By AP/KWMU
Philadelphia, PA – Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols finished second in voting for National League Most Valuable Player. He was 41 points behind Phillies slugger and St. Louis native Ryan Howard. Results were announced Monday.
Pitcher Chris Carpenter also made the list of players who got votes, but he only got 4.
Howard, a graduate of Lafayette High School, became just the second player voted Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in consecutive years.
He almost single-handedly thrust the Philadelphia Phillies into playoff contention after a midseason roster purge, and finished with a .313 average, 58 homers and 149 RBIs. The All-Star first baseman walked 108 times, including 33 intentional passes. He didn't go deep in the final nine games and walked 11 times in that span.
"Being the competitor I am, you want to go out there and try to get hits," Howard said after beating out 2005 NL MVP Albert Pujols for the award Monday. "When teams take the bat out of your hands, it's a little tough, but that's when you hope the rest of your team can come in and pick you up."
Howard received 20 first-place votes and 12 seconds for 388 points in balloting by a panel of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Pujols got 12 firsts, 19 seconds and one third for 347 points.
Cal Ripken Jr. (1982 and 1983) is the only other player to follow a Rookie of the Year award with an MVP the following year. Two players won both in the same year: Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001).
"I heard sophomore jinx this, sophomore jinx that," said Howard, who turned 27 on Sunday. "I just prepared myself in spring training to go out and perform, stick with my game plan and have fun."
Howard had the most homers in the majors since Barry Bonds hit a record 73 in 2001.
Pujols, who hit .331 with 49 homers and 137 RBIs, defeated Atlanta's Andruw Jones 378-351 in last year's voting after finishing second in 2002 and 2003. Stan Musial and Williams (four times each) are the only players to finish second more often than Pujols, who matched three-time AL MVP Mickey Mantle with three second-place finishes.
"To be able to be in that kind of company and just being able to compete with a guy like Albert is, I guess, a feat in itself and it's an honor because of what he's done," Howard said.
Howard, who lives in Wildwood, works out at the same facility in the St. Louis area that Pujols uses during the offseason. The two occasionally are there at the same time.
"Any questions that I've had, he'd answer for me or give me some advice here and there," Howard said.
Houston's Lance Berkman was third with 230 points, followed by the New York Mets' Carlos Beltran (211), Cabrera (170) and Washington's Alfonso Soriano (106) who agreed to a $136 million, eight-year contract with the Chicago Cubs on Monday.
Pujols gets a $100,000 bonus for finishing second, Berkman $250,000 for placing third and Beltran $200,000 for fourth.