InsidethePark's 2005 MLB Awards

With the postseason under way, the staff at InsideThePark.com makes their picks for the regular season's best - and worst - of 2005.

While there weren't any major records broken - no 262-hit season by Ichiro or 70+ home run effort by Barry Bonds - it was another great season of Major League Baseball and the ITP Staff caps off the regular season by handing out the hardware.

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2005 MLB AWARDS
ITP STAFF	AL MVP	NL MVP	AL CY	NL CY YOUNG
LEVIN	A. Rodriguez	A. Pujols	J. Santana	R. Clemens
CHAMBERS	D. Ortiz	A. Jones	B. Colon	R.. Clemens
CLARKE	A. Rodriguez	NONE	J. Santana	NONE
CLARK	A. Rodriguez	A. Jones	B. Colon	D. Willis
SOWDEN	A. Rodriguez	D. Lee	J. Santana	R. Clemens
KAISER	D. Ortiz	D. Lee	B. Colon	C. Carpenter
CHURCHILL	A. Rodriguez	A. Jones	M. Rivera	R. Clemens

"Top hitter in the league brings a great glove at third to the park, too. Easy choice." - Troy Sowden on AROD

"Without Rivera's dominance, the starting pitching would have been that much worse." - Jason A. Churchill on Mariano Rivera

"Had 50% more value than the No. 2 player, Travis Hafner. In related news, Madonna and Dennis Rodman were also as depressingly good onstage, as they were in waving the paparazzi over to their cars before speeding off in mock fright." - Jeff Clarke on AROD

"Are they renaming the award yet?" - Ian Levin on Houston legend, Roger Clemens

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2005 MLB AWARDS
ITP STAFF	AL ROY	NL ROY	AL COMEBACK	NL COMEBACK
LEVIN	H. Street	R. Howard	R. Sexson	K. Griffey
CHAMBERS	N. Swisher	J. Francouer	R. Sexson	K. Griffey
CLARKE	Felix	NONE	R. Sexson	NONE
CLARK	Felix	R. Howard	R. Sexson	K. Griffey
SOWDEN	J. Blanton	Z. Duke	R. Sexson	K. Griffey
KAISER	R. Cano	W. Taveras	M. Ellis	K. Griffey
CHURCHILL	R. Cano	R. Howard	R. Sexson	K. Griffey

"The Yankees found their second baseman in the form of Cano, who hit .297 with good pop - 14 HR, 34 2B, 4 3B." - Joe Kaiser on Bronx second-sacker, Robinson Cano

"I'm pretty sure the award was created to reward players that are coming back from a hardship that they did not create for themselves." - Ian Levin on Richie Sexson over Jason Giambi

"Griffey did not just come back from a single year, he came back from a half decade to show flashes of the greatness that was The Kid." - Dave Clark on Reds center fielder Ken Griffey, Jr.

"Easily the M's team MVP, Sexson came into the year with serious concerns that his shoulder would never allow him to unleash that explosive swing again." - Troy Sowden on M's slugger, Richie Sexson

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2005 MLB AWARDS
ITP STAFF	AL Breakout - P	NL Breakout - P	AL GM	NL GM
LEVIN	J. Garland	J. Patterson	M. Shapiro	W. Jocketty
CHAMBERS	H. Street	C. Cordero	B. Beane	W. Jocketty
CLARKE	K. Millwood	NONE	B. Beane	NONE
CLARK	J. Garland	C. Carpenter	T. Epstein	J. Schuerholz
SOWDEN	J. Lackley	C. Carpenter	M. Shapiro	J. Schuerholz
KAISER	C. Lee	D. Turnbow	K. Williams	T. Purpura
CHURCHILL	C. Lee	J. Patterson	B. Stoneman	J. Schuerholz

"Made drastic improvement from ’04, going 18-5 with a 3.79 ERA for a young Indians team." - Joe Kaiser on Indians left-hander, Cliff Lee

"He let Glaus go, suffered through the injuries to McPherson and Escobar, and still had the fortitude to hang onto his prospects and win the West anyways." - Jason A. Churchill on Angels' GM, Bill Stoneman

"2005 was the year that Billy powerflushed the Big Three like Kobe flushing Shaq and Jack. Except that Billy turned out to be more than bling-bling." - Jeff Clarke on A's GM, Billy Beane

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2005 MLB AWARDS
ITP STAFF	AL Breakout - H	NL Breakout - H	AL Unsung	NL Unsung
LEVIN	B. Roberts	D. Lee	T. Graffanino	S. Taguchi
CHAMBERS	T. Hafner	J. Guillen	G. Sizemore	R. Oswalt
CLARKE	C. Figgins	NONE	C. Figgins	NONE
CLARK	G. Sizemore	D. Lee	R. Ibanez	B. Giles
SOWDEN	B. Roberts	M. Ensberg	D. Delluci	B. Hall
KAISER	J. Cantu	M. Ensberg	B. Roberts	R. Winn
CHURCHILL	J. Cantu	M. Ensberg	J. Varitek	C. Biggio

"In an offense full of big names, quietly finished 14th in the league in OPS." - Troy Sowden on Rangers leadoff man, David Dellucci

"Very quietly clubbed 28 home runs and drove in 117 runs for the Devil Rays in only his second season in the bigs." - Joe Kaiser on Tampa infielder, Jorge Cantu.

