Series Awards: vs. Royals, 5/21 - 5/23

Jake Taylor Award
Alex Rodriguez - ARod went 2-for-4 in Game 1, which included a double. It was good to see Alex hit something other than a single, but it's the long-ball that fans are clamoring for. He couldn't come up with anything more than a single in Game 2, either. But in Game 3 Rodriguez finally broke out and hit a couple of bombs to lead the Yankees to victory.

Gentry Award
Nick Swisher - Nick went the entire three-game series without a hit. In fact, he was only able to draw one walk in Game 3, while striking out 3 times in Game 1, and K-ing once more in Game 2. A low batting average is not that big a surprise for Swish, but an OBP of .304 is just not him.

Rick Vaughn Award
Andy Pettitte - It wasn't as good as his last outing against the Reds, but this time Andy was able to give the team 7 innings of 2-run ball. And he did so while striking out 8 hitters, and walked only one.

Kelner Award
Hiroki Kuroda - He really didn't pitch that badly. In 5.1 innings Hiro gave up 3 runs on 7 hits, while striking out 4 and walking 3. Okay... not a good start. But it wasn't awful either. At least not "get red-tagged by the Cleveland Indians during Spring Training" bad.

--------------------

*The awards are named after one of the best baseball movies of all time... Major League.

Jake Taylor Award - Awarded to the most valuable position player. Named after the hard-nose veteran catcher that, despite making the league minimum, was the heart and soul of the 1989 American League East winning Cleveland Indians.

Gentry Award - Awarded to the least valuable position player. Named after the very first man cut from the 1989 Cleveland Indians, #47 Gentry. A man so insignificant he wasn't even given a first name.

Rick Vaughn - Awarded to the best pitcher in the series. This one is, of course, named after the "Wild Thing". The man that made Clu Haywood look silly in the division deciding game.

Kelner Award - Awarded to the worst pitcher in the series. Named after the Opening Day starter for the '89 Indians. Not a good game for Mr. Kelner, as Indians' announcer Harry Doyle famously quipped "thank God" after Kelner left the game. And yet another bad player without a first name.