What About Bronze?

Evan Longoria received his first Gold Glove Award earlier this week, and now has been honored with a Silver Slugger Award.

What is a Silver Slugger Award? Its an award given to the best offensive player at each position from both leagues. What makes this award valid is the fact that its voted on by the managers and coaches (they may not vote for players on their own squad).

Longoria finished the 2009 campaign with 113 RBI and 33 homeruns (shhh, don't tell anyone how many GIDP's he had (27)).

Dirtbag is the youngest third baseman to receive the award, and the second Tampa Bay player (Carlos Pena).

So what's next, the Bronze Belt Buckle Award?

Congrats Mr D.!

Dirtbag's Shiny Glove

According to AP reports Evan Longoria has officially won his first Gold Glove Award. I'll go way out on a limb and assume that it will not be his last.

The interesting aspect of Longoria winning the award is that I feel that he was far from his best this season, so if that's all it takes to garner a Gold Glove then so-be-it, he better start erecting a wing in his home for those awards which are forthcoming.

Longo was joined by Jeter, Teixeira, Ichiro, Hunter, Adam Jones, Palanco, Buehrle, and Mauer in receiving the award.

Congrats Evan!

BBA MVP Winners:

The votes are in, and the BBA (Baseball Bloggers Alliance) AL and NL Most Valuable Players of the 2009 MLB season have been announced.

You can check out how Rays The Stakes voted (with explanations) here.

Tampa Bay got a little love for a change, having had 5 players receive at least one vote, with 2 players (Zobrist and Longoria) finishing inside the top 10 in total votes. In total, 29 American League players received MVP votes, but the AL MVP was a unanimous decision among BBA voters.

Here is the official Press Release from the BBA:

Mauer, Pujols Named MVP By Baseball Bloggers Alliance

Catcher Joe Mauer of the Minnesota Twins and first baseman Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals were overwhelmingly named Most Valuable Player of their respective leagues by the Baseball Bloggers Alliance, who completed their voting of major awards with this honor.
Mauer, who posted a 1.031 OPS and slugged 28 home runs while leading the Twins to the American League Central title, was a unanimous selection, gaining a first place nod on each of the seventeen blogs that cast an AL ballot. His 221 points dwarfed his nearest competition, both New York Yankees. First baseman Mark Teixeira received 115 points while shortstop Derek Jeter was third with 101.
Shelly from Seamheads wrote, "Mr. Mauer is a monster with the bat, smooth with the leather, and has proved over the last couple of years to be the rock his team leans on for guidance and leadership." Kevin at DMB Historic World Series Replay pondered, "Imagine the numbers he might put up if he wasn't a catcher!"

Due to more ballots being cast, Pujols was able to put up a higher vote total than Mauer, even though his selection wasn't unanimous. The first baseman, who put up a 1.101 OPS while smoking 47 home runs, was named first on twenty of the 21 National League ballots submitted for 269 total points. Pitcher Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants was the only other National League player to receive a first place selection.
Runners-up to Pujols in the National League race were Florida Marlins shortstop Hanley Ramirez (164 points) and Milwaukee Brewers first baseman Prince Fielder (145 points).
Jim from Bernie's Crew asked the rhetorical question, "Do I really need to explain why Albert Pujols is your 2009 Most Valuable Player in the National League?" Jim from North Side Notch agreed, saying, "This guy is super-human."

The complete voting results are as follows (first-place votes in parenthesis):

American League
Joe Mauer, Minnesota (18) 221
Mark Teixeira, New York 115
Derek Jeter, New York 101
Miguel Cabrera, Detroit 96
Ben Zobrist, Tampa Bay 74
Kendry Morales, Los Angeles of Anaheim 64
Kevin Youkilis, Boston 44
Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay 36
Zack Greinke, Kansas City 35
Ichiro Suzuki, Seattle 29
Aaron Hill, Toronto 25
Alex Rodriguez, New York 23
Jason Bay, Boston 22
Chone Figgins, Los Angeles of Anaheim 20
Adam Lind, Toronto 11
Franklin Gutierrez, Seattle 10
CC Sabathia, New York 10
Dustin Pedroia, Boston 9
Carl Crawford, Tampa Bay 7
Bobby Abreu, Los Angeles of Anaheim 6
Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston 5
Robinson Cano, New York 4
Jason Kubel, Minnesota 4
Justin Morneau, Minnesota 4
Jason Bartlett, Tampa Bay 3
Michael Cuddyer, Minnesota 3
Marlon Byrd, Texas 2
Asdrubal Cabrera, Cleveland 2
Carlos Pena, Tampa Bay 1

National League
Albert Pujols, St. Louis (20) 269
Hanley Ramirez, Florida 164
Prince Fielder, Milwaukee 145
Chase Utley, Philadelphia 110
Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado 76
Ryan Howard, Philadelphia 71
Tim Lincecum, San Francisco (1) 67
Adrian Gonzalez, San Diego 66
Ryan Zimmerman, Washington 50
Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco 42
Matt Kemp, Los Angeles 34
Ryan Braun, Milwaukee 32
Derrek Lee, Chicago 29
Andre Ethier, Los Angeles 22
Javier Vazquez, Atlanta 11
Mark Reynolds, Arizona 9
Matt Holliday, St. Louis 5
Adam Wainwright, St. Louis 5
Joey Votto, Cincinnati 4
Dan Haren, Arizona 3
Jayson Werth, Philadelphia 2
Chris Carpenter, St. Louis 1
Miguel Tejada, Houston 1

Dirtbag Gets "Player of The Week" Award, but has to Share

Rays third baseman and resident stud Evan Longoria received the AL Co-Player of the Week Award for the week which ended Sept 6th.

During the 7 games included in the week Dirtbag led the league with a .467 batting average, he also recorded 5 doubles, 10 RBI, and 3 HR's. On top of that he boasted a slugging percentage of .933 over that span.

Evan had already received the award twice this season, 4/13 and 5/4.

He shares the award with Toronto outfielder Adam Lind.