Phillies slugger Ryan Howard, who led the major leagues with 58 home runs and 149 RBI this season, was honored on Wednesday as baseball Player of the Year.
A top candidate for the National League Most Valuable Player Award, Howard also won the NL Outstanding Player Award as voting for the 2006 Players Choice Awards was revealed.
The 26-year-old Howard beat out fellow MVP candidate Albert Pujols of the St. Louis Cardinals for both awards.
PHOTO: AP
Filling the hole in the middle of the Philadelphia Phillies' lineup when Jim Thome was traded to the Chicago White Sox for center fielder Aaron Rowand, Howard hit .313 while setting a franchise record for homers in a season, surpassing Mike Schmidt's mark of 48 in 1980.
Howard, who also won the home run derby while making his first All-Star appearance, also led the majors with 383 total bases as the Phillies fell just three games shy of an NL wild card berth.
Pujols was named the Marvin Miller Man of the Year. Named in honor of the Players Association's first executive director, the award is given to the player whose on-field performance and contributions to his community inspire others to higher levels of achievement.
Chicago White Sox outfielder Jermaine Dye was named the American League's Outstanding Player. Dye hit a team-leading .315.
Five-time champion Novak Djokovic on Saturday tumbled out of the Indian Wells ATP Masters, falling in his first match to lucky loser Botic van de Zandschulp as two-time defending champion Carlos Alcaraz advanced. “No excuses for a poor performance,” 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic said after 37 unforced errors in a 6-2, 3-6, 6-1 defeat. “It doesn’t feel great when you play this way on the court,” he said. “But congratulations to my opponent — just a bad day in the office, I guess, for me.” Djokovic is just the latest in Van de Zandschulp’s string of superstar victims. He
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Taiwanese badminton player Lin Chun-yi had to settle for silver in the men’s singles at the Orleans Masters in France on Sunday after losing in the final to his French opponent. The 25-year-old Lin, ranked world No. 14, lost to Alex Lanier 13-21, 18-21 in a match that lasted 42 minutes at the Palais des Sports arena. It was the first time that the two players were facing each other in their professional careers. In the opener, Lin was slow to warm up, which gave the 20-year-old Lanier an opportunity to take an early lead with seven consecutive points. Despite
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
RSS