SHEBOYGAN, Wis. (WHBL) - Milwaukee Brewers' left-fielder Ryan Braun was named the Most Valuable Player of the National LeagueTuesday afternoon -- and the voting by the Baseball Writers' Association wasn't even close. Braun received 20 of the 32 first-place votes by writers from each National League city and the other 12 who didn't pick him first, gave Braun their second-place votes. Braun, who turned 28 last Thursday, had a total of 388 points. L-A Dodgers' center fielder Matt Kemp was second with 332. Kemp had 10 first-place votes. Brewers' first baseman Prince Fielder received one vote for the award, and he took third in the total vote with 229 points. Arizona right-fielder Justin Upton was fourth. Albert Pujols, of Saint Louis, was fifth. Braun had the National League's best on-base-plus-slugging percentage at .994. He also had the league's top slugging percentage at .597 and he led the N-L with 77 extra-base hits. Braun flirted with the league batting title until the final day of the regular season, finishing at .332 -- just five points behind the Mets' Jose Reyes. Braun won the National League's rookie-of-the-year award in 2007, despite playing just the final three-fourths of the season. He's the fourth Brewer to win M-V-P honors. Robin Yount won it in both 1982 and '89, and reliever Rollie Fingers won the honor in 1981. Both those players won M-V-P's when the Brewers were in the American League. They switched to the National League in 1998.


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