Matt Kemp finished second in the 2011 NL MVP voting, losing the award to Brewers left fielder Ryan Braun. Braun received 20 of 32 first-place votes and 12 second-place votes. Kemp received 10 first-place votes, 16 second-place votes, and six people had him third on their ballots.
Kemp had more runs (115 to 109), RBIs (126 to 111), home runs (39 to 33), and stolen bases (40 to 33) than Braun. Braun’s OPS was slightly higher (.994 to .986), and his .332 average was slightly higher than Kemp’s .324. We felt both players were deserving of the award, but that Kemp probably should have won because he played in 161 games compared to Braun’s 150.
Most sports writers likely figured that Braun deserved it because he played for a division winner while Kemp’s Dodgers struggled to finish above .500. Dodgers fans who are upset over Kemp losing the award should look at things differently. It appears that Kemp will use the snub as motivation. Shortly after losing the award he tweeted:
“They don’t know who they messin with!!!!! They just created a monster!!Lol. #BEASTMODE don’t care!!”
When Kemp signed his $160 million extension with the Dodgers, I said that signing for so much guaranteed money might result in less motivation. If what Kemp is tweeting is true, that won’t be the case.
Like I said, maybe losing the award is the best thing for Kemp and the Dodgers. Oh yeah, it also enhances my legacy as well: LB is now officially the only blogger on the internet to hold the reigning MVP hitless in high school (yes, 0-for-4 in a Grant vs. Granada Hills 2001 game).
