Calling You Out: Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel Writer Tom Haudricourt

Albert Pujols, namesake of this here blog, won the 2008 NL MVP today -- despite the aforementioned Haudricourt giving him a seventh-place vote. 

Just to make sure I wasn't missing something, I consulted a mathematician, who confirmed my suspicions: By voting Albert seventh, Haudricourt declared that six players were more valuable than Numero Cinco. Among those six players were two players (CC Sabathia and Manny Ramirez) who were traded to the National League in July. His preference for Aramis Ramirez, Carlos Delgado, and Prince Fielder is only less offensive in the way that you'd rather be called a bastard than a son of a bitch. The sad part is that an error this grievous only guarantees him a spot on Around the Horn.

Haudricourt's "reasoning" follows:

With the Cardinals finishing fourth, I voted Pujols seventh on my ballot. I don’t consider MVP to be “the most outstanding player” award and therefore don’t just go by who had the best stats. I like to credit players for lifting their teams to the post-season or at least keeping them in the race until the very end.

I understand that the Cardinals would not have been even close to the wild-card berth without Pujols, but I still like players who elevate their game in crunch time and lift their teams to new heights. And I thought Ryan Ludwick had just as much to do with keeping the Cards in the hunt as Pujols did. (Editor's Note: Did no one send Haudricourt a link to this fine piece of sportz jerrnalizm?)

There's no sense in trying to engage a guy like this in an intelligent debate. My advice: If you've got a flaming bag of dog poop lying (laying?) around, e-mail it to thaudricourt@journalsentinel.com.