1. Josh
Beckett: He was the ALCS
MVP and helped the Red Sox to their 2nd World Series in four
seasons.
He was 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA in his four
postseason starts.
Beckett dominated Cleveland in Game Five of
the LCS sparking a Boston comeback from down 3-1 to take the series in seven
games. He threw 8
innings and gave up one run and struck out 11.
He also won Game One of the World Series after
striking out nine Rockies in seven strong frames. He gave up just one run.
The Sox ace shutout the Angels in Game One
of the Division Series, ; allowing just four hits and striking out eight.
Beckett averaged 10.5 Ks/9 in his
postseason starts.
During the
regular year, he led the AL in wins with 20 and had the top WAR for
pitchers. His 3.27 ERA and 1.14 WHIP was
6th in the league. His 194 strikeouts were 7th in the AL.
He finished 2nd in the Cy Young
voting and was the
winning pitcher of the All-Star game after pitching a scoreless 3rd and 4th
innings.
Boston won 96
games and the AL East by two games over the Yankees. They swept the Angels
in the ALDS and eventually swept the Rockies for their 2nd title in
four years.
The Red Sox led the American League with a
3.87 ERA.
2. Matt
Holiday: He led the Rockies to their first and only appearance in the World
Series. He was named NLCS MVP.
Holiday’s 13th
inning triple kept his team’s season alive in a one game playoff win over
San Diego. He tied the score on a deep
drive to right. His head first slide on Jamey Carroll’s sac fly put Colorado in
the NLDS.
In Game Three vs. Arizona he
homered in the 1st to start the scoring.
He helped Colorado complete the
sweep with a 3-run homer to extend the Rockies lead to 6-1 in the 4th
of a 6-4 win.
The Rockies swept past the Phillies
in three games. Holliday homered in Games 1 and 2 in the division series.
Overall in the postseason the Colorado
leftfield hit .289 with 5 HR 10 RBI and 6 R in 11 games.
He
was 2nd in the MVP voting, and All-Star, Silver Slugger and
player of the month in September.
Holliday
led the NL in RBI (137), and the batting title as he hit .340.
He
led the league in hits (216), double and total bases.
His 36 HR were 4th in
the NL.
Holliday was 3rd in the
league in runs (120), slugging and OPS.
The Rockies won 90 games and the
Wild Card for their 2nd playoff appearance.
Colorado won
14 of its final 15 games in the regular season and seven more in a row in
the postseason.
3. Mike Lowell: Was the World
Series MVP as he led Boston to a sweep of Colorado.
In the clinching Game Four
he was 2-4 with a HR and 2 R.
In the
Series Lowell was 6-15 (.400) with 4 RBI and 6 runs and had a .500 OBP
In
the first two rounds of the playoffs he hit .333 with 11 RBI and 4 runs in
10 games. That included RBIs in his first five postseason games.
The Sox third baseman had a two-run double and
sac fly in Boston’s 10-3 Game One win over the Indians.
Lowell was an All-Star and finished 5th
in the MVP voting.
He was 7th
in batting (.324) and hits with 191. His 120 RBI were 5th in the
AL.
He also hit 21 HR and scored 79 times.
The Red Sox were 3rd in the
American League scoring 5.35 runs a game.
