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Post Season Points
The
2003 Series at the Sac has ended, and it was everything I expected. Click
here to get my thoughts on whether it was the best Playoff series ever.
Oh hell, I'll save you the time: It was.
The
games Sunday were a sight to behold. Down one game to none, and without
Dave Cain, the Warriors played like their season was on the line (gasp!)
and wound up beating the hell out of the Whites in Games 2 and 3 by did-I-read-those-correctly?
scores of 8-1 and 9-0. Then the Whites, who had every reason to just give
up, tell the Warriors to stick it up their ass in Game 4 with a walk-off
shot in the bottom of the 4th to even the series. Then the Warriors, despite
their best hitter that day leaving, said "oh I know you didn't just
do that" and give the Whites a walk-off shot of their own, winning
9-6 and taking the title.
Whew.
But
you can read about this playoff stuff elsewhere. What I want to spend
most of my time with here is *MY* picks for the season-ending awards.
It's kind of a special year, since I think 2003 was by far the best year
the league's ever seen. Apparently, my picks are NOT going to be counted
this year by the commissioner, but I think my thoughts need to be heard.
So let's go!
MVP
-- Carmichael, Holy Whites
Runner-up: Henning, Road Warriors
I'm
sorry, I don't think it's possible to compete with Carmichael's RBI/ER
ratio (+54)...he leads the league every year in this (by a LOT, on top
of that) which to me is a good hint that he's pretty darn valuable. How
valuable is he? In his first game missed this year, his team was no-hit.
Sure, his team didn't win the title, but they would have been like 5-31
if he didn't exist.
And
Henning as a runner-up? Sure, why not? He may have only hit .307, which
is low for most MVP candidates, but he was the 2nd-best combination of
pitching and hitting (+21 RBI/ER).
Cy
Young -- Seth Yoder, Horsemen
Runner-up: Carmichael, Holy Whites
I
think this is his year. He and Carmichael were running together until
the last day, when Carmichael got roughed up by Wiffolution. His 1.23
ERA led the league by a decent margin, as did his .194 opponent's average.
The split-fingered fastball will probably have earned the man this coveted
piece of hardware.
Statistically,
both Pat Plummer and Henning were better than Carmichael, but that's really
only because of one game, and everyone still craps their pants when Scott's
on the mound (well, maybe three less do after this year's Playoffs). When
he wants to, he's still more dominant.
Rookie
of the Year -- Curtis Henning, Road Warriors
Runner-up: Rozak, Playerz
Forget
James Vassar, Curtis Henning had the "greatest rookie season"
ever. Hit 23 homeruns, not including six during the Warriors' championship
day, drew a league-leading 32 BBs, and was a top 3 pitcher all year.
Rozak
had insane offensive numbers, but his pitching stats are not very good
at all. In fact, they're quite bad. Still, it's hard to ignore the records
he set, including batting average (.465) and OB% (.564).
Most
Improved Player of the Year -- John Deatrick, Holy Whites
Runner-up: Morrison, Wiffolution
His
ERA jumped to 3.20 (from 1.68 during his rookie season), but John hit
way better than anyone expected. Seriously, the guy was a joke hitting
last year. Thanks to being able to pick up 16 more ABs than last year
despite playing one less game, John more than doubled his RBI totals and
increased his HR total from 6 to 15. He still struck out an embarrasing
amount, but he seemed to hit about 5 walk-off homeruns throughout the
season, including two in the 2003 playoffs and not including a game-tying
homerun in the decisive Game 5.
Mentally
and emotionally drained from the 2002 season that saw him hit a career-low
.250 and put up a 5.51 ERA, Jeff fought back and came up big for Wiffolution.
He struggled heavily, but got his act together late and lead Wiffolution
to an amazing 9-3 record in their final third of the season, which snuck
them into the playoffs.
Defensive
Player of the Year -- Pat Plummer, Road Warriors
Runner-up: Creighton, Horsemen
It
was thought that if anyone was going to take this award from Joey, it'd
be Dave Cain. Instead, it was one of Dave's teammates, the youngest player
in the league. Pat is quite honestly (and surprisingly) even quicker on
his feet than Dave, and while he may not have the quick arm release of
Cain, he makes up for it with his numerous highlight-reel work and lack
of fear to do whatever's needed to make the play.
Creighton
didn't do anything wrong in 2003; he just didn't do anything spectacular.
A couple homerun robs is nice, and everyone knows that if given the chance,
he WILL make the play, but the fact of the matter is, he didn't.
Honorable
mention to Matt Plummer, brother of my winner, due to what were probably
the two greatest defensive plays I've ever seen since joining the league.
As Morrison described, they were "disgusting."
So
there ya go. My two cents, even though they're apparently worth less than
that.
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