With the second half of the baseball season kicking off today, here are the players in the AL who were the pre-All-Star Break leaders in the three major awards.  This also happens to be how I voted in the on-going blogger voting being run by Rotojunkie.  Expect the overall results to be up by Friday.

AL CY Young:
1. Justin Duchscherer, Oakland A's
2. Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
3. Roy Halladay, Toronto Blue Jays

There is no way I see Duchscherer having a second half to match his first, but, until then, he deserves the 1st place vote.  My personal favorite to win it at season's end is Roy Halladay.  To do so he will have to continue winning and lapping the field in innings pitched and complete games.

AL MVP:
1. Ian Kinsler, Texas Rangers
2. Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
3. J.D. Drew, Boston Red Sox

I made Ian Kinsler the MVP because he is sparking the shockingly strong Texas offense.  While one can argue Josh Hamilton is the MVP, Kinsler's across the board offensive production gets the nod.

AL ROY:
1. Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays
2. Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox
3. Nick Blackburn, Minnesota Twins

Unless Joba Chamberlain goes on to post an 8-1 record in the second half, the Al ROY is Evan Longoria's to lose.  With an .861 OPS and well-regarded defense (#1 amongst AL 3B in fielding percentage), Longoria is looking in his rearview mirror to see any other competitors.

Rotojunkie  has taken over the dynamic feature started by Baseball Happenings that draws on the collective knowledge of the blogging community to provide intelligence on which players are currently considered the leading contenders for the big three baseball awards - MVP, Cy Young and ROY - for the American and National leagues.  This week's AL voting should be available later today. 

Here is the way I voted.  My biases for voting in the Cy Young and MVP awards lean towards those hitters and pitchers playing on contending teams.  ROY determination is not tied are strongly to his team's record, but good rookies on expected paly-off contenders will get additional consideration.

AL Cy Young:
1.  Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
2.  Ervin Santana, Los Angeles Angels
3.  Joe Saunders, Los Angeles Angels

AL MVP:
1.  Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
2.  Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox
3.  Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox

AL ROY:
1.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox
2.  Nick Blackburn, Minnesota Twins
3.  Evan Longoria, Tampa Bay Rays

How is it the team with the best record in the American League, The Tampa Bay Rays, only gets one player considered for one of the top three awards, and that only because the rookie class behind Red Sox CF Jacoby Ellsbury is so weak?  I can't imagine the actual voters not "forcing" a Rays into the Top 3 in all the awards if the Rays make the play-offs.  The team will be the talk of the 2008 season, and the deisre to recognize it in the CY Young, MVP and Rookie-of-the-Year awards will be too strong to resist.

FOR ROY, Logoria is an easy choice to appear on the baseball writer's ballots.  My best guess would by CF B.J. Upton for MVP on the strength of his .400+ OBP and SBs total.  For Cy Young, James Shields would get the vote right now, but Scott Kazmir could get it if he remains in the rotation for the rest of the season.  He has already surpassed Shields in Wins for the season and is just 20 Ks behind him with 43.2 fewer innings pitched.

Baseball Happenings enters its 7th week of polling the blogging community to provide intelligence on which players are currently considered the leading contenders for the big three baseball awards - MVP, Cy Young and ROY - for the American and National leagues.  This week's results should be available later today . 

Here is the way I voted.  My biases for voting in the Cy Young and MVP awards lean towards those hitters and pitchers playing on contending teams.  ROY determination is not tied are strongly to his team's record, but good rookies on expected paly-off contenders will get additional consideration.

AL Cy Young:
1.  Cliff Lee, Cleveland Indians
2.  Daisuke Matzusaka, Boston Red Sox
3.  Joe Saunders, Los Angeles Angels

Although Lee was bombed on Sunday, the 2008 season is far enough along that his statistics didn't plummet.  Anothe rone or two like that, and he could very well be back with the pack. I struggled with the order of the next two because Daisuke doesn't pitch enough innings and Saunders doesn't strikout anyone nor does he have a killer GB/FB rate.  Ultimately, I went with the 7-o pitcher.

AL MVP:
1.  Carlos Quentin, Chicago White Sox
2.  Josh Hamilton, Texas Rangers
3.  Kevin Youkilis, Boston Red Sox

This was a close call given Hamilton's league-leading RBi total, but, ultimately, Quentin has been the best player on the 1st place team.  Kevin Youkilis came in 3rd, but I suspect he will suffer from the presence of Manny Ramirez and the resurgent David Ortiz.

AL ROY:
1.  Jacoby Ellsbury, Boston Red Sox
2.  Greg Smith, Oakland Athletics
3.  Nick Blackburn, Minnesota Twins

This is the same order as last time.  All three have worsened since last time, but none are doing as poorly as hyped (over?) Tampa Bay Ray Evan Longoria. A 231/316/402 is a far cry from what was expected.  New York Yankees reliever Joba Chamberlain could have made the list, but he in the midst of allowing runs in enough appearances to make his ROY candicacy appear to be an illusion of the New York media.