Turning the Tide

Braun Caps Remarkable Year

Bleeding Dodger Blue

A Hollywood Ending

And the Award Goes To: National League Predictions

The 2011 Major League Baseball season saw so many great players elevate their game to the next level, making handing out this year's major awards all the more difficult.

National League Most Valuable Player: Matt Kemp, LAD
Just like the American League Most Valuable Player voting, the National League should be a close one as well. With so many deserving candidates, Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp not only developed in the games most dynamic outfielder, but one of baseball's best players, making him this year's NL MVP.

Kemp's 2011 campaign is one of the best by a
center fielder in recent memory.

Kemp rebounded after a miserable and disappointing 2010 campaign, becoming a legitimate Triple Crown threat this season. Boston's Carl Yastrzemski was the last player to achieve that feat in 1967, but that was in the AL. The last NL player to win the Triple Crown was Joe Medwick in 1937 while playing left field for the St. Louis Cardinals. Kemp ranked third in the NL with a .324 average, but led in home runs with 39. His 126 RBIs not only led the NL, but the entire major leagues.

With the help of first base coach Davey Lopes, Kemp improved his baserunning drastically, swiping a career-high 40 stolen bases. Combine that with his 39 home runs, Kemp just missed becoming the fifth player in major league history to join the exclusive 40-40 club.

Back to playing his Gold Glove defense, Kemp was tied for third among major league center fielders with 11 outfield assists.

Milwaukee's Ryan Braun seems to be the favorite due in large part to his team finishing first in the NL Central and making the postseason. Braun's case is a good one, but his protection with slugger Prince Fielder hitting behind him has helped his offensive numbers. The 2007 NL Rookie of the Year, Braun was out hit by the Mets Jose Reyes, who hit .337 this season, for the batting title, hitting .332. The 27-year-old left fielder didn't even lead his team in home runs, but added 33 and 115 to the Brewer lineup.

However, Braun did manage to lead the NL in slugging percentage (.597), on-base plus slugging and extra-base hits (77), narrowly edging out Kemp, who had 76.

Fielder also put up a monster season in his walk year, hitting 38 home runs and driving in 120, but is also a beneficiary of having his smooth swinging left fielder hit in front of him. Kemp on the other had little to no protection all season long.

Many of Kemp's teammates spent time on the disabled list, never being able to count on a consist lineup. Infielders Casey Blake and Juan Uribe missed most of the regular season to various injuries while All-Star Andre Ethier played in less than 140 games for the second straight year. It didn't help that first baseman Jame Loney, who is a career .288 hitter, batted only .255 the first four months of the season with all of 4 home runs and 33 RBIs.

This could just be the beginning for an emerging 26-year-old superstar.

National League Cy Young: Clayton Kershaw, LAD
Much like Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander did in the AL, Dodgers ace, Clayton Kershaw, nailed down the NL pitching Triple Crown. Kershaw finished the season 21-5 with a major league best 2.28 ERA to go along with 248 punch-outs. The 23-year-old left-hander has now throw 200 innings each of the last two seasons and has developed into one of the games best starting pitchers.

Kershaw has a 2.88 career ERA, but only has 47 career wins in 116 starts, mainly due to his lack of run support and inability to throw strikes. That all changed for Kershaw in '11, walking only 54 hitters compared to his 81 in '10 and 91 in 2009. He also posted a career-low 0.98 WHIP.

Once labeled just a thrower, Kershaw has
become of the games best pitchers.

The lefty almost single-handedly kept the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants out of the postseason. Kershaw was 5-0 in his 6 starts against the Giants this season, including 4-0 with a 0.30 ERA in his head-to-head matchups with two-time Cy Young Award winner Tim Lincecum. Don Newcombe was the last Dodger pitcher to beat the Giants five times in a single season, coming in 1951 when they were crosstown rivals on the East Coast.

