeping hopes alive that somehow a deal may yet be worked out. It's mostly to make sure that if some other team reaches a deal with Dunn, that the Nats will get two draft picks as compensation. See MLB.com.

Sign Adam Dunn!

AT&T Park update

In honor of the World Champion San Francisco Giants (!), I have made some minor corrections and refinements to the diagrams of their home field, AT&T Park. The stadium itself is virtually unchanged, though I did slightly increase the slope of the upper deck in the profile. I even included the iconic Coca-Cola bottle and antique baseball glove that are situated behind the stands in left field. There will soon be a "full" (non-truncated) diagram version on that page, as well as a panoramic photo taken by Paul Dimitre. For the time being, I am leaving the text on that page unchanged, pending an overhaul of the layout of all stadium pages.