Defeat the Empire

Last season, David Ortiz took home the ALCS MVP award, and he is Defeat the Empire's First Half AL MVP. Here are our Midseason Awards:

American League

MVP: David Ortiz, Boston. Ortiz has anchored the Boston lineup since opening day of 2005. Ortiz was the main power threat for the first two months of the year until Manny Ramirez began to heat up. 'Big Papi' lives for the big moment, and his .389 batting average with runners in scoring position and less than two outs sums up David's season.
Runner-up: Vladimir Guerrero, Los Angeles

Cy Young: Roy Halladay, Toronto. Despite taking the midseason Cy Young, Halladay has no shot to win it come November because of his recently broken leg that has him sidelined over a month. Nevertheless, his 12-4, 2.41 line is the most impressive in the AL considering he faces the hard-hitting Orioles, Yankees, and Red Sox on a regular basis.
Runner-up: Mark Buehrle, Chicago

Rookie of the Year: Chris Young, Texas. Young has quietly gone 8-5, 3.80 in a bandbox to end all bandboxes. Behind Kenney Rogers, he's been the Rangers' most consistent starter, and takes home the midseason AL Rookie of the Year.
Runner-up: Tadihito Iguchi, Chicago

Least Valuable Player: Jason Kendall, Oakland. Billy Beane brought Kendall in in a rare salary-adding move for the small-market A's. He's hitting .277, but he has no home runs and a meager .322 slugging percentage.
Runner-up: Jaret Wright, Yankees

Manager of the Year: Ozzie Guillen, Chicago. No contest here. While most had the White Sox in third or fourth place in the Central, Guillen's brash style has the Chisox a whopping 9 games above Minnesota in the AL Central.
Runner-up: Lee Mazzilli, Baltimore

National League

MVP: Andruw Jones, Atlanta. While the stat lines of Derrek Lee and Albert Pujols may be more impressive, nobody has been more valuable to their team than Jones. In a lineup minus Chipper Jones and surrounded by six rookies at time, Jones has finally realized his offensive potential in carrying the Braves offensively.
Runner-up: Derrek Lee, Chicago

Cy Young: Roger Clemens, Houston. Clemens has just seven wins due to extremely poor run support, but his 1.48 ERA is .91 better than his nearest competetor, Dontrelle Willis of Florida. And keep in mind, Clemens makes 60% of his starts in the hitter-friendly Minute Maid Park, but Willis pitches in spacious Dolphins stadium. This would be the eighth Cy Young Award for Clemens, who sports an 0.20 ERA on the road in 2005.
Runner-up: Dontrelle Willis, Florida

Rookie of the Year: Willy Taveras, Houston. It would be impossible to replace what Carlos Beltran did for the Astros last October, but Taveras has done his part and then some, with a .293 batting average and 22 stolen bases. Keep in mind that Taveras had never played a game above AA before this year, so he could get even better in the second half.
Runner-up: Clint Barmes, Colorado

Least Valuable Player: Jim Thome, Philadephia. Thome has been hurt for nearly half the season, and when he's been on the field, hitting only .207. Thome looks washed up at age 34, which is bad news for the Phillies, who owe him another 43.5 million dollars after this year. Rookie Ryan Howard has hit .371/16/54 in AAA this year, so Thome's job may not be completely safe.
Runner-up: Mike Lowell, Florida

Manager of the Year: Bobby Cox, Atlanta. Everybody's picking Frank Robinson, who's no doubt done a great job with the Nats, but Atlanta's roster is even younger and more unproven than Washington's. Kyle Davies, Roman Colon, and Jorge Sosa have been mainstays in the Braves' rotation, and Atlanta remains 11 games over .500. Once John Thomson, Mike Hampton, Tim Hudson, and Chipper Jones get healthy, Atlanta will run away with the NL East yet again.
Runner-up: Frank Robinson, Washington.

Second Half Preview coming tomorrow or Tuesday.