Another day, another poll. Today we’re looking at the American League Rookie of the Year, an award I haven’t talked too much about in this space. My preseason pick was Royals third baseman Alex Gordon, and although he finished with respectable numbers, he’s not my choice.

Neither is Tampa Bay’s Delmon Young. I expect him to win the award because of his big RBI numbers, but I’d go with Boston’s Dustin Pedroia. In addition to outhitting Young this year, Pedroia also plays second base.

Beyond Pedroia, you could make a decent case for Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie, although the fact that he managed just seven wins is probably a deal breaker in the voters’ eyes. Daisuke Matsuzaka? His season was better than he gets credit for, but with all the hype surrounding him, that’s just not good enough.

So. Who would get your vote?

Post from: Knuckle Curve

American League

• Mariners at Orioles, 4:05 p.m. PT — How are the Mariners doing it? Ichiro Suzuki, Adrian Beltre, and Jose Guillen all are having decent (not great) seasons on offense. The starting pitching has been okay. The relief pitching has been pretty darned good. They score about as many runs as they give up, and yet, they’re a game out of the AL wild card. Felix Hernandez starts tonight, which is always a good reason to watch. The Orioles, who as usual are going nowhere fast, counter with Jeremy Guthrie, one of the neater success stories of 2007. A former first-round pick of the Cleveland Indians, Guthrie never could stick with the big club, and Baltimore claimed the 27-year-old right-hander off waivers in January. Guthrie now ranks third in the AL in ERA.
• Yankees at Blue Jays, 4:07 p.m. PT — While nobody was paying attention, the Yankees became a serious player in the wild card race. They’re now a half-game back of Detroit. Chien-Ming Wang, who continues to succeed despite his inability to miss bats, starts for New York. A-Rod gets most of the ink out that way, but have you noticed how well Jorge Posada is doing this year (.340/.423/.546)? That’s unbelievable production from a 35-year-old catcher. (Mike Piazza hit .266/.362/.444 at the same age.) Right-hander Roy Halladay gets the call for Toronto.
• Red Sox at Angels, 7:05 p.m. PT — The teams with the two best records in the AL square off at Anaheim. The pitching matchup (Jon Lester vs Dustin Moseley) is pretty uninspiring, but still. I sometimes wonder just how good the Red Sox would be if they had a legitimate big-league shortstop. The Angels, meanwhile, are unbelievably consistent up and down the lineup. With the exception of Vlad Guerrero and the emerging Casey Kotchman, nobody here really stands out. Well, maybe Chone Figgins. Point is, they’re solid #1 through #9.

National League

• Brewers at Rockies, 12:05 p.m. PT — Two of the younger and more suprising teams in the NL hook up in this one. Top prospect Yovani Gallardo goes for the Brewers, who are clinging to a one-game lead over Chicago in the NL Central. Prince Fielder tops the Senior Circuit with 33 homers, while third baseman Ryan Braun has emerged as the front-runner for Rookie of the Year. Southpaw Jeff Franics gets the start for Colorado. Francis currently sports a 4.01 ERA, no small accomplishment for a guy who works half his games at Coors Field. In one of my more outlandish predictions for the season, I said that Francis would finish in the top 10 in ERA. Right now he’s at #24. In my defense, a lot more pitchers have sub-4.00 ERAs this year (23) than did last season (15).
• Braves at Mets, 4:10 p.m. PT — The top two teams in the NL East do battle in New York, and we’ve got a great pitching matchup. John Smoltz is a future Hall of Famer, while Orlando Hernandez is pitching as well as he has since his rookie season back in ‘98. The Braves are getting production out of some unexpected sources (Matt Diaz? Willie Harris?), which compensates for the fact that Andruw Jones has become the weak link in their outfield. The Mets? Oh, what I wouldn’t do to see that left side of the infield call San Diego home.
• Cubs at Astros, 5:05 p.m. PT — Carlos Zambrano is on fire. Not literally, of course, but he is 9-2 with a 1.43 ERA over his last 12 starts; Zambrano has lowered his season ERA from 5.38 to 3.42 during that stretch. Roy Oswalt? His usual troublesome self. He’s completely dominant at home (2.30 ERA over 14 starts; opponents are batting .239/.293/.339 against him there). For Chicago, one of their big three on offense (Alfonso Soriano) is out with a bad quad. The Astros, meanwhile, get to watch $100 million man Carlos Lee pad his personal stats for a team that is almost certainly out of contention, even in baseball’s weakest division.

If I had to pick one game to watch, it’d be the Braves and Mets. That’s your best combination of pennant race and pitching matchup. Enjoy!

Post from: Knuckle Curve