In a surprise to some, Ryan Braun edged Matt Kemp for the NL MVP award today.
I would have voted for Kemp (tougher defensive position, tougher hitter's park), but Braun is not a bad selection.
Phillies notes:
Six Phillies received votes, most since 1976 when Mike Schmidt (3rd), Garry Maddox (5th), Greg Luzinski (8th), Steve Carlton (15th), Dave Cash (16th), and Larry Bowa (29th) all appeared on ballots.
9) Roy Halladay (52 pts): received more points than Cy Young award winner Clayton Kershaw (29), including a 3rd place vote. Halladay actually had the 2nd highest FanGraphs WAR in the NL (8.2), sandwiched between Kemp (8.7) and Braun (7.8); he was 5th in BB-Ref WAR (7.3). This was the lowest ranking by the leading Phillie vote getter since 2004, when Jim Thome finished 20th (see below).
10) Ryan Howard (39): home runs and RBIs are catnip to some voters. Howard's 6th straight top-10 finish.
13) Shane Victorino (18): the Phillies' best position player of 2011, Vic was 8th in the NL in WAR (5.9) despite a .577-OPS September. Even with a good last month, he would have mostly been a favorite of the SABR-inclined voters, since his counting stats were depressed by time on the DL.
15) Cliff Lee (12): his second time on the ballot; he was 12th when he won the CY in 2008.
16) Hunter Pence (10)
23) Carlos Ruiz (1): Chooch appeared on one ballot after finishing 17th last year.
Obligatory Braves dig: Ruiz got as many votes as all the Atlanta Braves put together (Craig Kimbrel, 1); the only teams that got fewer were the Pirates, despite Andrew McCutchen's fine season, and the Padres (assuming the Astros get credit for a portion of Pence's 10).
With the awards season wrapping up, below are all Phillies receiving votes for the major awards since 2000:
(color coded by player; click to enlarge)
Complete NL MVP voting after the jump...
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ryan Braun, Milwaukee Brewers | 20 | 12 | 388 | ||||||||
| Matt Kemp, Los Angeles Dodgers | 10 | 16 | 6 | 332 | |||||||
| Prince Fielder, Milwaukee Brewers | 1 | 4 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 229 | ||
| Justin Upton, Arizona Diamondbacks | 1 | 8 | 11 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 214 | ||
| Albert Pujols, St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 6 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 2 | 166 | ||||
| Joey Votto, Cincinnati Reds | 4 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 135 | ||
| Lance Berkman, St. Louis Cardinals | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 2 | 4 | 3 | 118 | ||
| Troy Tulowitzki, Colorado Rockies | 3 | 4 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 69 | |||||
| Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies | 1 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 52 | ||||
| Ryan Howard, Philadelphia Phillies | 1 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 39 | ||||
| Jose Reyes, New York Mets | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 31 | |||||
| Clayton Kershaw, Los Angeles Dodgers | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 29 | |||||
| Shane Victorino, Philadelphia Phillies | 3 | 3 | 3 | 18 | |||||||
| Ian Kennedy, Arizona Diamondbacks | 1 | 2 | 1 | 16 | |||||||
| Cliff Lee, Philadelphia Phillies | 2 | 1 | 1 | 12 | |||||||
| Hunter Pence, Astros/Phillies | 1 | 1 | 1 | 10 | |||||||
| Pablo Sandoval, San Francisco Giants | 1 | 1 | 7 | ||||||||
| John Axford, Milwaukee Brewers | 1 | 2 | 7 | ||||||||
| Michael Morse, Washington Nationals | 1 | 1 | 5 | ||||||||
| Carlos Beltran, N.Y. Mets/S.F. Giants | 1 | 3 | |||||||||
| Miguel Montero, Arizona D-backs | 1 | 2 | |||||||||
| Yadier Molina, St. Louis Cardinals | 2 | 2 | |||||||||
| Starlin Castro, Chicago Cubs | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Craig Kimbrel, Atlanta Braves | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Carlos Ruiz, Philadelphia Phillies | 1 | 1 | |||||||||
| Mike Stanton, Florida Marlins | 1 | 1 |
Just for kicks, below are the NL standings with MVP voting stats (Pence and Beltran are each credited to both of their teams). One thing to note is that the East led in wins but lacked any real MVP candidates, partly because its best players were pitchers this year.
(click to enlarge)