NEW YORK -- Ryan Braun sat alone on a balcony in his Malibu home that overlooks the Pacific Ocean, uneasy about his chances of winning the National Leagues Most Valuable Player award. With the season Los Angeles Matt Kemp had, he wasnt sure the call would come at all. The phone rang all right, and Braun has been smiling ever since. Braun was voted the NL MVP on Tuesday after helping the Milwaukee Brewers win their first division title in nearly 30 years. "Im not going to pretend like I wasnt anxious or nervous because I was," Braun said. "Its honestly difficult to put into words how much this means to me." The left-fielder received 20-of-32 first-place votes and 388 points in voting announced by the Baseball Writers Association of America. A nerve-racking morning that began with a solitary drive turned to elation in the California sun. The 28-year-old Braun shared the news with his brother and girlfriend, who were at the house. He called his parents, then rang good friend Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers quarterback, and exchanged text messages with Kemp, the runner-up. "This is really is a dream," Braun said. "This is beyond my wildest dreams to be in this position at this point in my career." Kemp earned 10 first-place votes and 332 points after coming close to winning the first Triple Crown since Carl Yastrzemski in 1967. Brauns teammate Prince Fielder finished third with 229 points, and Arizonas Justin Upton finished fourth with 214 points. Fielder and Upton each received one first-place vote. St. Louis Albert Pujols finished fifth. It was the 11th straight year the three-time MVP was in the top 10 in balloting. NL Cy Young Award winner Los Angeles Clayton Kershaw was 12th in the voting a day after Detroits Justin Verlander added the AL MVP to his Cy Young. "I think he was the single most dominant player in baseball this year," Braun said of Verlander. "As a position player Im biased to the fact that I think position players should be at the forefront of the award, but if you honestly look at what he accomplished, how much he meant to that team and how dominant he truly was you cannot make any argument against him winning that award." In his fifth year in the big leagues, Braun led the NL with a .597 slugging percentage and had a chance to overtake Jose Reyes for the batting title on the last day of the season but finished second with a .332 average. The four-time all-star had 33 homers, 111 RBIs, 109 runs scored and stole 33 bases as Milwaukee won a franchise-best 96 games. His 77 extra-base hits was tops in the league. Kemp led the NL with 39 homers, 126 RBIs and was third in average (.324), but played for the NL Wests third-place Dodgers. He also won a Gold Glove. "Matts one of the best players in the game. No question about it. The season he had will go down as one of the greatest in Dodgers history," said Braun, who grew up in California rooting for the Dodgers. "If he had won the MVP I certainly couldnt have argued with him winning. He had a phenomenal year." Although Braun and Kemp had similar statistics, Kemp was hindered by the Dodgers 82-79 third-place finish in the NL West. The Brewers won the NL Central title, their first division crown since winning the AL East in 1982. "Without a doubt I think its a drastically different experience playing meaningful games down the stretch," said Braun, the 2007 NL Rookie of the Year. Braun, in fact, was convinced the Brewers first-place finish is what put him over the top with voters. "If you honestly assess both of our seasons individually I think his numbers are probably better than mine, and I just feel fortunate to have been on the better team," Braun said. "Its an individual award, but its a result of being part of a special team, a special organization." Braun is the first Brewers player to win the MVP award in the National League and first since Robin Yount won in 1989, when Milwaukee was in the AL East. Rollie Fingers (1981) and Yount in 1982 are the other Brewers to take home MVP honours. "Robins the greatest player in Milwaukee Brewers history, so anytime youre mentioned alongside him its a tremendous achievement," Braun said. Braun signed a US$105 million, five-year contract extension in April, linking him to the Brewers through 2020. He received a $100,000 bonus for winning the MVP. "This team has been so loyal to me. They believed in me. They drafted me. They helped to develop me, and there would be nothing more meaningful to me than to eventually win a world championship in Milwaukee," he said. "It would mean a lot more to me than if I went to a large-market team, big-market-team and won two or three championships." www.cheapjerseystb.com. Tougher. More resilient. Smarter. A team that opponents did not enjoy facing. BMO Field was to become a fortress. But turning around an MLS franchise synonymous with failure has proved to be like parallel parking a super-tanker. cheapjerseystb.com. The value of the contract was confirmed by Brunners agent, Neil Sheehy. Brunner has been attending the Devils training camp on a professional tryout. http://www.cheapjerseystb.com/. The superstar forward made the announcement on Tuesday, one day after being suspended three games by the league for a hit to the head of Pittsburghs Zbynek Michalek.NEW YORK -- On Wednesday, it was Dewayne Wise. Next time it might be Raul Ibanez or Andruw Jones or Jayson Nix. The New York Yankees are on a roll and a big reason for the