Howard's sensational sophomore season ends with NL MVP

NEW YORK -- Ryan Howard had a season that defied convention, one that made him only the second player voted Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player in consecutive years.

"I heard sophomore jinx this, sophomore jinx that," he said after beating out 2005 NL MVP Albert Pujols for the award Monday. "I just prepared myself in spring training to go out and perform, stick with my game plan and have fun."

After leading the major leagues in home runs and RBI, Howard received 20 first-place votes and 12 seconds for 388 points in balloting by a panel of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Pujols got 12 firsts, 19 seconds and one third for 347 points.

Cal Ripken Jr. (1982 and 1983) is the only other player to follow a Rookie of the Year award with an MVP the following year. Two players won both in the same year: Fred Lynn (1975) and Ichiro Suzuki (2001).

Ryan Howard was the first Phillies player to hit 50 home runs. (AP)

"It's definitely a relief. It's a good birthday present," said Howard, who turned 27 Sunday.

Howard had 58 homers -- the most in the majors since Barry Bonds hit a record 73 in 2001 -- and 149 RBI while batting .313. He set Phillies records for home runs and RBI, producing the highest totals in those categories in big league history for a second-year player. Twenty-three of Howard's homers put the Phillies ahead and five tied games. The Phillies went 32-18 when he homered.

Howard didn't make it to the major leagues for good until July 1, 2005, when Jim Thome went on the disabled list. He batted .288 for the Phillies in 2005 with 22 homers and 63 RBI in 321 at-bats.

"It's been a fun ride," Howard said. "You can't really just sit there and kind of dwell on what's gone on in the past and all that kind of stuff and what's going to happen as far as being traded or what my future was with the Phillies. The only thing I could have done was just go out and play and let everything else just kind of sort itself out."

Howard won the All-Star Home Run Derby and in June connected off the Yankees' Mike Mussina for the first homer to reach the third deck in the three-year history of Citizens Bank Park, a drive estimated at 461 feet.

"I didn't think it was humanly possible to do something like that," Howard said.

He may have been helped by Philadelphia's surprising second-half push. He hit .355 with 30 homers and 78 RBI in the second half as the Phillies fell three wins short of the NL wild-card berth.

"People were talking about the trades that were made, how we were kind of written off," he said.

Pujols, who hit .331 with 49 homers and 137 RBI, defeated Atlanta's Andruw Jones 378-351 in last year's voting after finishing second in 2002 and 2003. Stan Musial and Ted Williams (four times each) are the only players to finish second more often than Pujols, who matched three-time AL MVP Mickey Mantle with three second-place finishes.