But it also means something else: it’s time to dole out some midseason awards.

Since our primary focus here at Midwest Sports Fans is, well, the Midwest, I am going to focus my award giving to just the Central divisions of the American and National League. Let’s get right to it.

NL Central 1st Half MVP: Albert Pujols, and I really don’t need to say anything else about it. His name itself is becoming hyperbole. I want to see a new version of “The Most Interesting Man in the World” commercials featuring Pujols. They could be called “The Most Dominating Presence in Baseball” and include lines like “he once struck out, just to see what it felt like” and “he’s seen less pitches than the World Cup, yet his goatee alone has hit more home runs than Ryan Ludwick.” Albert Pujols is amazing and is not just the NL Central MVP, but the MLB MVP for the first half of 2009.

AL Central 1st Half MVP: This one is not so clear cut. Let’s take a look at a few of the candidates (stats as of July 9th):

• Joe Mauer, Twins: 60 G, 224 AB, .388 BA, 15 HR, 47 RBI, 48 R, 1.118 OPS
• Justin Morneau, Twins: 84 G, 319 AB, .317 BA, 21 HR, 69 RBI, 56 R, .984 OPS
• Jermaine Dye, White Sox: 77 G, 276 AB, .297 BA, 20 HR, 54 RBI, 51 R, .940 OPS
• Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 129 K, 29 BB

Obviously I really want to say JD, or even Scott Podsednik, and I think there is an argument to be made for them as their value has been highlighted by the injury to Carlos Quentin, but I have a hard time giving it to anyone other than Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer with the impressive stats both have racked up.

It certainly isn’t Zack Greinke, whose team becomes more irrelevant with each passing week. If his ERA was still 1.00, then maybe. But he hasn’t been as lights-out recently, which is to be expected since he isn’t the greatest pitcher in the history of mankind and all beings, as some have suggested.

While everyone is salivating over Mauer, and don’t get me wrong — he has been great since returning from injury, Morneau has been producing at a high level for 24 more games and over the span of almost 100 more ABs than Mauer. Plus, batting average is an overrated stat, so Mauer gets no bonus points from me because he’s making everyone dream about .400. Both are great candidates, and by the end of the year such a difference in games won’t be so magnified, but right now I have to go with Morneau, who has been the most consistent run producer in the division over the course of the entire first half.

NL Central 1st Half Cy Young: I see two primary contenders: Adam Wainwright of St. Louis and Yovani Gallardo of Milwaukee. Here are the stats:

• Yovani Gallardo, Brewers: 8-6, 109.2 innings, 2.95 ERA, 120 K, 51 BB
• Adam Wainwright, Cardinals: 9-5, 122.1 innings, 3.09 ERA, 110 K, 45 BB

Pretty damn close based on the numbers (and you could probably throw Ryan Franklin in the mix here too, who has been great as the Cardinals’ closer). My first instinct when comparing Gallardo and Wainwright is to go with the guy pitching for the team in first place, but it’s hard to use team record as a tie-breaker considering the Cardinals are only one game up on the Brewers in the standings. Or is it? With two pitchers this close, sometimes it comes right down to head-to-head battles.

Thus far in 2009, Wainwright has absolutely dominated Milwaukee. He is 2-0 in two starts against the Brewers, going 15.1 innings and giving up just a single run while striking out 18. Gallardo, on the other hand, has struggled somewhat against his team’s primary competition for the division title. Despite having a better overall ERA and WHIP than Wainwright, Gallardo is 0-1 against St. Louis. Sure, he pitched 8 innings of shutout ball while only giving up 2 hits in the teams’ May 25th battle, so you can’t blame him for the no decision there, but that game was not head-to-head against Wainwright like the July 7th game was. In that battle, Gallardo lasted only five innings and gave up four runs in a 5-0 loss for the Brew Crew.

So maybe that one game difference for the Cardinals is the difference between Wainwright and Gallardo. I’m giving the 1st half Cy Young for the NL Central to Adam Wainwright.

