CQ: Man of the Year!

Ed. Note: Chicago White Sox slugger Carlos Quentin is in the hunt for an AL MVP award, but since he doesn't play for the Yankees or Red Sox, he won't get much love from the media. Except from me. I'm driving the Carlos Quentin bandwagon until the regular season ends!

Alexei Ramirez is a nice surprise. And Ozzie Guillen has been pleasantly not annoying. But Carlos Quentin has been the offensive force behind the Chicago White Sox's winning ways.

Quentin continued his torrid pace with his 36th home run of the season, a two-run shot off Tampa Bay Rays starter Andrew Sonnanstine, in the White Sox's 6-5 extra-inning win Sunday. The homer was Quentin's only hit, moving his numbers to .289 36 homers and 99 runs batted in. Hecurrently ranks first in homers, fourth in RBIs and third in OPS (.975) among AL hitters.

CQ continues his race towards an MVP award Monday in Baltimore against Chris Waters and the Orioles.

CQ: Man of the Year!

And to think, Carlos Quentin was a healthy Jerry Owens away from not even making the 25-man roster.

All Chuck Quentin has done is hit .296 with 35 home runs and 97 runs batted in this year as the White Sox's primary No. 3 hitter. Throw in his .398 OBP and and .589 slugging percentage and you've got a guy who should be the AL MVP.

No, he isn't a shameless self promoter like myself. No, he isn't a sexy name like A-Rod or Big Papi. But all he does is hit the crap out of the baseball and that's all you really need out of your No. 3 hitter in the order.

Can he keep it up? How does a CQ: Man of the Year weekly blog summarizing the week that was Carlos Quentin?

We'll see if I can do that. If not, I'll pass it on to Hartwig whenever he comes back from vacation.