Will the Phillies keep 'Rollin' or will the Rockies have a happy 'Holliday'?
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by PhilliesPhan
MVP in the American League is pretty much decided. In the National League, it isn't as easy. There are many worthy candidates such as Jimmy Rollins, Matt Holliday, David Wright, and Prince Fielder. All in all, it really comes down to Rollins and Holliday because the Brewers and Mets both collapsed at the end of the season, the latter of the two in epic proportions.
Some people do not even believe Jimmy Rollins is an MVP candidate; they don't even think he's the MVP of his team. Those people either hate the Phillies, hate Philadelphia, or are crazy (or are all three). How can someone who's started all 162 games at SS, made only 11 errors, hit .296, 30 home runs, 38 doubles, 20 triples, stole 41 bases, knocked in 94 runs, and scored 139 runs not be MVP-quality? He played for a team that was plagued with injuries this year; Chase Utley was out for a month, as was Ryan Howard and their pitching staff was decimated with injury and ineffectiveness. During spring training he pronounced the Phillies 'the team to beat--on paper' and those words followed him throughout the entire season and especially when the Phillies started the season 4-11. He powered the Phillies to the playoffs for the 1st time in 14 years and even though it came with major assistance from the Mets, the Phillies finished the season 13-4 in their last 17 games. Not to mention he had a historical year. Only the 4th player in MLB history to have a 20x20x20x20 season and he also had a 30x30 season. He is also the first player in MLB history to collect at least 200 hits, 15 triples, 25 homers and 25 stolen bases in one season; Lastly, he broke the ML record by having 706 AB, finishing the season with 716. So yes, I do think Jimmy Rollins is an MVP candidate if not THE MVP.
Matt Holliday was equally as impressive. He played in all but 4 games, led the league in batting average (.340), doubles, and RBIs. He was also in the top 5 in OPS (1.012), home runs(36), runs (120), and slugging percentage (.607). And he only made 3 errors in LF. He had the 2nd best fielding percentage (.990) for LF. The Rockies were in the mix for the playoffs the entire season. They, much like the Phillies had a high-powered offense and a lackluster pitching staff. The Rockies finished the season on an incredible run, winning 14 out of 15 including the tie-breaker game against SD. During that stretch, Matt Holliday was 23/52 (.442), had 5 home runs, 17 RBIs, 4 2Bs, and a triple. To say that he propelled his team into the playoffs is an understatement. He's clearly the MVP of his team, might be of the league, and could have a world series ring. That's a pretty good damn year.
Either one of the two would be fitting. They both helped their unlikely team get into the playoffs in over a decade. Rollins or Holliday? The choice is NOT yours but no one's stopping you from having an opinion.