"Ibanez stabalized the heart of an anemic offense while becoming a clubhouse leader." - Dave Clark on M's DH/LF, Raul Ibanez

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2005 MLB AWARDS
ITP STAFF	AL Bust	NL Bust	AL Reliever	NL Reliever
LEVIN	A. Beltre	C. Beltran	M. Rivera	C. Cordero
CHAMBERS	Johnson/Schilling	NL West	M. Rivera	T. Hoffman
CLARKE	J. Kendall	NONE	F. Rodriguez	NONE
CLARK	A. Beltre	C. Beltran	E. Guardado	B. Wagner
SOWDEN	Ichiro	B. Bonds	M. Rivera	B. Wagner
KAISER	A. Beltre	K. Wood	M. Rivera	C. Cordero
CHURCHILL	A. Beltre	C. Beltran	M. Rivera	T. Hoffman

"His.321 SLG hurt the A’s a lot more than Beltre hurt us. He was 84.1% of their payroll." - Jeff Clarke on A's catcher, Jason Kendall

"Some things never change; a 1.38 ERA and 43 saves in ’05." - Joe Kaiser on Yankees ace closer, Mariano Rivera

"He is still the best closer in the game. Year after year the Yankee haters think his time has come but 43 saves and the best ERA in the league would say otherwise." - Ian Levin on Yanks Hall of Fame closer, Mariano Rivera

"Came into the year amidst speculation he could hit .400, than barely cleared .300." - Troy Sowden on M's right fielder, Ichiro

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2005 MLB AWARDS
ITP STAFF	AL Disappointment	NL Disappointment	AL Surprise	NL Surprise
LEVIN	Minnesota	Florida	Chicago	Washington
CHAMBERS	Seattle	San Francisco	Cleveland	Washington
CLARKE	Baltimore	NONE	New York	NONE
CLARK	Seattle	New York	Cleveland	Atlanta
SOWDEN	Minnesota	Los Angeles	Chicago	Washington
KAISER	Seattle	Chicago	Cleveland	C. Cordero
CHURCHILL	Seattle	Chicago	Chicago	Atlanta

"Opened their pockets over the winter, but still only managed 69 wins." - Joe Kaiser on the Seattle Mariners

"The Expos… err I mean Nationals – oh what a home and a name change can do." - Jake Chambers on the Washington Nationals

"In a literal sense. Are you saying that $200 million a year and 12 franchise players don’t matter that much next to hitting behind the runner? That would be kind of important to know." - Jeff Clarke on the New York Yankees

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2005 GOLD GLOVE
POS.	ITP CONSENSUS	RUNNER-UP
AL 1B	M. Teixeira	R. Sexson
2B	O. Hudson	R. Belliard
3B	E. Chavez	A. Rodriguez
SS	O. Cabrera	M. Tejada
C	J. Mauer	I. Rodriguez
OF	Ichiro	A. Rowand
OF	V. Wells	J. Jones
OF	M. Kotsay	J. Reed
P	K. Rogers	B. Zito
NL 1B	D. Lee	J. Snow
2B	L. Castillo	M. Giles
3B	D. Wright	M. Ensberg
SS	C. Izturis	O. Vizquel
C	Y. Molina	M. Matheny
OF	J. Edmonds	M. Bradley
OF	A. Jones	B. Clark
OF	C. Beltran	W. Taveras
P	G. Maddux	D. Willis

2005 ALL-MLB TEAM
POS.	ITP CONSENSUS	RUNNER-UP
1B	A. Pujols	D. Lee
2B	C. Utley	A. Soriano
3B	A. Rodriguez	E. Chavez
SS	M. Tejada	M. Young
C	V. Martinez	J. Mauer
OF	M. Ramirez	G. Sheffield
OF	A. Jones	M. Cabrera
OF	V. Guerrero	P. Burrell
DH	D. Ortiz	T. Hafner
SP	R. Clemens	R. Oswalt
SP	J. Santana	D. Willis
RP	M. Rivera	F. Rodriguez
MGR	B. Cox	M. Scoscia
GM	B. Beane	M. Shapiro

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