THE NL'S BEST ARE EACH SECOND TO NONE

Some bad news to report this morning: The National League might have to forgo the presentation of the 2007 most valuable player award.

Hey, chin up, these things happen. There are years when one of the Nobel Prizes isn't presented. Sometimes no one has the winning numbers in the 6/49 draw and the jackpot has to be rolled over to the next week. Sometimes the guy on Elimidate decides none of the women catch his fancy. This year the NL seems exceptional for not having a single player one can look at and say, "There's your motherflippin' MVP!"

The last Win Shares update at Hardball Times (through games of June 28) indicated the five best players in the majors and seven of the top 10 play in the American League. It also suggested, wait for it, Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes (pictured) should be getting consideration for MVP honours. He's a nice player having a good year, but did anyone ever point to Eric Byrnes before the season as a MVP front-runner? Is anyone even talking about him now? Besides, look at those sneakers -- straight from the Back of Your Parents' Closet collection -- he sported for the unveiling of the D-Backs' new uniforms a few months back.

No offence, NL, but there's no player in the league putting up big numbers who doesn't have a serious hole in his MVP credentials:

CHASE UTLEY, PHILLIES
Why he won't win: His teammate, Ryan Howard, was the MVP last season and the Phillies appear doomed to fall short of the post-season, again, since they go through pitchers like extras in a Richard Attenborough epic. In the baseball writers' thinking, the optics of rewarding another Phillies slugger trumps Utley having the best year at the plate by a NL second baseman since Joe Morgan was in his prime three decades ago.

PRINCE FIELDER, BREWERS
Why he won't win: OK, so he likely will. He has the big sexy home run and RBI totals, plus the storyline to seduce the sportswriters: He plays on a long-downtrodden team which is headed for their first division title since he was a gleam in his daddy's eye. Fielder also has that long-distance family feud with his father, Cecil Fielder. For a print journalist or a TV reporter, this is what Kraft Dinner is to a university student.

Is he that good, though? The Win Shares presented Prince Fielder as just a functional hitter in the middle of a good lineup. He had 14 Win Shares and eight Win Shares Above Bench, equal to a pair of other corner infielders in the NL. Here's the hitting stats for all three:

Player A: .265, 14 HR, 52 RBI, .814 OPS
Player B: .278, 27 HR, 66 RBI, .976 OPS
Player C: .291, 15 HR, 49 RBI, .882 OPS

Players A and C are the Padres' Adrian Gonzalez and the Mets' David Wright, who aren't getting any MVP hype. It seems like what Fielder is doing is created by his conditions. Still, don't expect anyone to let that get in the way of a good MVP story.

RUSS MARTIN/BRAD PENNY, DODGERS
Why Martin can't win: The stocky 5-foot-10, 215-lb. catcher is going to be Hollywood skinny by the end of the summer at the rate he's racking up the innings behind the plate. The workload will probably take a similar toll on his offensive stats.

The pride of Chelsea, Que., has already caught 682 innings. Only two other NL catchers, San Francisco's Bengie Molina and former Expo Brian Schneider, have even caught 600. Martin is probably not so special that he could be his team's best hitter and carry a heavy catching workload.

Why Penny can't win: Some writers will never cast a first-place MVP vote for a pitcher, who already gets to compete for the Cy Young Award. Along with the 2.39 earned-run average and 10-1 record, Penny (pictured) has not allowed a home run with runners on base all season, but he's a pitcher.

JOSÉ REYES, METS
Why he can't win: His lack of a larger-than-life baseball persona and the traditional short shrift given to players who bat first or second in the lineup will do in the Nye Mets shortstop. Paul Lo Duca understandably took heat last week for implying some Latino teammates on the Mets come down with Sosaitis in front of the media. Lo Duca's breathtaking lack of cultural sensitivity aside, he was on to something.

How is a beat writer in Cincinnati or St. Louis voting for the MVP going to build any image of Reyes when he's never in the news for anything but his playing? Other players whose first language isn't English and say little to the media (Ichiro in 2001, Vladimir Guerrero in '04) have won the MVP, but they at least had some pizzazz, some mystique. Reyes has only stolen about a bajillion bases and reached base at an impressive .391 clip, but he's done it quietly, which bodes poorly for him becoming the first leadoff man to be elected NL MVP since Pete Rose 34 years ago.

AND THE REST...

Miguel Cabrera, Marlins: If you hit 35 homers and drive in 120 runs playing in front of no one in South Florida, did it really happen? Good luck to Cabrera getting a team run by Jeffrey Loria to put together any sort of promotional campaign ... Matt Holliday, Rockies: It's called the Coors Field effect ... Albert Pujols, Cardinals: He's doing what he usually does, so ho-hum, plus St. Louis is having a post-World Series hangover ... Eric Byrnes, Diamondbacks: Was completely overlooked for the All-Star Game even though he's a leadoff hitter and the only real power threat on an Arizona team that's somehow hanging around in the NL West despite having Orlando Hudson as their co-RBI leader.

Seriously, though, is there anyone in the National League who would be a MVP candidate in most seasons, or in the American League last season? Unfortunately, the league can't just roll over the award till 2008 like a big lottery jackpot. The National League will save the rolling over for the World Series, thank you very much.

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.