Frank Franklin Ii / AP

Where would the injury-riddled Yankees be without Jason Giambi this season?

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Does Johan Santana have a twin? It sure looks like it when Minnesota lefty Francisco Liriano takes the mound. Liriano is 9-1 with a 1.99 ERA, and it’s no coincidence that the overly protective Twins got hot after moving their budding star into the rotation.

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Milwaukee’s Prince Fielder has the beautiful name and the big-shot dad, but we’re going with the beautiful player with an ugly name. That’s Marlins second baseman Dan Uggla, who is hitting .313 with 13 homers. Florida isn’t exactly contending, but they remain one Dontrelle Willis hot streak away from closing in on .500, which isn’t bad for a team with a lower budget than Alex Rodriguez's.

AL COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
With all apologies to Jose Canseco, whose foray into the Golden Baseball League as a designated hitter/pitcher promises to be at least as embarrassing as the “Surreal Life”, we’ve got to give this one to White Sox DH Jim Thome. Left for dead in Philly after an injury-riddled season in which he hit .207 with seven HRs in 59 games, the 35-year-old is an MVP candidate as he leads the AL with 26 homers.

NL COMEBACK PLAYER OF THE YEAR
In an ordinary season, this award would have gone to Scott Rolen, who has actually missed fewer games than Albert Pujols this season and is hitting over .340 with 52 RBIs. But alas, this year there is Nomar Garciaparra, the once-great Red Sox shortstop, who has remade himself as a first baseman for the Dodgers. Garciaparra leads the NL with a .363 average (remember when he hit .372 in 2000?), and has driven in 47 runs. Better yet, he’s played in a whopping 74 percent of L.A.’s games!

MANAGER OF THE YEAR
For the most part, managers really aren’t all that interesting unless they’re throwing a temper tantrum (we miss you Lou Piniella). They spout clichés, chew lots of sunflower seeds and always make sure to bring the good left-handed pitcher into the game to face the good left-handed hitter.

We’d skip this award altogether if it weren’t for Jim Leyland, who has done such a remarkable job with the Detroit Tigers he cannot be ignored.

Apparently it took awhile for Leyland to recover from his 1999 season with the Rockies (of which he once said “I knew we were in for a long season when we lined up for the national anthem on opening day and one of my players said, ‘Every time I hear that song I have a bad game.’”)

Thankfully, he has come back from his self-imposed exile and immediately put some life into the Tigers. Of course White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen maintains that Leyland isn’t a good manager, but that wouldn’t be the wackiest idea Ozzie has ever had.

Leyland, for his part, knows that it’s really the players who matter.

“I don’t want any credit,” he said before the season. “I’m not looking for credit. You know what? I don’t want any blame if we’re horse (bleep), either.”

No worries, Jim. No worries.

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