Pujols wins National League MVP

Nov 17, 2008 - 11:12 PM NEW YORK (Ticker) -- Albert Pujols' stoic consistency evidently carried more weight than Ryan Howard's fantastic finish.

Pujols was named the National League's MVP on Monday, beating out Howard to claim his second award in the last four years.

Despite playing with an injured elbow throughout this past season, Pujols carried the St. Louis Cardinals to surprising 86-76 record en route to a fourth-place finish in the NL Central Division.

Pujols batted .357, the second-best average in the NL, with 37 home runs and 116 RBI. The slugger's power numbers paled in comparison to Howard, who led the majors with 48 homers and 146 RBI.

But Pujols, who finished as the runner-up to Howard in the 2006 MVP voting, felt he was deserving of the award.

"We did have a pretty good chance all year long," Pujols said. "We were in first (place) for a while. So I wasn't surprised at all. I thought my numbers were good. Howard's numbers were unbelievable."

Pujols received 18 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers' Association of America to finish ahead of Howard, the power-hitting first baseman who helped lead the Philadelphia Phillies to their first World Series title since 1980.

The driving force behind Philadelphia's late-season surge to the NL East Division crown, Howard was given 12 first-place votes and finished with 308 total points, 61 less than Pujols.

Milwaukee left fielder Ryan Braun finished a distant third with 139 points while Manny Ramirez, who powered the Los Angeles Dodgers to the NL West crown after being acquired in a mid-season trade, was fourth with 138 points.

Houston slugger Lance Berkman was fifth in the voting, followed by Milwaukee ace CC Sabathia, New York Mets third baseman David Wright and Phillies closer Brad Lidge, who received the final two first-place votes.

"There were so many candidates the baseball writers could have chosen, and they decided to choose me," Pujols said. "Howard, what Sabathia did for Milwaukee, and Manny - I just thank God that I came out on top with my second MVP award."

Pujols, 28, previously won the NL MVP in 2005 following years of being snubbed in favor of Barry Bonds.

The hard-hitting first baseman became the 11th National League player to win multiple MVPs, joining a prestigious list that includes Bonds, Willie Mays, Ernie Banks, Mike Schmidt, Joe Morgan, Johnny Bench and Stan Musial.

Pujols has little left to prove as the top offensive player in the NL, having finished in the top 10 in MVP voting in each of the past seven seasons.

There is little question that Pujols once again was the most outstanding offensive player in the NL this season; he led the majors with a 1.114 OPS, a .653 slugging percentage, 34 intentional walks, 147 runs created and a 1.93

walk-to-strikeout ratio.

Pujols, who was second in the majors in on-base percentage (.462), kept the overachieving Cardinals in the wild card race until late September.

"We were contenders to get a playoff spot until the last two weeks of the season," he said. "We were only like three or four games out of the wild card."

Pujols also is one of the best fielding first basemen in the game, as his 10.61 range factor and .935 zone rating led the majors.

After getting off to a slow start this season, the 28-year-old Howard carried the Phillies down the stretch, batting .354 with 14 homers, 38 RBI and a 1.273 OPS over the final five weeks to lift Philadelphia to its second straight NL East crown.