success is the contributions of their role players. And Wise knows why. "Theyd rather face me than (Derek) Jeter, and Curtis (Granderson), Alex (Rodriguez) and (Robinson) Cano," Wise said after driving in two runs in the Yankees 6-0, rain-shortened victory over the Toronto Blue Jays that completed a thorough three-game sweep. "You got Hall of Famers all through the lineup," he said. "Its just one of those lineups that dont come around that often." Hiroki Kuroda pitched four-hit ball for his first shutout since 2008, when he was with the Los Angeles Dodgers. The tarps came out after he pitched the seventh inning and the game was called following a 58-minute rain delay. The complete game was the third of his career. Mark Teixeira hit a two-run homer in a four-run first inning, lifting the Yankees to their ninth win in 11 games. They are a season high 23 games over .500 (57-34). New York scored at least three runs for a 42nd straight game, the second-longest streak since 1920. The 1994 Cleveland Indians went 48 games in 1994, the Yankees said based on information provided by the Elias Sports Bureau. "Weve pitched well. Weve swung the bats well the last couple of weeks. I mean really, really well," manager Joe Girardi said. "Ive been really pleased with how -- its kind of been shared. It hasnt been one or two guys doing all the work. Youve gotten contributions from so many different people in this lineup. ... It makes it difficult to get through this lineup and I think it wears on pitchers. They gave Ricky Romero no time to settle in. He lost a career-worst fifth straight start and beat Toronto for the eighth straight time in the Bronx. The Blue Jays not only are leaving town two games under .500 for the first time this season, they will be limping into Boston with two injuries. Brett Lawrie bruised his right calf flipping over a railing trying to catch a foul pop in the third inning. All-Star slugger Jose Bautista strained his wrist on a swing Monday night and was put on the 15-day disabled list. "Well, it was a costly series," Blue Jays manager John Farrell said. "Obviously getting swept, first and foremost, and then the injury to Jose in Game One and then today with Brett going over the railing." Lawrie slammed his right leg onto an unpadded railing inside a camera well while somersaulting over the cushioned railing separating the deep well from the field next to the Toronto dugout. The 22-year-old tried standing up but immediately went down after putting weight on his leg. Several members of the Blue Jays staff ran from the dugout to assist Lawrie. "I hit it so flush, and it was just a long fall.dddddddddddd I felt like I was in the air for like 5 seconds," Lawrie said. "From where the cameras sit behind that, it looks like it kind of cuts off right there but it actually goes down like another 3 1/2 feet. So its like a 5, 5 1/2 foot drop. It sure felt like it." X-rays were negative and he is day to day. Lawrie hopes to play Friday. Farrell saw this series as a chance help define the Blue Jays season. Well, the Yankees outscored Toronto 18-4 and outhomered their AL East rival 4-1. "Its not what we envisioned," Farrell said. "And yet, I thought we came in here and we played well for the first game and three-quarters. (The Yankees are) a very good team thats probably playing their best baseball of the year over the last month or so." Headed to Oakland immediately following the game for the start of a six-game trip that begins Thursday, the Yankees wasted no time after a 51-minute delay at the start caused by some dramatic lightning and booming thunder -- but no rain. Jeter led off the first with a double, the first of the four extra-base hits in the inning. Nick Swisher had an RBI single, Teixeira followed with his 19th homer, a two-run shot. With one out, Cano and Jones had consecutive doubles to make it 4-0. Cano has a 21-game hitting streak. Wise had an RBI double in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the sixth off Romero. He started in centre field, giving Granderson a day off. Granderson had started 89 of New Yorks first 90 games. "Youve got to get contributions from everyone," Jeter said. Kuroda (9-7), meanwhile, allowed a single hit in each of the second, fifth, sixth and seventh innings. He struck out the side in the second. It was an encouraging outing for Kuroda after he was shelled in his previous two starts, 11 earned runs over 13 innings as his ERA rose from 3.16 to 3.67. Pitching with a big early lead helped. "You can be aggressive and go inside on righties and lefties," Kuroda said through an interpreter. Romero (8-6) appeared to be emerging from a slump. He had yielded just three runs in 12 innings over his previous two starts -- allowing 16 runs in the two outings before that. But he gave up six runs and 12 hits in six innings this time. The losing streak follows a stretch where he lost only once in 15 outings. NOTES: Injured Yankees closer Mariano Rivera rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Wednesday morning. ... Several members of the Wounded Warrior Project rode hand-pedaled bicycles onto the field before the game as part of the Soldier Ride. Swisher greeted the injured troops and fans gave them a warm ovation. ... Following the game, the Yankees recalled RHP David Phelps from Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre and optioned RHP D.J. Mitchell to their top minor league club. wholesale jerseys　 Cheap Jerseys　 ' ' '