MIDSEASON MVPS AND CY YOUNGS - NATIONAL LEAGUE - PART 2

by Matt Minucci

(For Part 1 of this article, click here: http://sportvent.com/http-sportvent-com-midseasonmvpsandcyyoungs-nationalleague- )

I'd kill for this baseball.

Well, once more into the breach my friends, as we run down the mid season contenders for the end of year hardware in the Major Leagues. Today, we're wrapping up our look at the National League by going through the contenders for the NL Cy Young and Rookie of the Year Awards.

Let's get right into it.

In the National League this year, there's no shortage of power pitchers, racking up hugh strikeout totals as well as respectable win totals. ERA is always going to be lower in the NL so it's tougher to gauge.

So let's run through the pretenders - pitchers who are having excellent seasons, but would need some unusual luck to garner the Cy Young Award:

Wandy Rodriguez, Houston Astros

It's Christmas in July for Astro fans.

The Astros Big Wandy is having a terrific season, going so far as to even supplant Roy Oswalt as Astro ace.  And while his totals are terrific, his overall numbers really can't compete with the seasons some other high profile starters are having. 

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Wandy Rodriguez 10 6 2.72 125 117   1

Good Season by Wandy, bears mention. Take a bow Wandy. But not good enough.

Jason Marquis, Colorado Rockies

Marquis has been just diabolical on NL hitters this year.

Marquis is a major reason as to why the Rockies are having a solid season in the NL West - of course no one is close to the all world Dodgers, but the Rockies are playing well and Marquis is a major reason why. He leads the NL in wins, but his high (for the NL) ERA and low strikeout totals leave him behind some of the more prominant NL pitchers. Of course, Marquis could also be a 20 game winner this year and still not get the Cy Young. But he will be in the discussion.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Jason Marquis 12 6 3.49 131 61   2

Aaron Cook, Colorado Rockies

Aaron is keeping the Rockies in it with home Cook'in.

Cook is the other half of the Rockies duo - with Marquis - that is keeping the Rockies in wild card contention in the National League. Cook is having a terrific season and I want to give him his due here in the article, but he's far behind in the Cy Young running.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Aaron Cook 9 3 3.94 121  67   1

JA Happ, Philadelphia Phillies

Phillie fans sure are HAPPy to see JA in the rotation.

Happ deserves mention here for two reasons. First, he's really picked up the slack for the loss of Brett Myers in the Phillies rotation and second, he's a rookie, pitching for the defending World Champions. He's put up quite impressive totals in a short time and in theory, if he continues his torrid pace over the second half, his year end totals could garner him significant attention in both the Rookie of the Year honors as well as the Cy Young. 

Player W L ERA IP K CG

JA Happ 7 0 268   94  65   1

I think he's make a lot of noise for Rookie of the Year, but it's unlikely he'll have enough numbers to put him over the top for the Cy.

Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals & Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins

Carpenter and Johnson! They're number one!

I'll discuss Carp and Johnson together because they're very similar. Both are pitching for teams with winning records. The Cardinals are in a dog fight in the NL Central, while the Marlins are contending most likely for a wild card. Both are their teams respective aces (though Adam Wainwright is more of a co-ace with Carpenter). And both have been slowed by injuries this year. Despite the injuries, both Carpenter and Johnson have been stunningly good. 

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Chris Carpenter  8 3 2.26 99 76   1

Josh Johnson  8 2 2.74 128 109   2

Just not quite good enough.

The Top Six

These pitchers are so good, they make hitter look this silly.

Chad Billingsley, Los Angeles Dodgers

Billingsley, the ace of the first place Los Angeles Dodgers is going to win a Cy Young award one day. He's just too talented not to. But it probably won't be this year. He's got too many pitchers to climb over. He'd have to go on at least an 8-1 run, drop his ERA a bit, and hope the other starters in front of him faltered. It's unlikely all that will happen - but he's still having a fantastic season.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Chad Billingsley 10 5 3.72 133 126   1

Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals

The Yin to Chris Carpenters Yang, Wainwright forms the other half of the Cards potent starting duo. And both have been outstanding. Wainwright is tied for second in wins in the NL with a few other starters, just 1 off the league leader (Marquis). His ERA is right around 3.00 and he's got a TON of strikeouts. He's right in the middle of the Cy Young discussion.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Adam Wainwright 11 6 3.01 143 130   1

Johan Santana, New York Mets

The Mets are horrendous this year. A big disappointment in the Big Apple. But it's not Johan's fault as he continues to roll along, rackling up wins, strikeouts and a low ERA. However, with the Mets apathetic hitting, it's hard to imagine Santana will garner enough wins to bypass the other top starters on this list.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Johan Santana 11 7 2.92 123 117   0

While there have been precious few CGs in the NL this year, Santana's lack of even one could be a factor if his other numbers are similiar to the other players mentioned here. Sometimes it's the one or two little things that pushes a player over the top when numbers are otherwise so close.

Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants

and starring in Rookie of the Year 2, little Timmy Lincecum. I swear this kid looks eleven.

