SnoTap's First Half National League Awards

I am pretty confident every blog across America has their own awards for the season, but I have to add SnoTap's to the mix. There are some standard awards with a couple different ones in there as well. Check out the American League version that came out this morning.  

NL MVP
Troy Tulowitzki SS, Colorado Rockies - Obviously, I want to give the award to one of the Milwaukee Brewers whether it be Jonathan Lucroy or Carlos Gomez, but it has to be Tulowitzki. He is the league leader in home runs, WAR by a full win mind you, batting average, OPS over 1,000 (Only one in the National League), Slugging Percentage and On-Base Percentage which is stunning .435. It is not out of the realm of the possibilities for Tulo to get the first National League Triple Crown since Joe Medwick in 1937 when he did with St. Louis.

NL Cy Young:
Adam Wainwright P, St. Louis Cardinals - Hear me out, I believe at the end of the year, Clayton Kershaw will be the winner of the Cy Young, but if we are talking about first half, Wainwright deserves the award as his statistics are spread over 19 games versus 14 for Kershaw who battled injury for the first two months. Wainwright allowed only 28 runs during the first half of the season and a WAR of five, the highest for National League pitcher. Kershaw's numbers are damn silly, but for the first half, Wainwright deserves the Cy Young.


NL Rookie of the Year: 
Billy Hamilton CF, Cincinnati Reds - I could make a compelling case for Jacob deGrom of the Mets and I think Gregory Polanco and Kolton Wong (Somehow still a rookie) might be there at the end of it. But Hamilton deserves it thus far. He is the glue that makes Cincinnati go. Hamilton already has 38 stolen bases hitting .285 and leads all rookies in both doubles and triples. It also seems like he only gets better as he scuffled a bit to start the season, but Hamilton has been red hot as of late hitting .407 in the last seven days.

NL Surprise Team:
Milwaukee Brewers - There is the hometown team making an appearance. It had to be the Brewers honestly. Many of the teams that are vying for playoff spots have been there before in the past couple of years. Milwaukee is back to prominence after two years of struggling especially early on in the season. Brewers are hurting right now losing eleven of their last 13 games, but still, no one expected them to lead the National League Central.

NL Disappointing Team: 
Arizona Diamondbacks - The expectations were not there for Arizona like they had been in years past, but truthfully, no one expected them to be this bad. They are 16 games under .500 with a startling run differential of -71. They also have been very immature with their actions against Ryan Braun earlier this year which should surprise no one. Arizona finally needs to start focusing on prospects and start selling pieces of the team not named Paul Goldschmidt.

NL Breakout Player: 
Henderson Alvarez P, Miami Marlins - Miami looks to have a solid front-line pitching staff for the future with Jose Fernandez and Alvarez. He is the ripe age of 24 and came over to Miami in the Toronto Blue Jays mega deal. He had a decent campaign in 2013 with a no-hitter at the end of the year, but he is excelling in his first full season as a Miami starter. He allowed only 35 runs thus far this season yielding to a WAR of 2.7. Marlins are set up real nicely.

NL Regressing Player: 
Ryan Howard 1B, Philadelphia Phillies - I know what you are saying, Ryan Howard has been regressing for years. But this is his first full season in the last two years therefore some people might think Howard would have a rebirth. Nope, that didn't happen at all. Howard is hitting a measly .220 with an OPS of .381 and a negative WAR. It is fair to say Howard is done for his career. Maybe he comes back in five years and has one more big year, but it's not happening for awhile.

Most Overplayed Storyline:
Yadier Molina-Jonathan Lucroy riff - I am sick and tired of this garbage. The attack ad was funny then St. Louis blew out of proportion making it a national story. After that, Molina gets hurt and the Cardinals fanbase shines again when Wainwright struggled in the All-Star Game giving up three runs with Lucroy behind the dish. I am done and over with it, let's move on.

Bold Prediction
The bottom will fall out on San Francisco - There are eight teams vying for five spots meaning one or two of them are going to fade off into an abyss. I have a feeling San Francisco is going to be one of them. They had a horrible second part of the first half. On June 8th, San Francisco had a 42-21 record, since then, they have only won 10 games. Five weeks and only 10 games won.

Charlie.

MLB All-Star Game: Brewers Shine, Waino Misstep, Jeets & No Tony Gywnn Tribute?

