PHILADELPHIA — Travel issues kept me from blogging yesterday — apologies for that — but we posted a story about Justin Morneau being named Most Valuable Twin by the Twin Cities chapter of the BBWAA, and the team making four cuts from the 40-man roster, including Julio DePaula.

The national BBWAA awards are announced in early November, but here’s a review of the local BBWAA awards:

Most Valuable Twin: Morneau
Twins Pitcher of the Year: Joe Nathan
Twins Rookie of the Year: Denard Span
Most Improved Twin: Alexi Casilla
Bob Allison Award (determination and leadership): Morneau
Mike Augustin Award (media good guy): Nathan
Dick Siebert Award (Upper Midwest Player of the Year): Joe Mauer

* Those awards will be presented at the fourth annual Diamond Awards dinner, on Jan. 22 at the Marriott City Center in Minneapolis. It’s a terrific event (you get to see La Velle in a tux) with proceeds benefitting ataxia research at the University of Minnesota. For ticket information, call 612-33-TWINS. Other awards presented that night:

Twins Minor League Player of the Year: Ben Revere
Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Year: Anthony Slama
Carl Pohlad Community Service Award: Mauer
Kirby Puckett Award: Kent Hrbek

The Twins outrighted four players off their 40-man roster – DePaula, Oswaldo Sosa, Sergio Santos and Ryan Jorgensen — and reinserted Pat Neshek from the 60-day DL.

Also, The Sporting News named its American League All-Star Team (after polling GMs and assistant GMs):

C: Mauer
1B: Morneau
2B: Dustin Pedroia
3B: Alex Rodriguez
SS: Derek Jeter
OF: Carlos Quentin
OF: Grady Sizemore
OF: Josh Hamilton
DH: Aubrey Huff
Starting pitcher: Cliff Lee
Reliever: Francisco Rodriguez

It’s been sprinkling here in Philly today, but the forecast says it should be dry enough tonight for Game 3 of the World Series. Garza against Moyer. I predict Moyer will win at least one game in this series, as these same two pitchers could square off for Game 7.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – Ryan Howard is slumping for the Phillies, so I realize we’re not seeing him at his best.

He had three big strikeouts in Game 1 of the World Series and butchered two plays at first base.

After watching Justin Morneau police first base all season, I was particularly appalled by Howard’s defense. He committed 19 errors this season. Morneau has 17 errors over the past three years.

I started thinking about MVP awards again and wondered how Morneau would stack up against Howard if they were in the same league.

Howard led the majors with 48 home runs and 146 RBI. Some might look at those numbers and figure this is an open-and-shut case. Dig deeper, however, and you can make an argument that Morneau is the more valuable player.

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ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. – As La Velle kindly reminded readers in a recent blog post, I’m no expert with these World Series predictions. But I think I’ve diagnosed the problem.

I was wearing my ALCS goggles when I predicted the Tigers would sweep the 2006 World Series, without even knowing their opponent.

It hit me Tuesday, when I arrived at Tropicana Field and spoke to several writers who were here covering the ALCS. Almost all of them have the Rays crushing the Phillies easily.

The World Series is about to start, and they’re still wearing their ALCS goggles. Not me. I was home watching the ALCS and NLCS on TV this time. I believe the Phillies can make this a very competitive series. At least that’s what I hope.

GAME 1
I think Cole Hamels is good enough and Scott Kazmir has been shaky enough to help the Phillies shake off their rust and win Game 1. That would change the tone, in a hurry.

Key stats: Opponents are batting .262 off Kazmir this offseason and .173 off Hamels. The winner of Game 1 has gone on to win the World Series each of the past five years.

GAME 2
I like James Shields over Brett Myers, and either way, I see these two teams heading to Philly with the Series tied 1-1.

Key stat: The Rays are 61-26 (.701) at Tropicana Field, including the postseason.

GAME 3
It’s Matt Garza vs. Jamie Moyer, in a battle of polar opposites. I predict by the end of Game 3, one team will make a late-game comeback.

Key stats: Brad Lidge is 46-for-46 in save opportunities, and Phillies setup man Ryan Madson has allowed just one run over his past 14 appearances.

