A-Rod wins his third MVP Award

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A-Rod wins his third MVP Award

Written by Ozzie Gonzalez, Latinosportslegends.com

November 19, 2007 -- Latino All-Star slugger, Alex "A-Rod" Rodriguez was named American League MVP today by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.

Rodriguez, 32, batted .314 with 54 home runs and a career-high 156 runs batted in for the 2007 season, with 143 runs scored.

Rodriguez got 26 first-place votes and 382 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Magglio Ordonez of the Detroit Tigers had two first-place votes and 258 points, and was followed by the Angels' Vladimir Guerrero (203) and Boston's David Ortiz (177).

The only two first-place votes that didn't go to Rodriguez were from Tom Gage of The Detroit News and Jim Hawkins of The Oakland Press.

Rodriguez became just the ninth player to win the MVP three or more times. Bonds holds the record with seven, and Yogi Berra, Roy Campanella, Joe DiMaggio, Jimmie Foxx, Mickey Mantle, Stan Musial and Mike Schmidt won three apiece.

Despite his hitting prowess during the regular season, A-Rod struggled during last year's AL division series. He went 4-for-15 (.267) with one RBI against the Indians and is hitless in his past 18 playoff at-bats with runners in scoring position (stats).

A-Rod won his first MVP award with the Texas Rangers in 2003. His second MVP award came in 2005, when he hit .321 with 48 home runs and 130 runs batted in for the NY Yankees.