Homers, Not Just the Ones A-Rod Crushed

In case you were living under a rock during the summer, you know that Alex Rodriguez was a one man wrecking crew and without him, the Yankees don't sniff the playoffs. The man carried they through their awful first two and a half months and allowed them to stay afloat. Yesterday, he was awarded his third MVP award. Anyone who watches baseball knows that there was nobody else even in the conversation for MVP, especially taking into consideration the fact that the Yankees ended up in the playoffs.

Well, anyone except for the beat writers in the city of Detroit. In an absolutely disgraceful move, reeking of homerism, both Detroit area beat writers, Tom Gage of the Detroit News and Jim Hawkins of the Oakland (MI) Press voted for Magglio Ordonez over A-Rod. Are they kidding? While Mags deserved second place, look at the numbers. A-Rod his .314, led the majors in Home Runs with 54 and in RBI with 156. He also scored 143 runs and led his team to the playoffs, coming from way behind to overtake the Tigers. You know the Tigers, the team Ordonez plays for. Mags no doubt had a great year, hitting .363, with 28 HR's, 139 RBI, and 117 runs scored. But did he lead his team to the playoffs? No. Did he play in the eyes of the biggest media scrutiny that any player has ever had to endure? No. Did he do all of this in a contract year? No.

Gage and Hawkins should be called to the carpet and asked to explain themselves. Anything less than "we are suck boys to Mike Illitch, we buy $5 Hot N' Ready Pizza's everyday, and we are Red Wings slappies" would be an out right lie. Here were their lame explanations:

"I saw Magglio play every day," Hawkins said. "What I saw was a player having an MVP year. I have no quarrel with anyone who voted for A-Rod. He also had an MVP year. But with the injuries the Tigers had and the effort and performance I saw from Magglio, there's no question he had an MVP year."

"I went with what I saw," said Gage. "So many times, you have to vote off the stat sheet. I fully expected A Rod to win. He had a great year. But I saw an MVP year. There were stats to back up the impression that I came away with from the regular season." Gage even went so far as to write a column in this morning's paper to defend his vote for Mags. I give him credit for sticking to his guns and sacking up to defend himself, even though they were way wrong. He is a good writer and well respected. But he is just way wrong on this.

"I went with what I saw?" That was the old Bill Belichick in Cleveland line after his multitude of gaffs, which in turn, caused him to learn from those mistakes a become a Hall of Fame coach, after he left Cleveland of course. These two should have their votes taken away for this blatant homerism.

Shame on these two.