Rant avoided. Thank god.
The votes are in and Joe Mauer is the 2009 AL MVP. I cannot express how happy that makes me, as Mauer is my favorite player and definitely gives new meaning to small market success. Morneau may have won in 2006, but he didn’t really deserve it over some of the other players, whereas Mauer’s season was definitely MVP worthy and then some.
I remember when Kirby Puckett had his run in Minnesota, and I loved every game he played. I got to experience game 6 of the 1991 world series, and at that point, Puckett was like a god. Mauer has reached that level of fandom for me, even though he has yet to win a ring. Now that this battle against the Yankees is over, hopefully the Twins will pull their heads out of their asses and prevent battle number 2.
Regardless of what is to come after 2010, congrats to the most valuable AL player this year.
