Venezuelan baseball receiver Eliezer Alfonzo earned on Sunday the nation's Professional Baseball League (LVBP) most valuable player (MVP) award for 2007, for his performance for Anzoategui team Los Caribes.

 

Some 21 of the 40 participating sports journalists voted for him, earning Alonzo 137 points. Second placer Gregor Blanco, a fielder from La Guaira team Tiburones, won 109 points, while third placed Jose Castillo, a batter from Los Leones, won 84.

 

Alfonzo also won the Victor Davalillo Prize, Producer of the Year, after scoring 15 home runs to beat his own record, and winning 47 normal runs, six lower than the other record he set of 53.

 

He also received the home run Derby award in the All Star Match organized by the Baseball players association.

 

Alfonzo has played for the San Francisco team the Giants in the United States Major Leagues and is the second player from the Caribes team to win the MVP after Magglio Ordonez for the 1996-1997 season.

 

The Caribes won four the league's seven awards: MVP and Producer of the year, both won by Alfonzo; Pitcher of the Year, which went to Alex Herrera; and Manager of the Year, which went to Marcos Davalillo.

 

(Xinhua News Agency January 14, 2008)