Series Awards: @ Tigers, 6/1 - 6/3

Jake Taylor Award
Eric Chavez was 4-for-6 in the series, with a double, but I can't bring myself to give the guy this award. Not when he didn't even play in Game 1. I mean, this is a series award. If the guy doesn't play the entire series, then how can he win it? While 4-for-13 isn't a great batting average (.308), the fact that Alex Rodriguez hit two of those 4 over the fence makes me give him the nod. It would be nice if a two homer performance in a series is the start of something, as Alex didn't earn that 10 year contract thanks to hitting singles.

Gentry Award
For the same reason I couldn't give the Jake Taylor award to Eric Chavez, I can't give Raul Ibanez and his 0-for-9 performance the Gentry Award. I thought about Robinson Cano here, as going 2-for-12 will not get it done. But Robbie did hit a triple, so I'll cut him a bit of slack. But I can't cut Mark Teixeira any slack. Even though Mark had the same number of hits in as many at bats, hitting a couple of singles is not what we're looking for him to do.

Rick Vaughn Award
Phil Hughes. He threw a complete game in Game 3, while only giving up 4 hits (Fielder's HR was the only extra-base hit out of the 4) and walking 3. And Phil was able to get 8 Tigers to strike out. Although his outing before this one, against the Angels, didn't go so well (7 earned runs in 5.1 innings), Hughes has pitched pretty well as of late. He had an ERA of 7.48 going into that game against LA, and since then has dropped his ERA all the way down to 4.96.

Kelner Award
Clay Rapada had a rough outing Friday night, giving up a hit and 2 walks in only .1 innings, but it's too hard for me to give the guy this award. Especially when David Phelps gave up a run on two hits in the same number of innings (.1). So I'm going to give the pitching staff a break here, and not give the award to anybody.

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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.