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Albert Pujols’ third National League MVP award put him in select company. Only Barry Bonds has more. “I’m just humbled,” Pujols said. Pujols won unanimously Tuesday, becoming the first player to repeat since Bonds won four in a row from 2001-04. Pujols, who also won in 2005, received all 32 first-place votes and 448 points in balloting announced by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He became the first unanimous MVP since Bonds in 2002.

A big part of the Cardinals’ success this year was the acquisition of Matt Holliday in July. Holliday, who hit cleanup behind Pujols, helped St. Louis win the NL Central and then became a free agent.The whole city of St. Louis wants Matt back and myself, obviously,Pujols said. “He came at the right time, right when we needed it, right when we were struggling a little bit. While the Cardinals have five division titles and six playoff appearances in nine seasons since Pujols joined the team, they have won the World Series only once, in 2006.I always make a joke. I got 10 fingers. I want to get nine more rings,” he said. “I want to get as many as Derek Jeter has so far (five). Obviously that’s hard to do.Pujols does have one individual goal the Hall of Fame.Obviously, there is still a long way to go,” he said.Pujols led the majors in homers (47), runs (124), slugging percentage (.658) and intentional walks (44), and topped the NL in on-base percentage (.443). He was second in the league in doubles (45) and third in batting average (.327) and RBIs (135).

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It’s been a big year for sabermetrics. After years of being mocked by much of the baseball media, the word appears in the dictionary, it means statistical analysis for baseball for those still in the dark, which is a pretty good sign that it has gained traction in the mainstream. And now Zach Greinke of the Kansas City Royals has won the American League Cy Young Award even though he had fewer wins (GASP!) than Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners.

That vote is being hailed as a giant leap for the way baseball is digested by the group that spent so much time making fun of advanced metrics. Joe Posnanski’s take is not the only one, but the excellent Sports Illustrated baseball writer does a good job of setting Greinke’s win against a backdrop of past votes that credited the wrong things when analyzing pitcher performance. The idea has also gotten a boost by Greinke’s own admission that he follows stats like FIP (Fielding-Independent Pitching, i.e. things a pitcher can control outside of his defenders) more than the more traditional ERA.

There’s no doubt that Greinke’s win represents some kind of step forward. He and Hernandez had superficially similar numbers in the well-known statistical categories, but in the deeper analysis it was clear that Greinke was the best pitcher in the AL. Seeing these numbers used by a wider audience is both gratifying after hearing so many dumb taunts thrown in the direction of those of us who find that they make baseball a more interesting game.

Crediting only that for Greinke’s win is definitely a feather in a sabermatrician’s cap, but it doesn’t tell the whole story. Greinke and Hernandez had similar numbers in the “traditional” stats, but Greinke was better in all of them except for wins. You didn’t need a microscope to see he was a better pitcher in 2009, although one helped to see just how much of a better pitcher he was while pitching for a dreadful team.

Still, if Hernandez had pitched for a team in a pennant race or a team that ran away with a playoff spot, it’s pretty likely that those wins would have played a bigger role in the final reckoning. We’ll never know for sure, obviously, but that wasn’t the only intangible Greinke had in his favor.

Greinke missed almost the entire 2006 season while undergoing treatment for an anxiety disorder, something which gives him an interesting backstory. Posnanski doesn’t mention this in his post about Greinke’s win, which is a bit odd since it was a big part of the story he wrote that landed on SI’s cover in May. It’s a heartwarming story that’s worth a lot more than an edge of three wins, and that cover story was part of a barrage of exposure for Greinke early in the baseball season. He wasn’t flying under any kind of radar or some undiscovered gem because you’d have to be under a rock to not know how well he was pitching.

Perhaps it’s overly cynical to think that the same writers who have lampooned a more analytical approach to baseball performance would suddenly come around. There’s something funny about people who would have complained about focusing only on wins celebrating by focusing only on wins, though. Greinke had a lot going for him beyond sabermetrics.

The voters made the right choice, whatever the reason for their votes, and that’s something worthy of celebration for all baseball fans. It may still be soon to say that there’s a new flag flying over baseball, however.

Josh Alper is a writer living in New York City and is a contributor to FanHouse.com and ProFootballTalk.com in addition to his duties for NBCNewYork.com.

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Here is Part 5 in a seven-part series that will take an in-depth look at how each of the Pirates’ Minor League affiliates fared during the 2009 season. Previously, we examined Triple-A Indianapolis, Double-A Altoona, high Class A Lynchburg, and Class A West Virginia. Up next is the short season State College Spikes:

Record: 38-38; third in New York Penn League Pinckney division

What went right?

– Start with the 38-38 record, which was significantly improved over the 18-58 season that State College had a year earlier. The 2009 Spikes’ record was the best it’s ever been as a Pirates affiliate. continue reading…

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