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	Wednesday, November 15
	Giambi's late run gave him the award ESPN.com
	Editor's note: ESPN's Dave Campbell analyzes the race for the AL MVP Award. Jason Giambi won the American League MVP Award for a number of reasons, but the main reason for his winning the award was because of his role in the A's great late run to win the AL West. From Sept. 1 to the end of the season, the A's went 21-7. And Giambi had tremendous numbers during that crucial stretch. Although Giambi won, that doesn't take anything away from runner-up Frank Thomas. Without a big season from the Big Hurt, the Chicago White Sox wouldn't have enjoyed such a comfortable margin in winning the AL Central and posting the best record in the American League. With three weeks to go in the season, the MVP race was really a toss-up between Giambi, Thomas, Alex Rodriguez and Carlos Delgado. Whoever really stepped up the last few weeks was probably going to walk away with the award. No other candidate responded better than Giambi. His overall numbers -- combining home runs, RBI, batting average and walks -- were comparable to only three other players in American League history -- Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and Ted Williams. That's pretty elite company. There's no question Giambi is the undisputed leader of the A's. The young Oakland players looked to him, and everybody talked about his great leadership credentials. Rodriguez was the leader in Seattle, but until the last week of the season, he didn't help his case, suffering through a prolonged slump in late September. Plus, Giambi's A's beat the Mariners by a half-game in the division and won the head-to-head season series. Last year Chipper Jones put himself over the top for the NL MVP Award with his performance in three critical September games against the Mets. In this day of gaudy offensive numbers, I think the MVP should be determined more by a player's value to his team, especially a playoff team. Of the contenders, no one was more valuable than Giambi. Giambi's honor is good for the A's. They had come in second for Cy Young Award (Tim Hudson), Manager of the Year (Art Howe) and Rookie of the Year (Terrence Long). So it was nice for them to finally win one.		ALSO SEE Giambi edges Thomas for MVP honors in AL