Ryan Howard : November 17th, 2008, 3:12 pm est
News: Cardinals slugger Albert Pujols won his second NL MVP award, powering past Philadelphia star Ryan Howard by a comfortable margin Monday. Los Angeles outfielder Manny Ramirez and Milwaukee pitcher C.C. Sabathia also drew strong support after being traded by AL teams in July. Pujols got 18 of the 32 first-place votes in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and had 369 points. He added to the MVP award he won in 2005. Howard drew 12 first-place votes and 308 points. Milwaukee outfielder Ryan Braun was third with 139 points, with Ramirez fourth at 138. Houston's Lance Berkman was fifth and Sabathia sixth. Brad Lidge, perfect on 41 save chances for the Phillies during the regular season, drew the other two first-place votes and came in eighth. Voting was completed before the playoffs began.
Analysis: Howard led the majors with 48 homers and 146 RBI for the World Series champion Phillies. Howard got off to a slow start and was hitting under .200 toward the end of May. His best month came in September, when he set a team record with 32 RBI in the month and helped the Phillies rally to the NL East title. Howard won the NL MVP in 2006. Consider him a candidate to pick in Round 1 in leagues again, but you have to watch him in leagues that penalize strikeouts and a sub-.260 batting average
