Congrats, Ryan Howard!
The Phillies first baseman has won the 2006 NL MVP award in his first full season in the majors.
It’s been quite a year for the man who was the 2005 NL Rookie of the Year. He also won the ASG Home Run Derby, and was the MVP of the recently concluded Japan Series.
DTLFL was hoping he would hit 60 homers, but with pitchers reluctant to throw him strikes in September, he ended up with "only" 58.
We were rooting for him to win this award. As great as Albert Pujols is, the Cardinals were expected to make the playoffs. The Phillies didn’t make it, but we figured Ryan Howard kept them hanging around longer than they would have without him. We thought the Phillies, at least their front office, not the guys on the field, threw in the towel on 2006 when they traded Bobby Abreu to the Yankees. But the team had a big bounce after that and Ryan Howard was a part of it. That’s an MVP to us.
K.R.
mlblogsbyrnesblog
“The Phillies first baseman has won the 2066 NL MVP award…”
Geez, Willie Mays’ MVPs were only 11 years apart (yawn)
http://azdiamondhacks.mlblogs.com/
These players are learning more and more about how to keep themselves in great shape at older ages. I expect Howard to be around for a long time.
Besides, though MLB is trying to get rid of PED’s, I haven’t heard of proscriptions on bionic parts yet.