When All-Star Game happen no matter what the sport is, the recap of it is usually a pretty light one. We discuss a little bit about the game, but mostly, the discussion is about the plays that happen or one inning where all of the action took place. Moreover, team beat writers are talking about how their guy or guys did out there versus having any sort of reason to write about controversy. This year is completely different. There are so many storylines emerging from the All-Star Game and you wonder if it's due to social media or just a weird year?

Milwaukee Brewers were fortunate to get three players starting in the All-Star Game with Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Gomez and Jonathan Lucroy, two of them made an impact for the National League on Tuesday night. Ramirez added two hits including a double scoring the first run of the game. Lucroy was the first catcher since Mike Piazza to get two doubles and two RBIs. Anyone whose a baseball fan should be happy for Luc as people begin to focus on how he is a great baseball player not just the whole issue with the faux rivalry with Yadier Molina. 

St. Louis Cardinals found a way to screw up the All-Star Game. I didn't even know that was possible but here we are. Mike Matheny's arrogance was the start of it and Adam Wainwright finished it with the fanbase sprinkled in. Matheny wanted his guy to start the All-Star Game. Despite Clayton Kershaw's tremendous two-month stretch, Wainwright was the option even though he started on Saturday.  The first batter he faced was the legend Derek Jeter who hit a double off him. It led to a bad first inning for Wainwright as he gave up three runs including a two-run homer to Miguel Cabrera. Unlike a normal game, the players are available to the media earlier than usual, and Wainwright gave his thoughts on the first inning.

Wainwright said he 'grooved' a couple pitches to Jeter as a sign of respect. This took over the game in the social media realm as everyone rushed to criticize Wainwright for his bullshit attitude towards the whole thing. He acted like 'Ha!  I am a great baseball player, would that inning really happen to me?!' He made an excuse for struggling in his only inning. That's pathetic. Wainwright rushed to backtrack saying it was a joke which many of the media whom were there said, the Cardinals ace didn't joke there. Basically, Wainwright should have kept his mouth shut about the whole thing. There is no need to explain what happened there just say 'Derek hit a good pitch.'  He looked like a complete assclown. Naturally, the St. Louis fanbase believed Lucroy was the reason for Wainwright or Waino as they call him, struggles which is so Cardinals it hurts truthfully. The fanbase is full of world-class idiots and some of the worst in baseball. My favorite was Lucroy distancing himself away from 'grooving' pitches as he explained how the first batter was called. 

The Cardinals weren't the only ones with pie of their faces, Major League Baseball and FOX Sports ended up having a major misfire as well. After the game, people begged the question where was a tribute for Tony Gywnn who died a month ago and is revered as one of the best players in baseball. FOX Sports 1 did do a tribute before the game, but most of the time when baseball or any sport loses one of the best, they find someway to honor them on a grand stage. MLB should have done something Gywnn and Don Zimmer for that matter. Both men cared about the game of baseball so much and loved it dearly. The fact, baseball decided to ignore some of their greats is truly odd and puzzling.

The weirdness increases when you think about how much time MLB and FOX dedicated to Jeter. He is one of the best players to ever live as well as one of the most-respected guys in baseball. The latter is a huge part to why this all happened last night. Deadspin counted Jeter's name said a cool 100 times within the three and a half hour broadcast. I had little to zero problem with all of the Jeter theatrics. The guy deserved all of it. The two at-bats were both hits, he nearly made a great play to get Andrew McCutchen and honored like one of the best of the last 25 years. This is the type of stuff that makes All-Star Games for baseball so cool.

Although it made me pleased Jeter didn't get the Susan Lucci Lifetime MVP award as Mike Trout took home the crown. Trout deserved it as he drove in the first run of the game for the American League and the winning run in the fifth as well. Trout's two hits were a triple and double netting him his first of what will probably be many MVP trophies. On a night where MLB honored Jeter, it was cool to see one of the best young players take home the All-Star MVP.

Now begins the push to the playoffs. For some, this is where baseball becomes fun knowing there might be a chance for October baseball. It also becomes deathly terrifying in that same regard holding on to a slight lead in the division. Just remember Milwaukee was the only team helping the National League on Tuesday thus talking myself into an eight-game winning streak.

-Charlie.