National League MVP -- Final Answer?

BB B, I'm not sure "Because he's not as good as those guys ... that's why" cuts it.

Howard sucked early in the season. Utley was hurt for a month. Rollins did everything in their absences to keep the Phillies afloat. And yes, on the final day of the season, with a playoff berth hanging in the balance, he led off bottom-1 by reacing base, stealing 2 bases and scoring the first run, and the Phila crowd was into it, and the emotion was thick, and all that jazz.

 

BB Bobcat, I respect your opinion, but to make a claim that Rollins is not as good as Howard or Utley is outlandish.

Rollins bats lead-off for the Phillies because of the intangibles he brings to the club. He scored 130 runs this season for the Phillies. Sure, his power would be great to have later in the line-up, but line-ups, and I am sure you know, are built around a player's strength.

Rollins creates runs by getting on base and then stealing his way along. Minus the power, he is a good lead-off hitter.

By your assumption, is Raul Ibanez a better player than Ichiro? Is Moises Alou a better player than Jose Reyes?

Answer me those questions and then we can talk.

 

Flip a coin.

 

How'd Rollins and Holliday do head-to-head when their teams played? That'd be a neat stat to see.

 

Why? Did they pitch to each other?

 

No, just interested to see numbers of how they hit when the teams played.

 

Rollins vs. COL
G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
7 7 34 32 5 11 1 0 2 4 2 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 4 1 .344 .382 .563 .945

Holliday vs. PHI
G GS PA AB R H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BA OBP SLG OPS
7 7 32 28 8 7 1 0 5 9 3 0 3 1 0 0 1 2 1 1 .250 .344 .821 1.165

 

Other than the part about Rollins leading off due to his intangibles (WTF?), well put.

The Phillies did not have another consistent option in the leadoff spot, but he was hurt a lot late in the season. Rollins was their best leadoff hitter and the Phillies have plenty of other middle-of-the-order options (Utley, Howard, Burrell). There are plenty of good arguments for Holliday. His spot in the batting order is not one of them.

 

Holliday had a few more dingers and ribs (Dingers and Ribs ... good band name), but the numbers are about the same here. Thanks, bucky.

 

Rollins .344 BA, .382 OBP Holliday .250, .344...slight discrepancy there, but each doing what he's supposed to do for his respective team.

 

Yeah, by intangibles, I meant everything I put after that sentence.

 

Another stat maybe bucky could look up:

How many GW-hits did each have this year?