And from the "Holy Sh*t" Dept: Morneau wins MVP

I honestly didn't see this coming. And, frankly, I'm not sure he deserved it. But after posting baseball's best batting average (.362) and knocking in the AL's most runs (92) from June 8 on, 25-year-old Justin Morneau was deemed the league's most valuable player by a jury of sportswriters today, many of whom aren't even from Minnesota.

Morneau's big challenger for the title was, of course, Derek Jeter. The Yankees captain and perennial bridesmaid came in second with 12 first-place and 14 second-place votes, good for 306 total points, compared to Morneau's line of 15/8/320. Joe Mauer and Johan Santana also finished in the top 7, with Santana even pulling in one first-place vote. Combined with Santana's Cy Young award, the Twins look--on paper, at least--like the most dominant team in baseball, if not all of sport. Which makes it, y'know, kind of infuriating that they failed to win a single post-season game.

Way to go, Morny. And better luck next year, Derek. If you're itching to revisit the Twins remarkably weird 2006 season (and after watching the Vikes the last couple weeks, who wouldn't?) check out our Sept. 20 cover story.