Lincecum forms one half of the impressive wonder twin duo in San Francisco, matching up with Matt Cain to utterly dominate the National League. From this point on, Lincecum, Cain and Dan Haren, are the top 3 contenders in my opinion, for NL. It could really be any of the three. Lincecum comes in third on this list simply because he's got the highest ERA of the three. But he's also got a ton more strikeouts, and his ERA is still ridiculously low.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Tim Lincecum 10 3 2.45 139 168   3

Dan Haren, Arizona Diamondbacks

Haren suffers from the same problem that Johan Santana does. Lack of run support or anything remotely resembling a major league caliber offense. Still, he's leading the NL in ERA and has been the most dominant pitcher in the NL this year. However, his recent slipping (his ERA finally rose above 2.00) combined with the impressive run Matt Cain has been on, has led me to bump him down to second on this list.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Dan Haren 10 5 2.14 143 141   3

Matt Cain, San Francisco Giants

Cain is the wonder twin to Tim Lincecum, helping him lead the Giants into respectability and wild card contention. Cain has finally lived up to his vast potential and is simply dominating every team he faces. He's one win off the league leader, he's second in the league in ERA, he's got the best winning percentage of any starter with 8 or more wins and he's striking out almost a batter per inning.  Right now, he's my NL Cy Young - but there's a lot of time left and there's a lot of good pitchers out there.

Player W L ERA IP K CG

Matt Cain 11 2 2.32 124 103   3

So there you have it. The best of the best in the NL for Cy Young.This year, Cain is a winner disguised as a winner.

*******************************************************************

Now it's time to give a quick shout out to the rookies in the National League that have really stood out this year.

And it's a far more impressive list than in the American League. Three hitters and three pitchers have really stood out this year - but two individuals, both pitchers stand out a little more than the others. Let's dispatch of the pretenders first.

Jordan Zimmerman, SP, Washington Nationals

Zimmerman is a strikeout machine. Pitching for the lowly Nats, his win totals aren't going to be that respectable, and his ERA is very high. But there's no question he's got talent and he gives Nat fans some hope for the future as he's gotten out to a 3-5 record with a 4.63 ERA. Not too impressive, but he's got 92 K's over 91 innings and that is impressive. However, there are better rookies.

Colby Rasmus, OF, St. Louis Cardinals

It's hard for Rasmus to get regular playing time with the Card lineup being chock full of quality bats, but Rasmus has been playing every day lately and had been impressing up until the All-Star break. Since the break he's been in a 1 for 27 tailspin and the bloom may be off the rose, so to speak. Here's hoping he snaps out of his funk and turns his season back onto the right track, because his numbers are good: .262 Avg, 11 HR 34 RBI 46 runs scored and 19 2Bs.

Dexter Fowler, OF, Colorado Rockies

Fowler was called up early in the season and immediately took over as an everyday starting OF for the Rockies. He's given them a solid proto-typical leadoff man who's flashed a decent bit of power and fantastic speed. His batting average is an issue, but there's no denying he's injected life into the Rockie lineup. He's hitting just .257, but has 4 HR, 27 RBI, scored 45 runs and swiped 23 bases including 5 in one game. His 19 2Bs and 4 3Bs also show his got good gap power to go with his speed. 

Andrew McCutchen, OF, Pittsburgh Pirates

McCutchen is so talented he prompted the Pirates to trade fan favorite Nate McLouth to the Atlanta Braves. While the fans groaned around the steel city initially, McCutchen quickly quieted the rabble down by putting up very impressive numbers in just over a month of play. He's primed to lead the Pirates in the 2nd half and could easily 'steal' ROY honors from two top pitchers. 

McCutchen is hitting a crisp .297 with 3 HR and 24 RBI. But he's swiped 9 bases without being caught and has ripped 11 2B and 5 triples, scoring 29 runs in just 182 at bats (43 games). 

Tommy Hanson, SP, Atlanta Braves

Hanson has been lights out since being inserted into the Braves starting rotation, replacing the aged, broken down Tom Glavine. And he's doing his best Young Tom Glavine impersonation, ripping off 5 wins over 8 starts. In his last start, a win over the Giants, he struck out a whopping eleven. He's gone 5-0 with an ERA of 3.00, striking out 36 in 48 IP. He'd be the front-runner for the Rookie of the Year if not for another rookie hurler.

JA Happ, SP, Philadelphia Phillies

Happ was mentioned earlier in passing as a potential Cy Young candidate, that's how good he's been. While it's unlikely he'll win the Cy Young, he's THE front runner for Rookie of the Year. When Brett Myers went down for the year it left a gaping hole in the Phillies rotation. And since Jamie Moyer is finally showing his age after 76 years in the Majors, the Phillies were desperate for a starter. However, since the rest of the NL - especially the Mets - have decided 2009 is as good a year as any to suck, the Phillies were given the luxury of trying crazy things - like signing Pedro Martinez crazy. And giving the keys to the rotation over to a rookie. Enter JA Happ. A rookie hurler pitching for a contending team in the pennant race, in a high pressure environment like Philadelphia, on a team that's the defending World Champion, well, to say the deck was stacked against Happ is an understatement. But the Whiz Kid has risen to the challenge, going 7-0 over 11 starts, with a minescule 2.68 ERA and 65 K's in 94 IP. He's my choice for Rookie of the Year in the NL for 2009 - after just 1/2 a season. 

Remember, this could all change through the dog days of August and September.

The Dogs Days of Summer.