NewsAstros could get award consideration
Bourn picks up first Rawlings Gold Glove Award
By Brian McTaggart / MLB.com
11/11/09 3:35 PM EST
HOUSTON -- Despite a season in which they finished in fifth place in the National League Central and lost 88 games, the Astros have a few players who could find themselves in the running for one of baseball's postseason awards.Astros left-hander Wandy Rodriguez isn't among the favorites to win the NL Cy Young Award, but he figures to garner some votes after a breakthrough season in which he set career highs in wins (14), innings pitched (205 2/3) and strikeouts (193) while posting a career-best 3.02 ERA.
Rodriguez, 30, was eighth in the NL in ERA, tied for 12th in wins and tied for eighth in strikeouts. Among left-handers, he was tied for first in strikeouts and had the third-best ERA.
Houston hasn't had a pitcher finish in the Cy Young voting since Roy Oswalt was fourth in 2006, and it hasn't had a winner since Roger Clemens in '04. Mike Scott (1986) and Clemens are the only Astros to win the NL Cy Young, which will be announced Nov. 19.
Center fielder Michael Bourn, who was named the team's Most Valuable Player by the Houston chapter of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, earned his first Gold Glove on Wednesday.
The last Houston player to win a Gold Glove was catcher Brad Ausmus in 2006. Ausmus also won in '02 and '01, representing the Astros' last three Gold Glove winners. The last Astros outfielder to win a Gold Glove was Cesar Cedeno in 1976.
Bourn, 26, hit .285 with a .354 on-base percentage and led the NL with 61 stolen bases, coming within four of tying a club record. He also ranked fourth in the NL with a .353 batting average with runners in scoring position and led the NL in infield hits, bunt hits and triples.
He set career highs in nearly every offensive statistical category, but dazzled crowds at Minute Maid Park all season with his stellar defensive play. Perhaps the fastest player in the NL, Bourn routinely made highlight-reel catches and finished with 11 outfield assists, which tied for fifth in the NL.
Shortstop Miguel Tejada, who led the NL in doubles (46), was tied for second in at-bats (635), multi-hit games (57) and second in hits (199) and three-hit games (19), had a good season, but isn't likely to be in the MVP race.
Jeff Bagwell (1994) remains the only Astros player to win the NL MVP, but Lance Berkman has finished in the balloting five times -- fifth in 2001 and '08, third in '02 and '06 and seventh in '04. The NL MVP will be announced Nov. 24.
Tejada and left fielder Carlos Lee could get some consideration for an NL Silver Slugger award, which goes to the best offensive player at each position and will be unveiled Thursday. Lee, who won the award in 2007, hit .300 with 26 homers and 102 RBIs, leading the Astros in games played, homers and RBIs.
Brian McTaggart is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
