Harper, Mariners prominent in our first-half awards ceremony

The All-Star break arrives Sunday, and with its approach have come the tried-and-true best of/worst of lists of the first half. The Star-Telegram didn’t want to be left out, though with a slight variation to recognize disappointment.

The first half has had its fair share of outstanding performances at the plate and on the mound in both leagues, as well as a dose of lousy work by players who aren’t paid to stink.

The Houston Astros are the most surprising team of the first half, though the Seattle Mariners’ performance rates as a different kind of surprise. Neither of them, especially not the Mariners, are the best team, though.

This rundown will start with the best player of the first half. Hint: It isn’t Mike Trout.

Best player: Bryce Harper, Nationals

The National League MVP vote has a chance to be a close one, with Arizona first baseman Paul Goldschmidt neck-and-neck with Harper in most statistical categories. Harper, though, has always had the hype factor, and he’s finally living up to all of it. He’s probably surpassing it.

Entering the final two days of the first half, Harper had 25 homers, 60 RBIs, a .342 batting average, a .703 slugging percentage, a 1.171 on base-plus slugging percentage and a baseball-best 6.1 WAR.

All this, and the Washington Nationals’ star outfielder is still only 22. Hello.

Goldschmidt isn’t terribly far off, and Mike Trout is still Mike Trout. But Harper is finally Harper.

Best pitcher: Zack Greinke, Los Angeles Dodgers

A pretty deep field here, including Chris Sale in Chicago and Max Scherzer in Washington, but Greinke has just been better.

Yeah, yeah. His home ballpark is a pitcher’s paradise, but he has a better ERA away from Dodger Stadium. He leads the pitching world in all kinds of stats, pleasing the old school and the new school.

He can also opt out of his contract after this season. Nice timing.

A nod to Sale, who became only the third pitcher since 1900 to strike out 10 batters in five straight games, joining Hall of Famers Randy Johnson and Pedro Martinez. Sale didn’t stop there, pushing his streak to eight to tie Martinez for the all-time mark.

Scherzer was an out away from a perfect game last month before settling for a no-hitter a start after throwing a one-hitter and a start before taking a perfect game into the sixth inning.

Best team: St. Louis Cardinals

The National League Central isn’t the runaway it once was, with Pittsburgh posting a good enough record to be leading four of the other five divisions. But St. Louis was the first team to 50 wins and enters the All-Star break with the most victories in baseball.

Just imagine if they hadn’t lost Adam Wainwright for the season. Or Matt Holliday for two months. Or Matt Adams for four. They also saw their right fielder of the future, Oscar Tavares, killed in a car accident in the off-season.

But the Cardinals keep churning out the wins, thanks to terrific starting pitching, led by Michael Wacha, and steady contributions from second baseman Kolten Wong, shortstop Jhonny Peralta, third baseman Matt Carpenter and outfielder Jason Heyward.

And St. Louis has a chance to get better in the second half.

Most disappointing player: Robinson Cano, Mariners

A team with playoff aspirations and expectations didn’t need its best player to lay an egg, but that’s what Cano has done for the low, low price of $24 million.

There are others who have been disappointing, like Mike Napoli in Boston and Matt Kemp in San Diego, and more who have been worse statistically. Cano, though, is a perennial MVP candidate and was supposed to take the Mariners the World Series.

Instead, Cano entered Friday with a .254 average, six homers and a .666 on base-plus slugging percentage that ranked 136th in baseball, and that’s after two good weeks. Those with a better OPS include Johnny Giavotella, Ender Inciarte and Odubel Herrera.

The good news for Seattle is that Nelson Cruz has been productive, though he’s not nearly as hot of late as he was early, and that Cano has been better the past few weeks. Cruz was supposed to be the finishing piece to a Seattle title run. Of course, Cano wasn’t supposed to barely be better than a replacement player.

He was supposed to be their best player.

Most disappointing pitcher: Rick Porcello, Boston Red Sox

This right-hander, who lives in the strike zone, is always going to give up hits, but this season has been painful, especially since May 22.

In his past nine starts, Porcello has gone 1-7 with a 7.56 ERA. He has given up at least five runs in five of those starts and six times overall. Porcello wasn’t Cy Young material the first six weeks, but his 4.26 ERA in eight starts wasn’t the end of the world, and the Red Sox went 6-2 in those games.

This comes from a pitcher who was acquired from Detroit for slugger Yoenis Cespedes and who signed a four-year extension worth $82.5 million that kicks in next season.

So, the Red Sox have that going from them.

Most disappointing team: Seattle Mariners

Congrats to the Mariners for taking two midseason awards, though for this one they had stiff competition from the rebuilt and underachieving San Diego Padres and the last-place Red Sox.

The Cano struggles documented above aren’t the only reason Seattle was eight games back entering the weekend through 86 games.

They have problems throughout the lineup, which is the standard at Safeco Field. Kyle Seager hasn’t repeated his 2014 performance, though he’s hit 12 homers, and catcher Mike Zunino was batting .159 at the start of last week.

The pitching isn’t completely innocent. Fernando Rodney pitched himself out of the closer’s role. Injuries to Hisashi Iwakuma and promising young lefty James Paxton didn’t help, though lefty Mike Montgomery has been a nice addition.

Overall, though, this Mariners season, filled with high expectations in April, has fallen flat.

This story was originally published July 11, 2015 at 4:49 PM with the headline "Harper, Mariners prominent in our first-half awards ceremony."