Philadelphia's Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee both put together marvelous seasons and were two the preseason favorites to land the honor. Halladay, who is one of the few pitchers in history to win the award in both leagues, is the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner and has put together quite a case to repeat. The former Toronto Blue Jay went 19-6, led the NL in complete games with 8, recorded a 2.35 ERA and struck out 208 batters.

Lee finished with a 17-6 record and averaged more than a strikeout per inning, having 238 batters whiff in 232.2 innings. The 2008 AL Cy Young Award winner posted a 2.40 ERA and a major league best 6 shutouts in all six of his complete games.

Right-hander Ian Kennedy looks to be another pitcher in contention out West after anchoring an Arizona pitching staff that saw their team go from worst to first in the NL West. Kennedy throw 200 innings for the first time in his career and was tied for the NL lead in wins. His 21-4 record accumulated to a major league best .840 winning percentage. Kennedy also narrowly missed his first 200 strikeout season with 198 with a 2.88 ERA.

With so many deserving candidates the vote should be awfully close, but it's hard to deny a left-hander that wins the pitching Triple Crown.

National League Rookie of the Year: Craig Kimbrel, ATL
A year after Texas Rangers closer Neftali Feliz was named the '10 Rookie of the Year and set a rookie record 40 saves in a single season, along come Craig Kimbrel. The 23-year-old flamethrower assumed the closer role for manager Fredi Gonzalez and his Atlanta Braves this season and flourished. He set a new rookie record in a season with 46 and had Atlanta on the cusp of their second straight postseason berth.

Kimbrel was a pleasant surprise for
Atlanta and should be for years to
come.

Kimbrel became a first-time All-Star and averaged 14.8 strikeouts per nine innings with 127 punch-outs in 77.1 innings. His teammate Freddie Freeman also had a great first year in the big leagues, batting .282 with 21 home runs and drove in 76. Freeman played in 157 games and had 32 doubles.

The last six seasons their have been three closers win the AL Rookie of the Year. The last time a closer received the honor in the National League was Scott Williamson in 1999 while pitching for the Cincinnati Reds. That season Williamson recorded 19 saves in his 62 relief appearances. The last Brave to win the award, shortstop Rafael Furcal, who is currently playing for the St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS, in 2000

There is no question that this year's NL Rookie of the Year will be a Brave, which one is the question?

National League Manager of the Year: Kirk Gibson, ARZ
In a division that contained the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants, the Arizona Diamondbacks were predicted by many to finish in last-place for the second straight year. A year after finishing with the third worst record in the majors at 65-97 and 27 game back of the NL West champion Giants, Arizona came slithering back.

First-year manager Kirk Gibson kept the Snakes in contention and believing all season long. The D-backs were 45-25 at the All-Star Break, 3 games back of first-place San Francisco. They continued their amazing season, seizing first-place in July and really never surrendered it. Along with Gibson's gutsy and gritty managing, a young, but brilliant starting rotation and a much improved bullpen, Arizona was able to make a improve their record by 29 games from a year ago and finished 94-68, first-place in the NL West.

Gibson brought the fire he played with to
the Arizona dugout this season.

It was their first division title since 2007, taking on the personality of their 54-year-old manager.

Los Angeles Dodgers manager Don Mattingly was also a first-year manager, but also kept his team believing. Los Angeles was 36-46 at the All-Star Break, but finished the second-half strong with a 46-34, 12 games over .500. Much like Gibson's D-backs, Mattingly's team exceeded expectations and finished third-place in the division at 82-80.

That being said, nobody did a better job than Gibson did with his team this season. Arizona was ousted from the postseason by the Milwaukee Brewers in the NLDS. After rallying in the ninth inning of their decisive Game 5, the Brewers ended Gibson's magical first year in Phoenix with a walk-off single, a season that should end with NL Manager of the Year award.

Kemp Making MVP Bid

Ethier Continues Record Setting April

Ethier has been spectacular once again to
start 2011.

The Los Angeles Dodgers offense has not had many reasons to smile through their first 26 games of their season.

