Dustin Pedroia has recently been gaining a lot of support, and rightfully so, for this year’s A.L. MVP Award. But the contributions of his teammate, and fellow worthy candidate, Kevin Youkilis should not be overlooked in the process. This year every member of the original middle of the Sox lineup has missed a significant number of games: Ortiz (50), Lowell (39) and Drew (35). Even Manny (10) missed time with a “knee injury” when still here. So who has picked up the slack in the heart of the order? Mainly Youk. The All Star starter leads the Sox in extra base hits (66), home runs (25) runs batted in (97) slugging percentage (.563) and OPS (.948). Being asked to drive in runs instead of helping to set them up this year, the “Greek God of Walks” has 29 fewer walks in ’08, but his OBP has not suffered, his numbers are up across the board, and he’s more valuable to the Sox than ever. His versatility in the field has also been a great asset, especially in Lowell’s absence. Not only is he the 2007 Gold Glove winner at first base, this year his fielding percentage at third base would be second best in the A.L. if he’d played enough games over there to qualify. He also overcame being attacked by his own teammate, Manny, in the Sox dugout during a game this year, reportedly for being too intense when making outs. It appears, however, that this edition of the Sox is better off with Youk’s intensity that Manny’s malaise. And though he will likely not be bringing out the MVP hardware this year, the contributions of the man who has reached base in 42 consecutive games should certainly not go overlooked or unappreciated by Sox Nation.
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7 comments:
Speaking of Youk's 42-game streak of reaching base....
Youkilis is still 42 games shy of the MLB record for most consecutive games reaching base, accomplished by our very own Ted Williams in 1949.
Very underappreciated record.
Youk also gets props for being this year's Sox nominee for the Roberto Clemente Award for charitable works.
Sportscenter a couple of years ago referred to him during a highlight as "Kevin, You kill us" ---it looks stupid in writing, but I loved it. I don't know of another first baseman I would rather have than Youk aside from Pujols. Even Berkman, Fielder, Howard, Teixera, Morneau
Youk gives us everything - power, walks, defense from 2 positions, and average. What else do you need?
speed? sorry, you asked
I honestly think that someone else will win the MVP because Youk and Scrappy Du play on the same team they will take votes away from each other.
I don't disagree. If the Twins win the Central I think Morneau will win MVP. It will be similar to 2006 when it seemed like Jeter was going to win and Morneau did and everyone was like "hmmm, where did he come from?"
Quentin is out of the race and I don't think K-Rod will get support since all of his saves were an inning or less, so if the Twins don't win the Central I do think Pedroia will pull this out.
Would have been nice if he didn't hit into that DP last night.
A guy at work argued he should have bunted, but I disagree. He never bunts and is paid to drive in runs. Plus you can usually count on Youk to make a "productive out" at least and move the runner over (without a DP that is).
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