GAME 4
Andy Sonnanstine vs. Joe Blanton looks like a tossup to me. The one thing that could spoil my hope for a long, dramatic series is if the Phillies’ offense is ice cold after a one-week layoff. That’s what happened to the Rockies last year, and that’s why I think Philadelphia’s ability to pound Kazmir in Game 1 is so key.

Key stats: The Phillies led the NL with 214 home runs, led by Ryan Howard (48), Chase Utley (33), Pat Burrell (33) and Jayson Werth (24).

GAME 5
There will be a big error in this series, rest assured. Who’s it going to be? Perhaps Howard, with his shaky glove at first base. Perhaps Jason Bartlett, who solidified Tampa Bay’s defense at shortstop — until the ALCS, when he made two disturbing errors.

Key stats: The Rays and Phillies both committed 90 errors this season. For comparison, the Twins had 108. Tampa Bay played error-free for the first seven games of the postseason but made six errors in the final four games of the ALCS.

GAME 6
By this point, fans could be marveling at the speed they’re seeing on the bases. The Rays have B.J. Upton (44 stolen bases), Carl Crawford (25) and Jason Bartlett (20). The Phillies have Jimmy Rollins (47), Werth (20) and Shane Victorino (36).

Key stats: Rays catcher Dioner Navarro led the AL, throwing out 38.4 percent of attempted base stealers. Phillies catcher Carlos Ruiz threw out just 23.5 percent.

GAME 7
Can you imagine if it comes down to Garza again? Everyone is doubting Moyer because he has a 13.50 ERA and has the Phillies’ only two losses of the postseason. But at age 45, he wouldn’t have lasted this long without moxie.

Fun fact: Garza was 2 years old when Moyer made his big league debut on June 16, 1986.

MY PREDICTION
Rays in 7.

In other words, the smart money is on a Phillies sweep.

ST. PETERSBURG, FLA. — Greetings from the World Series. I traveled here from Minnesota today, stopped by the workouts at Tropicana Field and have a bunch of copy to crank out, previewing Game 1.

Meantime, here’s an interesting factoid from the media notes:

After going 66-96 last year, the Rays are trying to become the first team from one of the four major sports to post the worst record in that sport one year and follow with a championship. Only four others have even played for the championship:

* The 1991 Atlanta Braves won the NL pennant but lost to the Twins in the World Series after going 65-97 in 1990.

* The 1958-59 Minneapolis Lakers lost to the Boston Celtics in the NBA Finals the year after going 19-53.

* The 1949-50 New York Rangers lost to the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals the year after going 18-31-11.

* The 1958-59 Toronto Maple Leafs lost to the Montreal Canadiens in the Finals, the year after going 21-38-11.

(* Note, the 1991 Twins were coming off a last-place finish and 74-88 record in 1990, but that wasn’t the worst record in the majors. That distinction belonged to the aforementioned Braves.)

For some more context on the Rays’ improbable rise, check out this story from John Romano in today’s St. Petersburg Times, as he compares this team to the 1969 Mets, 1914 Boston Braves and 1987 Twins, among others.

The ‘91 Twins get mentioned more often because they went from last place to winning the Series, but the ‘87 team had even less pedigree. Those Twins were coming off a 71-91 record, and had seven consecutive seasons at .500 or below. The ‘91 team at least had a handful of players (Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek, Greg Gagne and Dan Gladden) with World Series rings from ‘87.

Rookie phenom David Price stole the spotlight with a dazzling effort to close Game 7, but Matt Garza is the toast of Tampa Bay this morning, after being named MVP of the AL Championship Series.

Did anyone believe Garza would be that composed in that big of a moment? I sure didn’t.

He overcame a quick punch to the jaw, when Dustin Pedroia hit his first-inning home run. He faced 27 batters. He allowed two hits. He threw 75 of his 118 pitches for strikes. He did little things like holding runners on base and fielding his position - things that used to slip his mind with the Twins.

Then, in the seventh inning, he looked Manager Joe Maddon in the eye and said, “You’re not taking me out of this game,” as Joe Henderson writes in today’s Tampa Tribune.

That’s Jack Morris-like. Impressive indeed.