Boston's Pedroia wins AL MVP award.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Dustin Pedroia of the Boston Red Sox was voted American League Most Valuable Player on Tuesday, becoming the first second baseman to win the award in 49 years.

The diminutive Pedroia, who led the league in runs (118), hits (213) and doubles (54), received 16 first-place votes in collecting a total of 317 points from the voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Minnesota Twins first baseman Justin Morneau (.300, 23 homers and 129 RBI), the 2006 winner, received seven first-place votes and was runner-up with 257 points.

Red Sox infielder Kevin Youkilis (.312, 29 homers, 115 RBI) got two first-place votes and finished third with 201 points.

The 25-year-old Pedroia became only the third player to win MVP honors the year after being named Rookie of the Year.

The last second baseman to win the AL MVP award was Nellie Fox of the Chicago White Sox in 1959.Twins catcher Joe Mauer (.328, 9 homers, 85 RBI), who won the AL batting title by two points over Pedroia, was fourth in the voting with 188 points.

The other first-place vote went to Los Angeles Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez, who set a major league record with 62 saves and tallied 143 points.


http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE4AH7PO20081118

Pedroia named MVP

BOSTON -- Just call him Mr. November. Or better yet, refer to Dustin Pedroia as the Most Valuable Player of the American League. The second baseman of the Boston Red Sox continued his rapid burst into the national spotlight on Tuesday, when he was recognized with that impressive honor.
Though most pundits expected the race for MVP to be agonizingly close, Pedroia won in comfortable fashion, garnering 16 of 28 first-place votes. He also received six second-place votes, four third-place votes and one fourth-place vote for 317 total points. In an ironic twist, Pedroia was left off one ballot.
"We're enormously proud of Dustin and Youk, and we're glad they were recognized by the voters today," Red Sox general manager Theo Epstein wrote in an e-mail. "Both players were signed by this organization, both learned in our farm system, and now both are models for how we want Red Sox players to approach the game."
Runner-up Justin Morneau of the Twins received seven first-place votes and finished with 257 points. Boston first baseman Kevin Youkilis finished third, tallying two first-place votes and 201 points in a third-place finish.
Following a 2007 season in which Pedroia helped fuel the Red Sox to a World Series championship and won the AL Rookie of the Year Award, the right-handed hitting machine staged quite an encore.
Pedroia joins Cal Ripken Jr. and Ryan Howard as the only players to win Rookie of the Year and MVP in consecutive years. He is the first second baseman to win the AL MVP since Nellie Fox of the White Sox in 1959.
For his performance in 2008, Pedroia received a Gold Glove Award, a spot on the American League's Silver Slugger team and now the MVP.
By prevailing in the Baseball Writers' Association of America voting, Pedroia became the 10th Red Sox MVP winner and the first to cart home the coveted award since Mo Vaughn in 1995. The previous winners from Boston were Jimmie Foxx (1938), Ted Williams (1946 and 1949), Jackie Jensen (1958), Carl Yastrzemski (1967), Fred Lynn (1975), Jim Rice (1978) and Roger Clemens (1986).

Following Vaughn's victory 13 years ago, three Red Sox players finished second in the voting: shortstop Nomar Garciaparra in 1998, pitcher Pedro Martinez in 1999 and designated hitter David Ortiz in 2005.

But unlike Vaughn, one of the most physically imposing figures in club history, Pedroia will go down as one of the slightest.

Officially listed at 5-foot-9 in the Boston media guide, Pedroia is probably two or three inches shorter than that.

After a grand slam at Yankee Stadium on Aug. 27, a revved-up Pedroia informed his teammates that he was "the strongest 165-pound man in baseball."

It was that type of infectious enthusiasm that earned Pedroia the rare ability to be considered a team leader at the age of 25.

But as much as Pedroia said in the clubhouse and dugout, his bat spoke the loudest.

With 213 hits, Pedroia tied Ichiro Suzuki for the Major League lead. His 54 doubles led the Majors. He led the AL in runs (118) and multihit games (61).

Backed by a .326 average, Pedroia lost the batting title by just four points to Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer. Pedroia finished fourth in total bases (322) and seventh in extra-base hits (73).

An elite tablesetter, Pedroia also chipped in with power (17 homers, 83 RBIs) and speed (20 stolen bases).

From a team standpoint, Pedroia and the Red Sox fell just one win shy of getting back to the World Series after a heartbreaking 3-1 loss to the Rays in Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.

Considering the obstacles the Red Sox faced (David Ortiz missed seven weeks with a left wrist injury, Mike Lowell and J.D. Drew missed considerable time, Jason Varitek had a sharp decline at the plate), it's doubtful they could have gotten to the postseason without the performances of Pedroia and Youkilis.

Before Pedroia's final red-hot surge of late August and early September, Youkilis was the Boston player getting a lot of mention in MVP discussions.

And the first baseman, who also played third base when Lowell was injured, had a big year in his own right. Youkilis established career highs in batting average (.312), home runs (29), RBIs (115) and slugging percentage (.569).

As for Pedroia, he became the fifth second baseman in Major League history to have 200 hits, 50 doubles, 100 runs and 15 homers in the same season, joining Charlie Gehringer (1936), Craig Biggio (1998), Jose Vidro (2000) and Alfonso Soriano (2002).

Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Dang Wil. you beat me to it, by 1 minute.

Not a problem I merged the two threads.

Now we will be called homers for posting who won. I don't care though, it is not my fault he won.



wil...

much deserved, great ball player and potential hall of famer.

You can delete my thread in the baseball forum Wil.

Tip of this Yankee cap Justin's way.

Job well done.

:toast:

Nice to see YOUK finish third...............helluva year for the great all-around player.

Joe Mauer is the best player in the AL but im happy for Dustin getting one of these...great season.

trytrytry said:

Joe Mauer is the best player in the AL but im happy for Dustin getting one of these...great season.

Click to expand...

.........and Cesar Tovar was the greatest leadoff hitter of all-time also.



:toast:


:lol: