American League MVP Archives - All Mississippi Baseball

roll the tape

When the American League MVP voters begin to ponder their choice for 2021, they need to punch up the video from Friday night’s Chicago White Sox-Tampa Bay game. To appreciate the many talents of ex-East Central Community College star Tim Anderson, “show ’em this game today,” White Sox manager Tony La Russa said in an mlb.com story. In a clash of first-place clubs, Anderson went 3-for-6 with a home run, scored four times and drove in two runs in a 7-5, extra-inning win. One of the runs he scored came on an acrobatic slide to avoid a tag at the plate. The homer — his 14th — tied the game in the ninth after the White Sox had squandered a lead. In the 11th, he knocked in the go-ahead run and scored the final one. He has 51 RBIs and 78 runs, batting mainly in the leadoff spot. He is hitting .303 and has a 10-game hit streak in which he has batted .388 with four bombs, including that game-winner in the Field of Dreams Game. “(T)he confidence is at an all-time high,” he said postgame. The All-Star shortstop, eight years after leading ECCC to the state juco title, is leading the White Sox to their first division title since 2008. Said La Russa in the mlb.com piece: “There’s nobody in the league, either league, that’s better than he is when you look at the whole game.” Sounds like an MVP. P.S. Jonathan Holder, the Mississippi State product from Gulfport, made his first appearance of 2021 Friday on a rehab assignment (one inning, no runs) in the Arizona Complex League. Signed by the Cubs in the off-season, Holder has been down with a shoulder injury. The Cubs could use some help.

he’s the man

Forget the All-Star Game “snub.” There may be something bigger and better in Brian Dozier’s future. How ’bout an American League MVP award? If he keeps doing stuff like he did on Friday night, such a thing is well within the realm of possibility for the former Southern Miss standout. Dozier hit a three-run, game-winning homer for Minnesota, capping a seven-run ninth inning that took down Detroit 8-6. The Twins, who haven’t sniffed a winning season since 2010, are 47-40 and very much in the AL postseason picture as the season approaches the All-Star break. Dozier, who packs a lot of wallop in a 5-foot-11, 190-pound (maybe) frame, is the primary reason for this resurgence. Friday’s homer, his second walk-off of the week, was his 19th of the season. (He hit 23 all of last year.) He leads the league in runs and the team in RBIs with a combined total of 115 in 86 games. That’s MVP stuff. And he plays a good second base, too. It would have been great to see Dozier in Tuesday’s All-Star Game. But what happens in baseball in July pales in comparison to what happens in October. No doubt that’s where Dozier’s sights are set.