A-Rod, Peavy, Dice-K, Torre highlight first-half honors

	Alex Rodriguez (29 HRs, .315 BA, 82 RBIs, 77 runs and 9 steals) has been a one-man wrecking crew for the floundering Yanks. AP

SAN FRANCISCO -- The All-Star Game festivities are filled with such overwrought buildup and hype, it takes three days to play one relatively meaningless game.

There are, of course, worse places to be than beautiful downtown San Francisco (as the bums who loiter on just about every lovely street corner could tell you).

Anyway, I checked out baseball's Futures Game on Sunday and decided baseball's future leaves a bit to be desired. "There aren't any athletes anymore,'' one scout was overheard to say.

Yet, the Futures Game did serve a purpose for me. It provided a library-quiet background while pondering the winners of my second annual first-half awards, which are commonly called the Jonnies (at least by me). Without a three-day buildup or further ado ...

AL MVP

1. Alex Rodriguez, Yankees. The argument against, which I receive many times a day via email from A-Rod's legion of haters, is that he doesn't help his team win enough. Well, sorry, I am not about to blame the fact that Hideki Matsui is ordinary, Mike Mussina is old and Jason Giambi is broken down on A-Rod. That's just not fair.

2. Vladimir Guerrero, Angels. He doesn't need to be surrounded by stars, or frankly, even to get pitches to hit in the strike zone. A regularly overlooked superstar.

3. Magglio Ordonez, Tigers. An even more overlooked star, and an RBI machine. That megadeal negotiated by agent Scott Boras almost looks like a bargain now.

AL LVP (Least Valuable Player)

Jermaine Dye, White Sox. Free-agent-to-be- hasn't picked a good time to tank. Julio Lugo deserves dishonor, as well.

NL MVP

1. Prince Fielder, Brewers. Budding superstar is the anchor of baseball's best infield. The most obvious choice of all has one more home run than he hit all last year (29 to 28).

2. Russell Martin, Dodgers. In a season for pitching and a division for low-scoring games, this second-year catcher is taking charge.

3. Jose Reyes, Mets. Igniter may steal 100 bases, score 120 runs and win a Gold Glove. But Reyes was benched for failing to run out a grounder the other day, and the Met-iocres need even more sparks.

NL LVP

Andruw Jones, Braves. While he obviously isn't overrated defensively, I wouldn't call exactly him overproductive offensively lately, either.

AL Cy Young

1. Josh Beckett, Red Sox. Mister Blister is the leader of baseball's most talented rotation, and at least on this scorecard, the leader of the deepest race to date.

2. Dan Haren, A's. Another testament to the genius of Oakland GM Billy Beane and his boys. California cool, and a 2.30 ERA to go with it.

3. C.C. Sabathia, Indians. Free agent after 2008 is likely to rake in the dough. John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Justin Verlander are also Cy worthy; and the incomparable Johan Santana, another free agent after '08, remains a favorite, even if he's lost a few more times than the others.

AL Cy Old

Jae Seo: Batting average against of .372 doesn't even qualify as seo-seo. Beats out equally worthy teammate Edwin Jackson.