"I see it this way: Someone who doesn't take his team to the playoffs doesn't deserve to win the MVP," Pujols said in Spanish at a news conference organized by the Dominican Republic's sports ministry.
Wah, wah, fuckin'-wah.
In 1998, as in 2006, the Cardinals won 83 games (I see it this way: A team that wins only 83 games doesn't deserve to go to the World Series... how's that, Albert?) and Mark McGwire hit 70* home runs. He finished second in MVP voting to Sammy Sosa, whose Cubs went to the playoffs that year. But was he any less valuable to his team? Of course not.
As better writers have explained in the past, the MVP award goes to an individual, not a team. From Andre Dawson to Cal Ripken to Alex Rodriguez to Barry Bonds, there are plenty of examples of players whose contributions to their teams were immense, yet were not enough to get them to the playoffs. Should an individual be penalized for this? Did Pujols cry when Bonds took the award in 2004, despite the fact that the Cardinals went to the World Series and the Giants did not even earn so much as a wild-card spot?
Screw you, we're not taking it down.
The bottom line is, who did more to help their team when it mattered? Howard's numbers in the second half of the season -- after the team traded Abreu and Lidle -- kept the Phillies in contention until their seemingly traditional late-season collapse. The Cardinals had the division well in hand with and without Pujols, and even when he was there they were still in danger of suffering the biggest collapse since the 1964 Phillies. (By the way, that team featured Dick Allen, who went on to win the MVP in 1972 with the 87-win Chicago White Sox.)
Maybe A-Pu's upset that a scrawny white kid named Eckstein stole the spotlight from him in the World Series against Detroit (where Pujols hit .200... way to contribute, buddy). I don't know. But to bring up such a lame excuse for why he deserves the award will not win Pujols a lot of sympathy votes. Plus, to complain about not receiving an individual award for a team-oriented sport is not exactly what I'd call being a "team player."
My espanol is far from perfect, but I think "Pujols" must be Spanish for "whiny bitch."
(* Put there to piss off Cardinals fans.)
Snubbed Pujols says MVP should be on playoff team [ESPN.com]
4 comments:
I'm a Cardinals fan and am a pretty big fan of El Hombre, but that comment does diminish him a lot, I think. Especially when, after winning the 2005 MVP (finally!) he said that he'd have gladly traded that award for one of the rings the White Sox would be getting.
Now he has his ring, surely he can be satisfied with that. I would....
Albert is known to be surly and brusk with the media in St. Louis, so this does not surprise me one iota. I've been a Cards fan for over 40 years, but I've never been one to drink the Kool-Aid. He's a pampered superstar, so what do you expect?
yeah, he should be glad he won a WS ring more than anything else. And maybe you're right, he shouldn't really complain about these sorts of things. But I can. He should've won at least 3 MVPs by now. And as happy as I am for Ryan Howard (that Stl boy makes us proud) I can't help but wonder what else Pujols has to do to win these things.
btw Bruce, maybe he's "brusk" with the St. Louis media, but for someone who treats kids with down syndrome so well, I can't help but think we whine about that crap too much.
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