And the Award Goes to…

It's about that time of year again, when baseball pundits throughout the country experience that inflated sense of self-worth as their end-of-the-season MLB awards are published, broadcasted, or otherwise transmitted to the just-as-opinionated, far less abrasive, and much better educated (I'm thinking John Kruk here) masses.

That's not to say every so-called sports "expert" is a pompous (Jim Rome), patronizing (Joe Morgan), and pedantic (Steve Rushin) punk. There is the occasional Harold Reynolds, Vin Scully, or Bill Plaschke who slips through the cracks and actually improves the game he (and increasingly, she) makes a living covering.

And then there is myself. I'm all of those P-words and a few F-words, too (let's add frivolous, flagrant, and flatulent for good measure). So in homage to myself (the sultan of subjectivity, the admiral of audacity, the captain of conundrum), here are the winners of the 2005 NL awards for MVP and Cy Young with less than two weeks remaining in the regular season:

NL MVP

Winner: Albert Pujols, Cardinals

The guy is an absolute stud. With all due respect to Alex Rodriquez of the Yankees, Pujols is the best right-handed hitter in the game. His numbers so far this year (39 home runs, 110 RBIs, 123 runs scored, and a .333 batting average) are downright gaudy, except for the fact that he has posted similar numbers in each of the past five seasons.

Pujols, a lifetime .333 hitter, has at least 34 home runs, 110 RBIs, and 112 runs scored in his first five big-league seasons. His lifetime slugging percentage of .621 isn't that bad, either, considering the career slugging percentage of Giants slugger Barry Bonds (who is, like, pretty darn good) is .611. Barring a blistering surge from Derrek Lee of the Cubs in the final two weeks of the season, Pujols is my pick to win the award.

Runner-up: Derrek Lee, Cubs

Question: how do you post numbers like these (45 home runs, 105 RBIs, 118 runs scored, and a .340 batting average) and not win an MVP award? Answer: play in the same league as Albert Pujols. It also does not help when you play for the lowly Chicago Cubs, whose 77-79 record has been one of the major disappointments in the MLB this year. Lee was transformed from a solid everyday first baseman to a hitting machine seemingly overnight.

He is a lifetime .276 hitter whose 32 home runs in 2004 were the most he has hit before this season. His outlandish slugging percentage of .671 this year gives him an outside chance to overtake Pujols in the voting, but Pujols gets the nod because he is the best hitter on the team with the best record (96-60) in the MLB. Lee would win an MVP this year over David Ortiz of the Red Sox if he played in the AL. I give Lee the award over Pujols if he surpasses the Cardinals' slugger in RBIs by season's end.

Honorable mention: Andruw Jones, Braves

He leads the NL in homers (51) and RBIs (128) for an amazingly resilient Atlanta Braves team, but his .265 batting average does not exactly scream MVP. Jones, a lifetime .267 hitter, has obviously been sacrificing consistency for power this season, but it has still been a remarkable year for the perennial gold-glover.

Miguel Cabrera of the Marlins deserves mention in this space as well. In his second full-season in the majors, Cabrera's 32 home runs, 111 RBIs, and .322 batting average is a harbinger of great things to come. Cabrera, not Jones, wins an MVP within the next five years.

NL Cy Young

Winner: Roger Clemens, Astros

My senses tell me that Clemens will not win his MLB-record eighth Cy Young this season because his 12 wins (the most overrated statistic in baseball) are nowhere near the victory totals of other Cy Young hopefuls, but I give Clemens the nod for his paltry ERA of 1.89. In this era of the long ball, Clemens' season has finally convinced me he is the best pitcher of all-time — a huge statement, yes, and I would not have said this two years ago, but the 43-year-old's longevity cannot be matched. In fact, Clemens' ERA was hovering around the 1.50 mark for much of the season until injury and the death of his mother slowed him in recent weeks.

