Vote for David Murphy

I got this email in earlier today about a new Rookie of the Month award being run on MLB.com, so I thought I'd pass it along, as David Murphy is one of the candidates...

DAVID MURPHY ONE OF FOUR NOMINEES FOR NEW ROOKIE OF THE MONTH AWARD PRESENTED BY GILLETTE & MLB

David Murphy of the Rangers is one of four American League nominees for Major League Baseball's newest major award in both leagues -- the Rookie of the Month Award presented by Gillette (www.mlb.com/gillette).

In the American League in addition to Murphy, nominees for April (including March games) are right-hander Armando Galarraga of the Tigers, outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury of the Red Sox and left-hander Greg Smith of the A's.

Fans get to decide the best starts by players starting their careers, and by voting become automatically entered in a drawing for a trip to see either the 79th All-Star Game on July 15 at Yankee Stadium or one of the 2008 World Series games. Voting will be conducted at the start of each month for the top rookie from each league.

In the National League, the four nominees are outfielder Kosuke Fukudome of the Cubs, right-hander Jair Jurrjens of the Braves, right-hander Kyle McClellan of the Cardinals and catcher Geovany Soto of the Cubs.

The online fan vote represents 20 percent of the overall balloting, with the remaining votes coming from team baseball writers and club broadcasters. Once voting is concluded, Gillette, MLB and Major League Baseball Advanced Media will announce the winning rookie for each league in a monthly press release and congratulate the winners at mlb.com/gillette.

That first announcement will be this Friday, after which Gillette will present the award winners with a Rookie of the Month trophy and make a donation to a charitable organization in each award recipient's name.

Statistical criteria is provided on the site for fans to make their selections. For position players, it's home runs, batting average, on-base percentage, runs scored. For pitchers, it's wins and saves, strikeouts, ERA.