Rodriguez, Anderson Help Fuel MVP Debate

There is no need to modify it by calling it one of the best seasons ever by a shortstop. It is one of the best seasons, period.

The fact that Alex Rodriguez is producing it for a team that is last in the American League West shouldn’t be held against him, says Garret Anderson, who could stake claim to the most-valuable-player-award himself, but there are voting members of the baseball writers committee who might hold it against him.

The poorly defined award has long confused the people responsible for deciding who wins it, and it also has Anderson and Rodriguez confused to the point that Rodriguez suggests it should be clarified.

He also suggests (insisting he is only stating a fact and not campaigning for the MVP) that there is some confusion about his Texas Rangers being a last-place team.

In Anaheim on Friday night, Rodriguez said the Rangers are last only in the context of being fourth in the four-team AL West.

“We have the seventh or eighth best record in the league, and the truth of the matter is that if Minnesota [about to clinch the AL Central] was in this division, they’d be last, too,” Rodriguez said. “We play in what is arguably the best division in baseball. Three teams may win 100 games, and any of them might end up as world champion.

“To say we’re in last place is overdone.”

The Angels and Oakland A’s do, indeed, have a shot at 100 wins, but the Seattle Mariners, who won 116 last year, may not win 90.

The Rangers, statistically more last than not, had something to do with that, having swept a four-game series from the Mariners in Texas while the Angels were winning three of four from the A’s and slowing Miguel Tejada’s own MVP express.

The Oakland shortstop had only two hits in 14 at-bats against the Angels, who did a similar number on Rodriguez and the Rangers in the opener of a three-game series.

Rodriguez checked in with a shortstop-record 54 home runs, 132 runs batted in and 367 total bases, but he was held to a single in four at-bats as the Angels cooled the Rangers, 3-2, to remain tied with the A’s for the division lead. Both are virtually assured of a playoff berth because the Mariners are eight back in a wild-card race that is basically over.

Jarrod Washburn, in an important test for the rest of the season and beyond, demonstrated he can deal with the mental fallout of the sexual assault allegation by pitching 7 1/3 strong innings for his 18th win.

Anderson, too often left out of an MVP equation that generally includes Rodriguez, Tejada and three New York Yankees (Alfonso Soriano, Jason Giambi and Bernie Williams), singled in a run in a game decided by a run.

The Angels have won four in a row, and the left fielder is driving his team down the stretch.

Anderson has 14 RBIs in the last 11 games and a .340 average since the All-Star break. He is batting .311 with 26 homers, 114 RBIs and a major league-high 54 doubles.

In September of a season in which he was selected for the All-Star game for the first time, he knows his MVP candidacy is a longshot.

“It’s a tough division, let alone a tough league,” Anderson said. “There are a lot of guys with real good numbers. I’d be honored to receive votes, but I don’t know the true definition. There are so many different [interpretations]. It would be nice if there was a clearer definition.”

The instructions that accompany the ballot say that the award “need not” go to a member of a division winner or other playoff team and that a player should be judged on his “actual value” to his own team.

“In my opinion,” said Anderson, “the MVP of the league is the guy who demonstrates the best numbers across the board, regardless of how his team does, and Rodriguez has done that.

“Besides, playing on a team that is not doing well is harder, and he’s demonstrated his professionalism by not letting the losing get him down. I mean, it’s easier to play when the team is winning, but he’s still being responsible to his organization by going out there and being the player he’s capable of being.”

Rodriguez, of course, is paid handsomely to do that, but there are examples of other well-paid players showing commitment only on the way to the bank, especially in September.

On his own view of the MVP, Rodriguez said:

“I’m confused what the MVP means. If the MVP has to play for a first-place team, I’m not a winner, not a contender really. If the MVP is the best player in a particular year, I have a shot. I’m very proud of what I’m doing, but I’ll let the writers deal with it.”

He added, however: “I’m hoping in the future they can find a remedy, or every year it will be the same thing and they’ll have to answer, ‘How unique does a year have to be to transcend the MVP award?’ If they change it and make it clear, it will be easier for the writers and everyone else to understand.”

The MVP is what it is. The award has gone to players on good teams and bad teams, and the instructions are unlikely to change.

Asked who he would vote for if he couldn’t vote for himself, Rodriguez called it “one of those years when there’s not just one guy” and mentioned Tejada, the Yankee trio and said that, perhaps, it should go on a collective basis to Oakland pitchers Barry Zito, Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder.

He didn’t mention Anderson, but what’s new? The Angel left fielder is often overlooked, and the MVP is certain to confuse anyone.