OWNED! Reflections of the Pre All-Star Break Season

Columnist Written on July 13, 2008

I get owned on what appears to be an INXS message board. I'm not sure if this exactly hurts, I mean these are INXS fans, right? In reflection of a post I created during the middle of March, I proclaimed to "Better Than Oasis", heckling pop group INXS for making a song which sounded as if they wanted to say it, but couldn't man up.

Needless to say, I don't think INXS fans will be writing my name in for any blogger of the year awards. On the bright side, I'm now referred to as a "Sports Writer". Oh, and I also learned what happens when you google your own name...a couple times...a day.

That aside, I know everyone has been asking themselves, "What does Brandon think about the pre All-Star Break season?"

So here I will reflect on my pre-season player predictions and what I anticipate to come. Over at The Fantasy Baseball Generals, we were asked to give some award predictions. You can check mine out here.

American League

MVP to date

Milton Bradley—I am sticking with the player I picked nearly two weeks ago for the blogger's poll. Bradley has been incredible and goes into the All-Star break having hit home runs in back-to-back games. As I mentioned, I feel Bradley's presence has had a lot to do with Josh Hamilton's impressive season.

I have a tough time believing Bradley can maintain the season he is having. While his batted-ball data is not entirely out of line with his career rates, staying healthy will be Bradley's biggest obstacle. Combine that with the Rangers' current place in the standings, and it makes it tough to believe he will come out on top.

Currently, I have Alex Rodriguez as my second most valuable player, but like Bradley, the Yankees' position in the standings, combined with Rodriguez's injury, may limit the likelihood of that.

In third, my preseason pick of Grady Sizemore does not look terrible, until one is reminded how awful the Indians have played to date. The current American-League leader in home runs is not far from the 40-home-run pace I predicted in March.

MVP by season's end

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This article is also featured on The Outsiders Look at the Insides of Baseball

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written on July 13, 2008 Opinion

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