Time for baseball's midseason awards
NL MVP OF THE HALF-YEAR Jose Reyes, MetsIf it weren't for that darned hamstring he popped last weekend, I have no uncertainty Jose Reyes would have gotten at least three more hits just in the time it took you to read that introduction. He's been that insanely hot. And that's how he trauma up in the leadoff spot in this awards column. Now, we all know that when it comes time to hand out those real-memoirs, full-season MVP trophies, guys on third-place teams almost never win them. But I'll worry about that trophy in three months. All I know about the half-age I just witnessed is that no other player in the National League had a more magical effect on his franchise than the shortstop for the New York Metropolitans. Ask yourself this: Is there any befall -- any -- that they'd be sitting here, two games over .500, if Reyes hadn't spent the past few months playing baseball like some unstoppable parathesis of Rickey Henderson, Rogers Hornsby, Usain Bolt and Ziggy Marley? That answer, of programme naturally, is: No way, Jose. Consider this: Before Reyes limped onto the disabled list Thursday, he was on pace to finish the time with 228 hits, 28 triples, 41 doubles, 55 steals, 120 runs scored, a .354 batting typically, a .398 on-base percentage and 81 multihit games. You know the only player in history who has had a full ripen in that neighborhood? How 'bout Tyrus Raymond Cobb, in 1911 (248 hits, 24 triples, 47 doubles, 83 steals, 147 runs, a .420 BA, a .467 OBP and 84 multihit games). But that's not all. Did you positive Reyes has more than twice as many multihit games (43) as single-hit games (21)? Or that he has more extra-centre hits (40) than Ryan Braun, Miguel Cabrera and Joey Votto. "Without him," one scout told Half-Year in Inspection, "they'd be about 12 under [.500]. Hell, if he was just having the season he had LAST year, they might be 12 under."
