Well the east coast bias is in full force in Major League Baseball and it is hitting the Rockies hard.
Today, Troy Tulowitzki lost out on the National League Rookie of the Year to Milwaukee Brewers slugger Ryan Braun. Braun received 128 points in the Rookie of the Year balloting while Tulo received 126.
Braun had some good offensive numbers (34 HRs, .324 average, and a slugging percentage of .634), he was horrible on defense with 26 errors at third base. Braun only played with the Brewers since May.
Tulowitzki played throughout the entire year, hit almost .300, had more rbi’s, and more at-bats. In addtion, Tulo was incredible at shortstop. In an article on the Denver Post website, “Tulowitzki led all major league shortstops in fielding percentage (.987), chances (834) and assists (561), while making just 11 errors.“
As an all-around player, Tulo should have won the NL Rookie of the Year. You hit for show and play defensive to win games. This showed because the Brewers went down in flames at the end of the year while the Rockies surged.
Just last week, Tulo lost out to Jimmy Rollins in the shortstop gold glove award despite having a higher fielding percentage, over 100 more opportunities, and turned more double plays.
Helton also lost the gold glove at first base despite having only two errors at first base. A bunch less than Derrek Lee of the Chicago Cubs who committed seven errors.
Tracy Ringolsby of the Rocky Mountain News had a great story on how both Tulo and Helton were shut-out of the gold gloves.
It will be interesting to see what happens when the National League MVP award is announced and see if they ignore what Matt Holliday has done this year.
Mile High Soapbox 