It’s the halfway point in Major League Baseball and there has been a lot of talk about who the American League’s Most Valuable Player would be if the vote were held today, and the right people were voting, of course.

Most cast their ballots for Alex Rodriguez or Magglio Ordonez, who are each having tremendous seasons. Ordonez is chasing the doubles record and leading the league in hitting at .369 going into play Saturday. He’s also batting .443 with runners in scoring position.

Rodriguez leads all of baseball in homers and RBI and has played a solid third base this season, albeit for a Yankees club that is struggling to reach the .500 mark.

Others look to Vladimir Guerrero, who has carried the Los Angeles Angels’ offense for three seasons and has paved the way for their pitching staff to lead them to the second-best record in baseball and a 3 1/3 game lead in the American League West.

Guerrero is hitting .327 with 41 extra-base hits and 75 RBI and has struck out just 32 times versus 47 walks.

Even Victor Martinez deserves consideration despite his poor defensive play behind the plate. V-Mar is batting .325/.384/.546 with 67 RBI to anchor the Indians offensive attack.

Torii Hunter has gotten some play as well, and deservedly so. Hunter is hitting over .300 and is on pace for more than 30 homers and 100 RBI in his walk year. And the Twins aren’t dead in the AL Central.

But anyone ignoring Seattle Mariners center fielder Ichiro Suzuki has not been watching baseball in 2007. I’m not saying Ichiro should be the MVP right now, but he should be ahead of Rodriguez, Martinez and Hunter, and right there with Ordonez and Guerrero.  Okay, nevermind,  I am saying Ichiro should be the MVP.

Sure, Ichiro has just five home runs. Yeah, I know, he has but 39 RBI when some of these other hitters have 70 or more. But there’s more to the Most Valuable Player than homers and RBI.

Ichiro ranks second in the AL in hitting at .360 after Friday’s games, has the 7th best on-base percentage- first among baseball’s leadoff hitters, is third with 23 steals and is impressively 26th in the league in slugging percentage at .458.

All that without taking his home ballpark into consideration.

Ichiro plays a gold glove center field, a premium defensive position, which only one other candidate can claim, and is on pace for 60 walks this season,which would be the second-most he’s drawn since coming to Seattle from Japan. He’s fanned only 34 times, just 22 times since May 1, and might be the most adaptable star in baseball.

When Seattle needs a game-winning single, Ichiro has delivered. He has three game-winning hits after the 7th inning this season. When the M’s needed a jump start, Ichiro has given it to them. He’s homered in the M’s first at-bat of the game four times this season.

He’s swiped 23 bags in 25 attempts, too, and is eight of eight stealing bases after the sixth inning in close games.

Ichiro’s translated numbers from Baseball Prospectus are ridiculous; .399/.452/.488 with an EqA of .332, a career best. He’s creating 9.3 runs per game on a 27-out basis and 76 on the season and is hitting .417 with runners in scoring position.

And… the Mariners are winning.

As I type this, the M’s are about to secure their 48th win of the season against 36 losses and with any help from their old pal AROD (who is facing Scot Shields in the bottom of the ninth in a 1-1 ties right this second) would move to just 2 1/2 games back in the AL West.

Seattle, some way, some how, is a good team in 2007, and though there are legitimate questions concerning how long they can keep it up, Ichiro is the key to their success.

I’m not even one of the bigger Ichiro fan, but what he does for this team, particularly when he gets support from the rest of the team, is immeasurable.

Someone said to me last week that Ichiro is only really good when the Mariners are winning. I countered with a different thought.

The Mariners are good when Ichiro is great, and this year he’s been great.

If the vote were today, the writers wouldn’t likely have Ichiro in the top 5 because of all the homers being hit by AROD and the numbers being put up by Magglio Ordonez and Vladimir Guerrero.

But right now my vote goes to Ichiro, who does more toward what’s necessary for his winning team than Ordonez or Guerrero does for his.

One of these days the writers will understand what the award is all about and have the intelligence and tools to evaluate a player’s true value to his team’s success. But until then…

My Vote:

1. Ichiro

2. Vladimir Guerrero

3. Magglio Ordonez

4. Alex Rodriguez

5. Torii Hunter

For the record, J.J. Putz would get a top three vote for Cy Young from me, right behind Dan Haren. He may not remain there with the expected emergence of Johan Santana, but Putz has been the game’s best reliever thus far.

Injured prospect Carlos Triunfel is on a rehab assignment and could be back in the Timber Rattlers lineup by the end of the month. The shortstop’s injured thumb has held him out of action since May 28 and kept the 17-year-old from playing the Midwest League All-Star Game in which he was selected.

Triunfel went 2-for-4 in his first game for the Rookie League Mariners on Monday and is expected to get about 40 at-bats there. He DH’d in the game but will get back in the field sometime later this week.

UPDATE - 7.6.07: Triunfel was assigned to High Desert after just three games in Peoria, continuing the uber-aggressive promotion styles of the Seattle Mariners.

This time, however, it’s not something I’m concerned about, really.  It’s a hitter’s league, Tri is a hitter, and a pretty good one at that.  He won’t embarrass himself and this way he’s probably on a timetable to spend about a year in AA and another year in AAA before replacing Adrian Beltre in the Mariners lineup at third base by the start of 2010, as Dave Cameron and I agreed via e-mail earlier today.

What’s funny is, Triunfel is so skilled physically and has a learning curve that buries that of any other prospect in the system this side of Adam Jones, that he could move even faster than that, barring medical setbacks.

I may have to fly back to California and weather the, well, the weather, as well as the ‘hood in that area of the state, so I can check Triunfel out for myself.

Unless by the time I land in that hell hole, he’s been promoted to West Tennessee.

Umm, yeah, that’st he buzz around Safeco this morning as the club gets set for a press conference at 11:30 AM.  I’m not sure why, it can’t be due to pressure from the upper management, so we’ll wait and see.

And for those wondering… no, it doesn’t put a damper on the party this summer.  We’ll just call it something else.