Award lands in A-Rod's glove

Ortiz is a close second in MVP voting

November 15, 2005|Globe Staff

What if he'd hit 50 home runs, rather than 47? And knocked in 150 runs, rather than 148? And hit .310, rather than .300 (which was actually .2995, rounded up)? And come up with 22 game-winning RBIs, rather than 21?

What if he'd won just one more game, perhaps during the season's closing weekend, to deliver his Red Sox a division crown rather than the AL wild card?

''I don't think he realistically could have done more," Terry Francona said yesterday, speaking about his inimitable DH, David Ortiz. ''He did everything in his power to make a claim for the MVP. I don't think it was [a case of] him not pulling it off."

This AL MVP runoff, decided yesterday afternoon in favor of the Yankees' Alex Rodriguez, reinforced the notion that ''playing both sides of the ball," as Rodriguez put it, is ''such an important part of winning games."

Rodriguez, who appeared in all 162 games, and only one as DH, received 16 first-place votes to Ortiz's 11 and edged the Sox' full-time DH in the voting, 331 to 307, to claim his second MVP award in three seasons.

''I'm not shocked," said Dennis Eckersley, who remains the most recent non-position player to win the AL MVP, in 1992 with Oakland. ''[Ortiz's] was an incredible year. Clutch-wise, for a guy, I've never seen anything like it. Watching him all the time makes you think he should have won it.

''But playing every day, it's hard to deny that that probably won out. Sometimes, you get robbed. It's not like he got robbed."

Ortiz, when reached by phone, sounded accepting, saying, ''It's all good," before asking that he be called back today for any further comment.

''I do feel bad," said Francona, also by phone. ''I think it could have meant a lot to him. He's very team-oriented. I know he's very proud."

By MVP voting standards, this was a crushing one-run loss. If three voters who ranked Ortiz second had slotted him ahead of Rodriguez, the award would be resting in the sizable hands of the slugging Dominican. The vote was the closest since 2001, when Seattle's Ichiro Suzuki eclipsed Oakland's Jason Giambi by a mere 8 points, 289 to 281.

Ortiz came the closest to winning the award of anyone who played primarily at DH. Frank Thomas, in 2000, previously had come nearest, placing 32 points behind Giambi.

No MVP has played more game at DH than Don Baylor, who in 1979 with the Angels appeared in 97 games in the outfield, 65 as a DH, and one at first base.

Rodriguez became the Yankees' first MVP since Don Mattingly in 1985, while Ortiz narrowly missed bringing Boston its first MVP since Mo Vaughn in 1995. The Yankees lead the Sox in World Series championships, 26-6, and the MVP collection is similarly tilted, 21-10.