Thursday, June 14, 2012

Series Awards: @ Atlanta, 6/11 - 6/13

Jake Taylor Award
It was a tough one this time, as four hitters stood out. Derek Jeter went 5-for-14, with a double and 3 runs scored. Curtis Granderson went 4-for-13 with a home run, 2 runs scored, and a couple of RBI. Nick Swisher went 3-for-10 with a double and home run (which gave the Yankees the lead in the 8th inning of game 2). But the winner this series is Alex Rodriguez, who went 3-for-12 with a double, home run (grand slam to tie Game 2 in the 8th inning), 3 runs scored, and 5 RBI.

Gentry Award
Coming into this series Russell Martin was hitting the ball really well, having gone 9-for-28 to that point in the month of June (.321 BA), along with 2 home runs, 2 doubles, and 8 RBI. Unfortunately that didn't carry over into Atlanta, where Russ was 0-for-10 with 4 strikeouts, including having only seen 10 pitches in 4 plate appearances in Game 1.

Rick Vaughn Award
In the first game of the series, Ivan Nova took the hill and dominated. Over 7 innings Ivan gave up zero runs on only 5 hits (all singles), while striking out 6 and walking only 1. As bad as Nova looked coming into June, in his two starts so far this month he's gone 15 innings while giving up only 1 run, 9 hits, while striking out 11 next to 2 walks. I don't expect that sort of performance to keep going the rest of the year, but hopefully Nova has gotten back his winning touch.

Kelner Award
Although it wasn't a poor performance, the fact that it came from the team's ace puts it in the "Not So Good" category. CC Sabathia started in Game 2 and went 7 innings, giving up 4 earned runs off of 10 hits a walk, while striking out 6. The good news was that it only took CC 109 pitches to get through those 7 innings, and the game ended up with another Yankee "W". So I'll take that performance, but I think Mr. Sabathia can do better.

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*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.

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Sorry for the Capatcha... Blame the Russians :)