I voted for the Hank Aaron award last night, which is presented to the best offensive performer in each league. Fan voting counts toward 30% of the total. You can vote at www.mlb.com. Click the News link then click Awards from the News page, then click the Hank Aaron award link.

The NL winner was easy - the Cardinal's Albert Pujols. He leads the league in batting average, is 2nd in home runs by one behind Thome and Bonds and is 2nd in RBI behind Colorado's Preston Wilson. Wilson has 136 RBI (81 at Coors, only 55 on the road). You can bet he would have about 20 fewer RBI if he played in a different park.

The AL was harder. There were three candidates I seriously considered: A-Rod, Carlos Delgado and Garrett Anderson. I gave it to Delgado on the strength of his .300 average and league leading 130 RBI. Rodriguez had more home runs (44 to 35), but trailed in the other two Triple Crown categories. Anderson had a better batting average by 13 points, but trailed by quite a bit in home runs and RBI.

The Sox magic number is down to 7 with tonights win against Cleveland. The A's lead Seattle 1-0 in the 4th, so hopefully they can knock that down one more.

By the way, did you hear the tie breaker if the Red Sox, A's and Mariners were to finish in a 3 way tie? The A's and Mariners would play a game to decide the West winner, then the loser would play the Sox to decide the wild card. The Sox would have to play on the road in the unlikely event that happened, since they lost both coin flips. They must have sent M.L. Carr to handle it. (If you don't get that reference, email me at capnho@hotmail.com).