MVP

The Baseball Writers got it right..for once. Albert Pujols is your 2008 National League MVP. A breakdown of the voting:

The vote:

Player	Club	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Points
Albert Pujols	St. Louis Cardinals	18	10	2	1	—	—	1	—	—	—	369
Ryan Howard	Philadelphia Phillies	12	8	6	—	1	1	2	—	—	1	308
Ryan Braun	Milwaukee Brewers	—	2	3	5	5	2	2	3	2	1	139
Manny Ramirez	Los Angeles Dodgers	—	2	4	7	2	3	2	—	1	2	138
Lance Berkman	Houston Astros	—	2	4	4	1	3	3	4	1	1	126
CC Sabathia	Milwaukee Brewers	—	4	5	1	2	2	3	—	1	2	121
David Wright	New York Mets	—	2	1	4	3	3	2	5	2	1	115
Brad Lidge	Philadelphia Phillies	2	—	2	—	4	3	2	3	1	2	104
Carlos Delgado	New York Mets	—	—	5	1	2	5	—	2	3	—	96
Aramis Ramirez	Chicago Cubs	—	—	—	2	4	1	1	4	3	1	66
Hanley Ramirez	Florida Marlins	—	—	—	2	2	2	1	2	2	5	55
Chipper Jones	Atlanta Braves	—	1	—	—	—	2	4	1	2	2	44
Geovany Soto	Chicago Cubs	—	—	—	3	1	—	3	—	1	—	41
Player	Club	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th	7th	8th	9th	10th	Points
Johan Santana	New York Mets	—	1	—	1	—	1	1	—	2	1	30
Chase Utley	Philadelphia Phillies	—	—	—	1	1	1	1	—	3	2	30
Ryan Ludwick	St. Louis Cardinals	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	2	3	1	17
Brandon Webb	Arizona Diamondbacks	—	—	—	—	2	—	—	—	1	—	14
Adrian Gonzalez	San Diego Padres	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	1	4	13
Matt Holliday	Colorado Rockies	—	—	—	—	—	1	1	1	—	1	13
Prince Fielder	Milwaukee Brewers	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	1	1	1	11
Derrek Lee	Chicago Cubs	—	—	—	—	1	—	1	—	—	—	10
Carlos Beltran	New York Mets	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	1	—	1	10
Tim Lincecum	San Francisco Giants	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	1	2	9
Jose Reyes	New York Mets	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	3
Jose Valverde	Houston Astros	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	—	3
Stephen Drew	Arizona Diamondbacks	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	—	2
Nate McClouth	Pittsburgh Pirates	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	—	1	1

Some things that stand out to me:

1) Pujols, justifiably so, was the only player whose name appeared on all 32 ballots.

2) Someone actually gave Pujols a 7th place vote. Seriously?! There should be an investigation into that vote. (Postscript: BertFlex names the offender as Tom Haudricourt of the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel. And BertFlex shows no mercy.)

3) Someone gave a second place vote to Johan Santana. Bizarre.

4) Brad Lidge had two first place votes. I don't necessarily discagree with Lidge getting some recognition here, but my guess is the Lidge votes hurt Howard's candidacy.

5) Votes were actually cast for the likes of Nate McClouth, Stephen Drew, and Jose Valverde (really?).

Overall, though, I think the voters just about got it right. My top five would've been as follows:

1) Pujols, 2) Braun, 3) Manny Ramirez, 4) Sabathia and 5) Howard.

Don't get me wrong--I think Howard was deserving of some MVP-hype. But Howard, in my opinion, was actually a detriment to his team in the first half of the season. His performance was awful, and he didn't even make the All-Star team. So while you can say that Howard had a monster last six or eight weeks of the season, Sabathia and Ramirez produced just as much over a similar time frame.

Pujols' award marks the 16th time a Cardinals player has been honored as the league MVP. St. Louis’ total of MVP winners is the most in the NL, and second only to the New York Yankees’ 20 in the AL.