Here is what the ESPN experts think.. I hit this one dead on.
ESPN - Stark: Handing out midseason awards - MLB
AL MVP of the half-year -- Magglio Ordonez, Tigers
Alex Rodriguez may have had a more eye-popping year, especially if you factor in home runs and back-page tabloid appearances. But the Yankees haven't been a factor in the division or wild-card races for more than about 20 minutes all season. Meanwhile, right there in the middle of the most lethal lineup in baseball, Ordonez is headed for a season that not even Ty Cobb ever duplicated in Detroit. And you can look that up. If Ordonez keeps mashing at his current clip, he'd finish with 68 doubles, a .369 average, 137 RBIs, 135 runs scored, 93 extra-base hits, a .445 on-base percentage and a 1.053 OPS. And even if we lower the doubles threshold to 50, no one has matched all those numbers since Hugh Duffy did it for the 1894 Boston Beaneaters. Oh, and we didn't even mention Ordonez is hitting .443 with runners in scoring position. Almost makes you want to run out and visit an Austrian knee surgeon, doesn't it? Apologies to: A-Rod, Vladimir Guerrero, Ichiro Suzuki, Victor Martinez, Torii Hunter.
NL MVP of the half-year -- Matt Holliday, Rockies
How come most people look at Rockies hitters and automatically disqualify them from consideration for all honors, trophies, awards or emphatic high fives? All right, don't bother answering that. We know why. But anybody who thinks Holliday is just another figment of baseball's most pervasive altitude sickness clearly hasn't been paying attention. True, he's hitting more than 100 points higher at home (.405) than on the road (.301). But his road OPS (.828) is still higher than the road OPS of Chase Utley, Carlos Lee, Derrek Lee, Jason Bay, Torii Hunter or Grady Sizemore. Plus, it was hard not to notice that it was Holliday who got more votes in the players' All-Star balloting than any other big leaguer. We admit we were leaning toward Prince Fielder in this MVP race for a long time. But in reality, both Holliday and Utley have had more of an all-around impact on their teams than Fielder, who is batting just .232 with runners in scoring position and only .154 in those situations with two outs. So why Holliday over Utley? Because, among other reasons, Utley's home-road splits (.387 home average, .266 road) are even wider than Holliday's. Even though the Rockies may be only hanging around the periphery of the NL West and wild-card races, they do have a better record since May 15 than the Dodgers, Mets, Phillies or Brewers. You think that might have something to do with that left fielder of theirs who's hanging with the league leaders in batting, RBIs, slugging, doubles, multihit games, hits and OPS? We do. Apologies to: Utley, Fielder, Jose Reyes, Barry Bonds, Russell Martin, Adrian Gonzalez.
