Maybe it just wasn’t in the cards for Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter to win his first ever AL MVP award. While many felt he was worthy of finally taking home what some referred to as a “lifetime achievment award,” the popular 32 year-old Pinstripe shortstop couldn’t overcome the lofty power numbers Twins first baseman Justin Morneau put up. The 25 year-old Canadian slugger put up 20 more home runs and 33 more RBI’s to garner 14 more votes including three more firsts (15 to 12) to take home his first ever MVP. So, was Jeter robbed? Nah. While I would’ve voted for DJ, Morneau was very deserving. You can’t argue against the numbers he put up and how he helped carry the Twins down the stretch en route to a great comeback overtaking the AL Central over the Tigers on the last day of the season. He also was in a worse lineup. Even if catcher Joe Mauer took home the batting title outpointing Jeter by four, you can’t compare the Twins lineup to the Yankees. Plus the Twins were in a better division with more pressure just to reach October. So I can’t go nuts over Jeter not winning. Would it have been nice? Absolutely. And should the fact Gary Sheffield and Hideki Matsui along with Robinson Cano were out for long stretches have tilted the vote his way? Maybe. But Johnny Damon, Jason Giambi and A-Rod were all still healthy. I will say that this was Jeter’s best season. Amazing considering it was his 11th year. He really was tremendous for the Yanks with Sheff, Matsui and Cano all out and helped keep them in the AL East race when they could’ve buckled. In the end, this award is about gaudy numbers. That weighs heavily against a player who won’t have the power production but brings the intangibles to the field everyday. Still, the season Jeter put together of .344-14-97 with 34 steals, 118 runs (2nd to Grady Sizemore in AL) and a reliable .381 with RISP (2nd in AL) should be remembered by this town forever. So he didn’t take home the hardware. To read some of Morneau’s quotes about being surprised, Jeter didn’t have to. He already won.

For more on why this wasn’t robbery, we suggest Daily News columnist Mike Lupica’s column. While I may not agree with him much, he nails it here in a very well put together piece on why Jeter might be No.2 this time, but is not here:

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/473815p-398607c.html 

A solid piece by what is a very gifted writer. I just wish he didn’t have biases. But I guess in reality we all do. While we’re on the MVP discussion, the NL race also could’ve gone either way. But in the end, voters went for second-year Phillies first base slugger Ryan Howard over last year’s winner Albert Pujols. I love Howard. He was just awesome this year and simply dominant the final two months. He was the only reason the Phillies went from being under .500 to over and challenging for the wild card. He was that clutch. Now, Pujols was every bit as big time for the Cards. Without him, they don’t make the postseason and maybe win 70 games. You could go either way here. Neither guy was a bad choice. Both are terrific.