End of the season Major League Baseball awards

Baseball’s regular season began in March this year and comes to an end on Sunday. While our local team isn’t the best team in the game (or, considering Dayton, Louisville and Indianapolis have pro teams, probably not even the geographic region), but the Cincinnati Reds have had their high points this season.

So this week let’s hand out some hardware. The accounting firm of Seaver, Soto and Charlton has tabulated the votes, and the winners won’t be revealed until you read them, so let’s get started:

Joe Morgan MVP Award: Named after the only back-to-back MVP in team history, it’s appropriate that the honor goes to the team’s second baseman Brandon Phillips. He missed the last couple of weeks and as of Wednesday still led the team in at-bats, runs and triples and was in the top five in hits, doubles, homers and RBI.

If that’s not enough, he also led the league in pregame autographs and if the dude doesn’t win a Gold Glove this year, they should stop handing them out.

Johnny Vander Meer Top Pitcher: The easiest of them all. Edinson Volquez won 17 games and lost only six with an ERA of 3.21 with more strikeouts (206) than innings pitched (196). While Johnny Cueto had the most impressive debut, Aaron Harang the better rep and Bronson Arroyo the best finish, Volquez was money every time he took the bump.

Nasty Boys Fireman of the Year: While several relievers had very similar numbers, we decided that the foursome of Jeremy Affeldt, Mike Lincoln, David Weathers and even Frankie Cordero took a backseat to the winner, Jared Burton.

They all had reason to claim the prize - Affeldt and Weathers were tied with 71 appearances on Wednesday, Lincoln was the only one with more innings than hits and Cordero had all 34 saves they record - they also had the same reason to be overlooked: Despite the work the pen turned in this year, they could be wildly inconsistent.

But Burton’s numbers were stellar: A 5-1 record with a 3.40 ERA. Add to that 55 strikeouts in 55.2 innings and you have yourself quite a setup man.

Scott Williamson Rookie of the Year: While my favorite newcomer was Jay Bruce, his hitting dropped off drastically after the first few weeks and his RBI total is lacking as well. This honor, named after the last Red to win the NL version, has an easy winner in Joey Votto.

Entering play on Wednesday he was hitting .289 with 22 homers and 79 RBI. And lest you think it’s a sure-fire bet that Chicago catcher Geovany Soto had locked the NL version up long ago, compare his numbers in the triple-crown categories: .286, 23 home runs and 86 RBI.

Yes, he needs work in the field, and may yet have a position change in him. But for this year, Votto announced his presence with authority.

Joe Nuxhall Star of Tomorrow: There are several young Reds I’m excited to see in 2009, like Chris Dickerson, Paul Janish, Adam Rosales, Danny Richar and pitcher Daryl Thompson. But the late season impact of catcher Ryan Hanigan is hard to overlook.

In 28 games since his callup, the rookie was hitting a respectable .267 with an on-base percentage of .368 and a slugging percentage of .373. He’d scored eight times and driven in nine going into midweek, but his work behind the dish was absolutely terrific: He’d committed only one error in 27 games and had thrown out six of 19 would-be base-stealers.

Whaddya Do With Him?: Reds fans agree on a lot of things, but mention the name David Weathers in a group of them and you’ll set off a debate not unlike abortion brings between conservatives and liberals.

On one hand, he has 19 holds, a 3.16 ERA and can capably fill every roll in the bullpen. On the other, he celebrated his 39th birthday yesterday, will want a raise on his $3.3 million annual salary and, in the words of Marty Brennaman, sure does make things exciting.

What’s your call?

Harry Houdini Disappearing Act: For the last handful of years, folks in Reds Country envisioned Homer Bailey as the next Roger Clemens (presumably without the steroid controversy and congressional hearings). But this year, he averaged only 4 ? innings in his eight starts, during which he went 0-6 with a 7.93 ERA with nearly as many walks (17) as strikeouts (18).

The coup de gras came on Aug. 10 when he was sent back to Triple-A (again). He said he was “excited” to be going down because he liked the attitude better in Louisville, so when the Bats were eliminated from the postseason the Reds rewarded him by not calling him up for the stretch drive.

Game of the Year: It’s hard to top three games in which your team blasts seven home runs, but ask any of the 38,585 at Great American Ball Park on Saturday, May 31, and they’ll tell you a different story. Ken Griffey Jr. blasted No. 599 in the first, Chipper Jones was still well above .400 (.413 two months in) and Somerset native Josh Anderson got some late-inning playing time for Atlanta.

But none of that mattered because of the new kid in town. Right-fielder Jay Bruce ended his first appearance on national television with three hits, his first week in the big leagues with a .579 batting average and the game with his third hit, his first big-league home run to send the fans home happy with an 8-7 win.