Writers dig the long ball

Finally an awards choice I can sink my teeth into a little bit. It's not that Ryan Howard is a bad choice for MVP, because he isn't. It's just that Albert Pujols is a better choice. I won't make the argument that Pujols made the playoffs and Howard didn't because, well, the Cards finished with a worse record than the Phillies. First off, Pujols lead the league in VORP despite missing some considerable time with his "oblique" strain or whatever it was. It was a narrow lead, but it was there. You can throw in that Pujols was the whole Cards lineup for long stretches of the year with Edmonds missing long chunks of time and Scott Rolen being a less valuable third baseman(VORPwise) than Freddy Sanchez. Throw in the homer that Pujols hit on this day (the part where I say "It was probably Pujols" really was Pujols, if you recall his big homer to pull out a win against the Padres when the Astros probably would've either tied or pulled within a game of the division at that point, I don't remember which) that pulled the Cards out of their long slump and essentially clinched the division over the streaking Astros and, well, you've got yourself an MVP. Don't get me wrong, the guy and all of his "talent" and "Pirate crushing ability" still piss me the hell off, it's just that you can't ignore the facts: without Albert Pujols the Cards don't make the playoffs or win the World Series this year. He's gotta be the MVP in the National League. No offense to Ryan Howard though. The dude's still a beast and I'd give my left nut for Dave Littlefield to redo the "Benson-for-Howard" swap that he purportedly left on the table for the Wiggy deal two years ago.

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