Keep in mind that Clemens pitches half of his games in the launching pad otherwise known as Minute Maid Park (Astro Craig Biggio has gone yard a career-high 24 times this year due, in large part, to the short porch in left), which makes this season that much more astounding. If Clemens — a 3.12 lifetime ERA — stays around the 1.80-range by the end of the season, it would surpass his personal-best of 1.93 he set with the Red Sox in 1990. It would be a complete shame if, and when, Clemens is overlooked by sportswriters for the Cy Young this year. In my own humble opinion, Clemens is a lock.

Runner up: Chris Carpenter, Cardinals

Good pitcher. Great season. After six relatively inconspicuous seasons with the Blue Jays, Carpenter began to emerge last year with the Cardinals when he finished with 15 wins and a 3.46 ERA. This season has been by far Carpenter's best. Carpenter has won 21 games thus far to go along with a more-than-impressive 2.71 ERA and 207 strikeouts (all personal bests). The problem with giving Carpenter the award is that the win/loss statistic, his selling point, is not all it is cracked up to be. Case and point being a starting pitcher cannot control how the other eight players in the lineup hit during any given start. In that case, a starting pitcher's win/loss record is as much an indication of factors beyond his control as it is his own performance.

Whereas the Cardinals have given Carpenter well over five runs of support per start (remember that Albert Pujols guy?), Clemens' run support is hovering right around four. Carpenter gives up almost an extra run per game than does Clemens, which makes him far less valuable to the Cardinals than Clemens is to the Astros. Granted, Carpenter's ERA is impressive in its own right, and he has 27 more strikeouts than Clemens, but Clemens' ERA makes him the better pitcher. The real test for both pitchers may come in October, when the Cardinals and Astros could likely meet in the first game of the NLCS, and when Clemens should out pitch Carpenter as he has all season. Either Carpenter or Dontrelle Willis of the Marlins will win the 2005 Cy Young, but Clemens deserves it.

Honorable mention: Dontrelle Willis, Marlins

What a great story this year, and what a great kid. How is it possible to root against Dontrelle Willis? He is one of the most personable athletes in baseball, along with all of sports. He has that unconventional pitching style that makes his starts entertaining even to the most casual of fan. And, oh yeah, the dude can flat-out pitch. After a somewhat disappointing sophomore season with the Marlins in which he posted career lows of 139 strikeouts, 10 wins, and a 4.01 ERA, Willis has been hitting his spots again this year en route to career bests of 155 strikeouts, 22 wins, and a 2.44 ERA.

I had a hard time picking Carpenter over Willis, but their ERA's are very similar and Carpenter is much more of a strikeout threat than is Willis. Willis has one more victory than Carpenter on the year, but, as I have mentioned before, that is essentially meaningless from an individual standpoint. Willis could likely get the nod because he has pitched better than Carpenter of late and many past voters have demonstrated serious short-term memories. Still, Clemens is better than both Willis and Carpenter, so it should be a relatively moot point.

Also deserving mention is Pedro Martinez of the Mets, who is actually a quite remarkable pitcher when he is not giving Yankee fans around the world fodder for "Who's your daddy?" chants. As he seemingly does every year, Martinez has posted a 2.82 ERA and 208 strikeouts this season. Without Clemens in the mix, Martinez' 2.72 lifetime ERA gives the first-ballot Hall of Famer the most impressive career stats of any active pitcher, even ahead of Randy Johnson of the Yankees and Greg Maddux of the Cubs.

With that said, here are the best players, by position, in the first base-heavy National League:

First Base: Albert Pujols, Cardinals
Second Base: Jeff Kent, Dodgers
Shortstop: Felipe Lopez, Reds
Third Base: Aramis Ramirez, Cubs
Outfield: Miguel Cabrera, Marlins
Outfield: Andruw Jones, Braves
Outfield: Jason Bay, Pirates
Catcher: Paul Lo Duca, Marlins
Starting Pitcher: Roger Clemens, Astros
Reliever: Brad Lidge, Astros