AL Central 1st Half Cy Young: Lots of legit contenders here. Let’s list them out with stats:

• Mark Buehrle, White Sox: 9-2, 3.14 ERA, 1.13 WHIP, 114.2 innings, 65 K, 25 BB
• Joe Nathan, Twins: 0-1, 1.13 ERA, 0.75 WHIP, 33.1 innings, 22 saves, 43 K, 7 BB
• Justin Verlander, Tigers: 9-4, 3.59 ERA, 1.20 WHIP, 115.1 innings, 141 K, 35 BB
• Edwin Jackson, Tigers: 6-4, 2.59 ERA, 1.07 WHIP, 114.2 innings, 93 K, 33 BB
• Zack Greinke, Royals: 10-5, 2.12 ERA, 1.08 WHIP, 127.1 innings, 129 K, 29 BB
• Fausto Carmona, Indians: 2-6, 7.42 ERA, 1.81 WHIP, 60.2 innings, 36 K, 41 BB

If we were giving this out to the pitcher who has been the most generous to opposing hitters and teams, Fausto Carmona would win in a landslide. And yes, this is the same Fausto Carmona that went 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA in 2007. But obviously I only listed Carmona here to throw more salt in the multitude of open wounds Cleveland’s start has given its fans. More on him later.

Back to the subject at hand. Zack Greinke obviously has the best numbers, but I just don’t believe in handing out awards to players whose teams are not in the playoff race. There is a different level of pressure when your team is expected to win and when games are meaningful. If the award were Most Outstanding Pitcher, it’s Greinke by a landslide. It’s not, and it clearly states in the fine print of my own personal Cy Young and MVP criteria that last place teams (Cleveland sucks so bad they don’t count anymore) cannot have Cy Young or MVP winners, so we’ll let Willy Wonka tell Zack Greinke what he’s won:

(By the way, credit goes to Hugging Harold Reynolds for tweeting that video yesterday. I hadn’t seen that in forever, but always loved Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Charlie Bucket is a golden god.)

Honestly, I can’t find a whole lot to separate Buehrle, Verlander, and Jackson. All three have had excellent seasons. I’d give the edge to Buehrle because he owns the Tigers and Verlander sucks against the White Sox, and both have more wins than Jackson, but it’s really splitting hairs between those three.

My 1st half AL Central Cy Young goes to Joe Nathan, who has just be out-of-this-world awesome. The Twins’ pitchers (other than Nick Blackburn, who is having a very good yet under-the-radar season) have struggled this season. Francisco Liriano, Scott Baker, and Kevin Slowey have all dealt with injuries and bouts of ineffectiveness. The one constant (throughout all the years Ray, has been baseball) has been Joe Nathan at the back end of the bullpen making sure that when the Twins do have a late lead, they do not surrender it.

I’m not a huge proponent of giving Cy Youngs to closers who typically pitch less than a third of the amount of innings a top-line starter does, but Joe Nathan has given up only 18 hits in 33.1 innings and is 22-24 in save opportunities. He has been beyond dominant and there is no way the Twins would be as close to first place as they are without him. It’s a competitive field, but Nathan is the choice.

NL Central Manager of the 1st Half: Tony LaRussa, and I don’t think it’s close. Ken Macha has done a nice job in Milwaukee keeping the Brewers in the race without C.C. Sabathia or Ben Sheets, but LaRussa has the Cardinals in first place with one legit hitter in his lineup. Yes, that hitter is the great Pujols, but look at the rest of the team’s offensive stats. Putrid. And it’s not like their pitching has been lights out. Ryan Franklin has been a revelation in the bullpen, and getting Chris Carpenter back has helped, but this is still a rotation that counts on guys like Kyle Lohse, Joel Piniero, and Todd Wellemeyer. That LaRussa has the Cardinals in first place is a testament to his managerial genius (and to Pujols’ utter dominance, of course).

AL Central Manager of the 1st Half: I really want to say Ozzie Guillen, and I think that he’s done a great job, but my vote goes to Jimmy Leyland of Detroit. It’s not just that the Tigers are in first place, it’s that they’ve been able to rebound from last season’s disappointment with a far less potent offensive attack and without the benefit of an above-average bullpen. Leyland has navigated his way through the struggles of Dontrelle Willis and Armando Gallarraga, plus had to deal with Magglio Ordonez’s sharp decline. Leyland essentially has a lineup with only three hitters who have been consistent producers (Miguel Cabrera, Brandon Inge, Curtis Granderson), yet there the Tigers sit, a couple games up and eight games over .500.