Four of the starting eight for the Dodgers are batting under .250, including injured shortstop Rafael Furcal. Even though center fielder Matt Kemp has gotten off to an impressive start after a dismal 2010 season, it has been the man to his left that has stolen the show in April.

Right fielder Andre Ethier has kicked off the 2011 campaign much like he did a year ago.

Tuesday night, Ethier broke former manager Joe Torre's April hitting streak record set back in 1971. It was a double in the first inning that broke the record and extended his mark to 23 straight games.

Oddly enough Torre went on to win the National League Most Valuable Player Award that season for the St. Louis Cardinals. Ethier has done his best Torre impersonation, posting a .380 batting average and .451 on-base percentage thus far.

The one-time All-Star has been known as a fast starter since making his Major League debut in 2006.

Ethier suffered fractured pinky bone on his hand back in May of last year, cutting into his hot start and never seemed to be the same hitter upon returning. Prior to the injury, Ethier had been leading the majors in all three Triple Crown categories with a .392 average, 38 runs batted in and tied for the NL lead with 11 home runs.

Now, with the Dodgers off to a rather sluggish start at 13-13 under rookie manager Don Mattingly, they can ill afford another injury from their star right fielder.

The former Sun Devil has slowly become the face of the Dodgers franchise and will need to see the organization head in a different direction if want to keep it that way and have Ethier's stay in Chavez Ravine a permanent one. Los Angeles was bailed out Wednesday afternoon on the heels of Ethier's third home run of season.

The hit came in the 10th inning in a 5-4 win over the first-place Florida Marlins, extending his Major League record to 24 games.

You can't imagine that even Dodgers knew what they were getting not only a great player, but a man of character when they traded for him in a deal with the Oakland Athletics in exchange for the often troublesome Milton Bradley back in December of 2005.

Ethier has catapulted himself to early discuss of the NL MVP Award, he would be the first Dodger to win the award since Kirk Gibson did so in 1988.

The Dodgers are off Thursday, but will have Ethier look to continue his hot start at home against San Diego left-hander Clayton Richard Friday night.

Dodgers Need Kemp To Win

Hopefully Kemp and the Dodgers
will have reason to smile in
2011.

The 2009 season seems so long ago, yet, not so far away for Los Angeles Dodgers center fielder Matt Kemp.

During the '09 campaign Kemp, 26, put together his best big league season by posting a .297 average with 26 home runs and reaching the century mark for the first time in his career, driving in 101 runs.

While being productive at the plate, winning his first career Silver Slugger, Kemp was also among the game's elite on defense, capturing his first Gold Glove.

He showed he could rise to the occasion and play at his best when the pressure was at its highest, homering off St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Chris Carpenter in Game 1 of the National League Division Series, helping the Dodgers advance to their second straight NLCS.

2010 came with high expectations for Kemp and seemed as if he could become only the fifth member to join the exclusive 40/40 club in Major League Baseball history.

With that came a lot of pressure and disappointment.

Despite Kemp seting a career-high in home runs with 28, every other offensive category dropped off significantly from his previous season totals. Kemp's average dipped all the way down to .259 with an on-base percentage of .310. After stealing a career high 34 bases in 42 attempts in '09, Kemp's base-running also took a hit, being caught stealing 15 times in only 34 attempts. Most people around baseball even thought Kemp took a step back defensively.

Whatever happened last year, Kemp is determined to put it behind him and live up to the expectations the Dodgers have set for him, losing 16 pounds by cutting ice cream out of his diet. There was a different type of energy with the club this spring, an energy not felt not since Joe Torre's first year as manager back in 2008.

Kemp enjoyed a wonderful spring, launching five home runs and hitting .290. The Dodgers and rookie skipper Don Mattingly will need Kemp to rebound if they want to capture their third NL West title in four years.

So far the season looks promising for Kemp and Co. beating the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants on Opening Night, 2-1. Kemp went 1-for-1, scoring both Dodger runs and drawing a career-high three walks in a game.