Giambi Named AL MVP

N E W  Y O R K, Nov. 15 -- Jason Giambi narrowly won the American LeagueMost Valuable Player Award today for carrying the OaklandAthletics to the playoffs.

Giambi got 14 of the 28 first-place votes to finish with 317points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association ofAmerica. He got 11 seconds, two thirds and one fifth.

“This is a boy’s dream come true,” Giambi said. “This hasbeen nothing but a fairy tale for me this year with my brother[Jeremy] here and the A’s winning the division.”

Two-time winner Frank Thomas of the Chicago White Sox reboundedfrom his worst season as a pro to finish second with 285 points and10 first-place votes. Seattle’s Alex Rodriguez got the other fourfirst-place votes to finish third with 218 points.

Giambi, the leader of the young A’s, spearheaded their run tothe AL West title by hitting .396 with 13 homers and 32 RBIs in thefinal month. Not that he was shabby the rest of the season, either.

“I knew when I came to the ballpark that it wasn’t a questionif I would get a hit — it was how many and if I’d have a homerun,” Giambi said. “I had never been so focused in my life. It issomething you dream about to have that kind of September to getyour team to the playoffs.”

He ended the season batting .333 with 43 homers, 137 RBIs and137 walks. He led the league with a .476 on-base percentage and wasthird with a .647 slugging percentage.

“This kid, if you look at him the last couple of years, he’sgotten better each year,” Oakland manager Art Howe said during theplayoffs. “For me, he’s the MVP of this league, hands down.”

Delgado, Martinez Also Earned Votes

Toronto’s Carlos Delgado was fourth (206), followed by Boston’s Pedro Martinez (103), Cleveland’s Manny Ramirez and Seattle’s Edgar Martinez (97 each), Anaheim’s Darin Erstad (94), Boston’s Nomar Garciaparra (66) and the Yankees’ Derek Jeter (44).