2009 has been an excellent rebound season for Detroit, and Leyland deserves credit as the man steering the ship. He also deserves credit for having one of the most hilarious old school baseball cards ever. The hat, the mustache, the sunburned face…I’m not sure if he’s at Spring Training, a train conductor, or working at a carnival.

And with that, let’s transition into a few “alternative” awards for the first half.

NL Central Least Valuable Player of the 1st Half: Milton Bradley wins this one. Signed in the offseason after putting up terrific numbers in Texas, The Angry One has only gotten 203 ABs so far this season and hasn’t done much with them. He’s hitting .236 and, even worse, is slugging only .374. Ouch. Plus, he is being his usual distracting self and getting into public pissing matches with his manager when he’s not forgetting how many outs there are in an inning. Like most things having to do with the Cubs, you just get the feeling that this is not going to end well.

AL Central Least Valuable Player of the 1st Half: Fausto Carmona of the Indians. We touched on his stats above, and they really say it all. This guy has just gone straight downhill since 2007 and the Indians have to be wondering if he’ll ever be able to recapture the ability that made him appear to be one of the bright young pitching stars in the big leagues. Despite a rough 2008, a lot was expected out of Carmona this year. Well, the Indians have gotten a lot out of him…it’s just all been bad.

AL/NL Central Worst Manager of the 1st Half: Hands down Eric Wedge. You need look no further than this site, where our very own AJ Kaufman calls for Wedge’s head in pretty much every article he writes. The Indians were expected to contend for the AL Central crown, yet they are 13.5 games out and 19 games under .500 already.

AL/NL Central Manager with the most potential to give his kids truly awful awesome names: Eric Wedge. If he had any sense of humor he would name his kids Orange, Potato, and Cheese. No such luck though. As it is, he and his wife named their kids Ava and Dalton Cash. Oh well.

Come to think of it though, Dalton Cash Wedge is a pretty sweet and unique name. The kid is either going be a scrappy middle infielder/#2 hitter in the majors or the lead actor in his generation’s version of Dawson’s Creek. Well done Eric. (See, we don’t always criticize you on Midwest Sports Fans.)

AL/NL Central Quote of the 1st Half: This one is easy and goes to (who else?) Ozzie Guillen. And there were a few of them, all of which were gloriously derogatory towards the team from the North Side.

“But one thing about Wrigley Field, I puke every time I go there. That’s just to be honest. And if Cub fans don’t like the way I talk about Wrigley Field, it’s just Wrigley Field. I don’t say anything about the fans or anything now. But Wrigley Field, they got to respect my opinion. That’s the way I feel…I don’t care if they hate me. They don’t feed my kids. If they hate me, that’s cool.”

That’s just a great quote, although the part about Ozzie not talking about Cubs fans may not be entirely true. Ozzie also had this gem:

“…our fans are not stupid like Cubs fans.”

AL/NL Central Home Run Call of the Year: Hawk Harrelson, two days ago. Hell yeah!

That’s all I’ve got. Sorry for not even mentioning your teams Reds, Astros, and Pirates fans…they’ve all been pretty uninteresting so far this year, at least as far as I’m concerned. But feel free to add your own midseason awards in the comments.

The White Sox bring out the brooms again tonight, and then play the Twins in a pivotal pre-All Star Break series. As Hawk might say, I loooove baseball.

* – Jim Leyland baseball card image credit: Vinewood Sports Cards

* – Albert Pujols photo credit: Urban Shocker

• Franchise record 66 victories
• Only two losses at home the entire season
• #1 overall seed in NBA Playoffs

[Note: Follow the links for great deals on Cavs Playoff Tickets or all NBA Playoff Tickets from Stubhub.]

But more important than any quantifiable accomplishment is the close relationship that Mike Brown has built with superstar LeBron James.

This year’s Cavs have amazed NBA observers with their team chemistry and camaraderie. Much of that can be attributed to Mike Brown trusting LeBron James, LeBron James trusting Mike Brown, and the positive vibes trickling down throughout the entire team. Brown obviously trusts his best player to also be a team leader, and LeBron has certainly fulfilled that role as much, if not moreso, than any superstar in recent NBA history.

