FanNation - The Republic of Sport

thehemogoblin- Gone said 05/09, 10:40 PM
National League:

Chase Utley- He's already 1/4 of the way there, and he gets tiny Citizen's Bank Park 81 times a year.

Ryan Howard- He plays in the best hitter's park in baseball and he's done it before.

American League:

Alex Rodriguez- Reigning MVP and the highest paid player for a reason.

David Ortiz- Another guy with a sweet swing and a bandbox ballpark.

thehemogoblin- Gone said 05/10, 12:04 AM
OK, it's A-Rod v. Pena and Howard v. Berkman.

Howard's the quickest person ever to 100 home runs. He has 105 home runs in the last two years, has Chase Utley and Pat Burrell in his lineup, helping him get pitches to hit, and plays in the livest stadium in MLB. Howard has one Silver Slugger and an MVP, and his career high in home runs is 58.

Meanwhile, Berkman's never won a Silver Slugger, his best protection is the rapidly aging Miguel Tejada, and he's only reached 40 home runs twice in 8 full seasons, peaking at 45 in 2006.

Alex Rodriguez has hit 50 homers in a season three times, owns eight Silver Sluggers, three MVPs, and has hit 40+ HRs five other times.

Carlos Pena, on the other hand, has only hit more than 20 home runs twice, and more than 30 once, last season. He's never won a major award, never led the league in any statistic, he's just an average player with one good season.

thehemogoblin- Gone said 05/10, 12:26 PM
At FIRST BASE, winning a Silver Slugger, you have to have power. The MVP award was won BECAUSE OF HIS HOME-RUN HITTING.

Oh, wow, the Mantle and Maris argument. As far as home run hitting, they're carbon copies of the story. Howard, like Mantle, is the established home run hitter who's done it before, and Utley, like Maris, was a good player before and is coming into his own this year. With Jimmy Rollins getting on base before them and Pat Burrell protecting behind them, Howard and Utley have the best chance of doing the 50 HRs together as any other player.

A-Rod will still end up with more home runs then Pena ever will. You bring up Roger Maris earlier, and Pena's another member of the Maris effect. One good season, and then relative nondescript work everywhere else in his career. Who's to say Pena won't do it again, you ask? How about his batting average, which is 72 points lower this year than last. How about his ground ball, line drive, and fly ball percentages, which are up 6%, down 3%, and down 2.5%. In fact, he's hitting more ground balls than fly balls.

A-Rod in the last three years and the start of this season has hit more HRs (141) than Pena in his 8 year career (140).