Kingdom

By now, most teams have played anywhere between 80-85 games. We're halfway through a pretty interesting season. That means it's time for the mid-season awards. Marv Albert just went YEEES! We count down from 5 to winner.


N.L. Awards

Manager of the Year:
5. Fredi Gonzalez- More proof the Marlins front office sucks
4. Tony La Russa- Give him a bag of nickles to manage, and they could be a .500 team
3. Terry Collins- The Mets sorta matter. That's big praise.
2. Clint Hurdle- 2 games over .500 as I post this blog. The Pirates. Yes.
1. Kirk Gibson- Not a great team but they play hard, play dirty. Sounds like their coach.

Rookie of the Year:
5. Darwin Barney- He gets votes just for the name alone
4. Josh Collmeter- The more innings he racks up, and the lower the ERA stays, the higher he climbs this list
3. Freddie Freeman- Recent streaky roll for Adam LaRoche Redux
2. Danny Espinosa- The average is slowly climbing. Look past it, he does everything else including D'ing up.
1. Craig Kimbrel- Here's the problem, is he actually a rookie? If so, winner. If not, umm..

Cy Young Candidates:
5. Clayton Kershaw- on top of all the pretty numbers, he leads the NL in strikeouts.
4. Jair Jurrjens- not striking out people, but not walking them either and leads NL in ERA
3. Cliff Lee- In case you missed June, he gave up one run.
2. Cole Hamels- WHIP under 1.00, numbers nearly on par with number one.
1. Roy Halladay- not shockingly, his best competition at this point are his team mates.

Most Valuable Player:
5. Lance Berkman- Oh how he shed the Zombie tag.
4. Ryan Braun- On pace for 30/30, or 35/35, outside shot at 40/40.
3. Brian McCann- carrying the offense, carrying an excellent pitching staff.
2. Matt Kemp- swap triples for home runs, and he and Reyes are nearly identical.
1. Jose Reyes- remember when Jimmy Rollins won MVP? Think that, only...better.