Yes, Chris Coghlan was the second-half MVP for my fantasy team, but he's no Tommy Hanson in REAL baseball

Baseball writers have short memories, apparently.

In the National League Rookie of the Year voting, announced Monday, the BBWAA crowned Marlins OF Chris Coghlan as the senior circuit's top rookie. The speedy 24-year-old narrowly beat out Phillies pitcher J.A. Happ, who finished second.

What the hell, baseball writers?

No offense to Coghlan, but the NL ROY race had a clear winner, and that was Braves standout Tommy Hanson (scroll down to see the praise I recently heaped on him). The 6'-6" righthander had a truly unstoppable 2009 campaign, racking up 11 wins despite not being called up until June. It's not his fault the Braves' impotent lineup (filled with old-timers like Chipper Jones, who I think was actually drafted by the Boston Braves) wasn't able to help the team catch up in the NL Wild Card race.

In my book, Hanson's 2.89 ERA is more impressive than Coghlan's admittedly sweet .321 batting average. Both were standouts, but that kind of performance from a rookie pitcher is far more rare than what Coghlan posted in his short season.

So what happened? Looks to me like the baseball writers are crowning a second-half rookie, not a full-season one. Coghlan was absolutely on fire after a slow start, hitting for a phenomenal .372 average and .966 OPS after the All-Star Break -- better than teammate Hanley Ramirez, for one. Happ posted numbers similar to Hanson's admittedly, but I doubt he would have beaten the electrifying Braves rookie if not for the Phillies' postseason run (even though Happ and his 5.68 ERA were Crapp out of the Phils bullpen).

Look out for Tommy to get one back at the baseball writers by winning the 2010 Cy Young.