As to the voting for this year’s award, Mike Brown received 55 first place votes in the NBA Coach of the Year voting and finished with 355 total points. Rick Adelman finished second and Stan Van Gundy finished third. The combined point totals of Adelman and Van Gundy would not equal Brown’s, making Brown the clear winner. The NBA Coach of the Year is voted upon by NBA writers and broadcasters.

Said Cavs owner Dan Gilbert:

“Mike Brown is one of these rare people that has nearly every tool in his tool box,” Gilbert said in a statement. “He is smart, hard working, and selfless. He is curious and hungry to learn. He is philosophically driven and derives his decision making from his strong philosophy.”

Brown becomes only the second Cavaliers head coach ever to be named NBA Coach of the Year. Bill Fitch was also named Coach of the Year when he was in Cleveland during the 1975-76 season. Below is the complete all-time list of past NBA Coach of Year Award winners.

Now that Mike Brown has earned some hardware, his Cavaliers look to continue their quest for the ultimate piece of hardware. After throttling the Pistons in Game 1, the Cavs host Detroit again Tuesday at 8:00 ET on TNT. Cleveland is favored by 11.5 — and anyone who watched Game 1 will no doubt be leaning towards taking the Cavs with the points.

The more immediate question than the Cavs’ quest for an NBA Title is whether LeBron James can hold off Kobe Bryant and Dwyane Wade to win his first NBA MVP Award. Follow the link for an analysis of the 2009 NBA MVP Award and a list of the past MVP winners.

(Mike Brown and LeBron James photo above by Drew Hallowell / Getty Images North America)

Update January 10th, 2010: Please note that this post was originally published on January 2nd of 2009. It has come to my attention that many people are getting to this post through Google looking for information on this year’s MVP award.

A major reason for the misunderstanding is that Peyton Manning has won the MVP award…again!

My apologies to those of you who thought that the information below was applicable to this year. It is not. This link will take you to the MVP voting results for 2010.

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Update: It has been amusing to me how many people are coming to this post thinking that it’s current. I was waiting to see how long it would take a commenter to actually call people out…and finally one did.

Anyway, I just posted my top 5 list for the 2009 NFL MVP award, so feel free to go there, cast your vote, and continue the debate about this year’s award.

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Peyton Manning has been rewarded for leading the Indianapolis Colts to nine straight wins and a playoff berth after overcoming an early season knee injury, and the ensuing offensive struggles and injury woes experienced by the Colts this season.

Today, it was announced by The Associated Press that Peyton Manning won his third NFL MVP award, tying Brett Favre as the only three-time winners in NFL history.

And the voting was not even close.

The AP MVP voting is done by a nationwide ballot of 50 NFL sportswriters and broadcasters. Peyton Manning received 32 votes, which placed him miles ahead of runners-up Chad Pennington and Michael Turner, who each garnered 4 votes. Adrian Peterson and Steelers linebacker James Harrison each received three votes. Philip Rivers garnered two votes, while Titans rookie Chris Johnson and Arizona QB Kurt Warner each got one vote a piece.

According to the story at ESPN.com:

“It’s been the most rewarding regular season that I’ve been a part of in my 11 years, and I have to believe a lot of the other players and even coaches might feel the same way.”

Peyton Manning also won the MVP award in 2004 and in 2003, the year the was named co-MVP with Steve McNair.

For the season, Manning eclipsed 4,000 yards for the ninth time to go with a 27-12 TD:INT ratio and a 95.0 passer rating. During the team’s nine-game winning streak, after it fell to 3-4, Manning has been even better. He is 209-290 with 2,248 yards and a 17:3 TD:INT ratio.

Peyton Manning and the Indianapolis Colts travel to San Diego on Saturday night for their wild-card weekend matchup with the San Diego Chargers. The two teams know each other well, and have a history of meeting for epic clashes in the playoffs. Sunday should be no different.

Congratulations to Peyton Manning. I did not throw in my two cents before the results were announced, but I most certainly would have given my MVP award to Manning. He put the Colts on his shoulders this season after overcoming quite a troubling preseason injury. Good for Peyton, and best of luck to the Colts this weekend.