MLB Postseason Awards, Part 2

Silver Sluggers:

American League
C - Joe Mauer - he's batting .329 for the season and has more RBIs than any other AL catcher, despite his lack of power (9 home runs)
1B - Justin Morneau - Teixeira has slightly better statistics, but plays on a much better team, and if he'd played the entire season in the AL, I'd give it more thought, but Morneau deserves it
2B - Chase Utley - Uggla's had a consistent season, but if Utley had continued his pace from the first couple of months, he would have run away with the MVP, let alone the Silver Slugger, and still he's got 100 RBIs and 32 homers
3B - Alex Rodriguez - I hate to say it given his less than MVP-worthy performance this year and the Yankees missing the playoffs, but it was a down year in the AL for offense; Miggy Cabrera would be more fitting, but will probably be considered a 1B given his midseason switch
SS - Jhonny Peralta - Cleveland's gotta have some representation, that and he's played better than Jeter has this season, crushing the ball and driving in runs for an impotent offense, despite his excessive Ks
OF - Josh Hamilton - he was running away with the AL MVP, but an injury and the strain of an entire season started to wear away on him and he tailed off; still, his stats are great for an entire season, and have been for about a month, so he could really shut it down now if he wanted
OF - Grady Sizemore - he's been the straw that stirred the drink in Cleveland this year without Martinez and Hafner in the lineup, and he's made their offense somewhat potent along with teammate Peralta
OF - Carlos Quentin - the best offseason pickup of the year by far, he was in the MVP hunt until he punched his bat and broke his hand; as with Hamilton, he's got great stats
DH - Aubrey Huff - has quietly had a great season on a horrible team, and deserves to win something for being as good as he has (32/107)

National League
C - Brian McCann - McCann has almost identical statistics to Geovany Soto, but better batting average and about half the strikeouts on a team whose offense is deficient; another candidate would be Bengie Molina, but he has fallen off his torrid pace from earlier this season
1B - Ryan Howard - not even close, unless you heavily factor in strikeouts, but Howard leads the league in homers (again), RBIs (again), and strikeouts (again), and that's what this award is about
2B - Dustin Pedroia - in the wake of losing Manny and Big Papi's slide, the plucky second bagger has been the catalyst for the offense and has outshined early front-runner Ian Kinsler yet again
3B - David Wright - the best run producer at the hot corner this year, despite struggling at times
SS - Jose Reyes - with 19 triples and a .300 batting average, along with 67 RBIs from the leadoff spot, its hard to pass Reyes up, especially considering the Mets are in the wild card hunt, but Hanley Ramirez has twice the home runs and almost the same batting average and RBIs, so this could be a tight one
OF - Carlos Beltran - an unimpressive HR total, but a solid RBI number and a good average; could be beaten out by Nate McLouth, but probably gets it based on name recognition
OF - Ryan Ludwick - had a fantastic year after being a career minor leaguer, and without him the Cards would have been out of it in June, even with Pujols putting up MVP numbers
OF - Ryan Braun - 35 HRs and 100 RBIs are often considered benchmarks for good seasons, and Braun's put those up this year (exactly at the time of writing), and there is a serious lack of power in the outfield in the NL, especially compared to the infield and the AL's outfielders
P - Carlos Zambrano - not even close; batting over .300, has 14 RBIs (equates to around 70 if he batted in every game), and 4 HRs (converts to 20) are pretty stout numbers for someone whose real value is in throwing no hitters

All the other awards coming up next...