We asked a panel of the nation's foremost baseball experts who they think is the first-half MVP in the Hanover Division. Next week we'll look at the Morris.

Mark Curtis, Phoenix KPNX-TV Sports
Nomar Garciaparra is well on his way to leading the league in hits and batting average, and is among the league leaders in runs scored and doubles. No one doubts he'll be among the league leaders in most offensive categories this season; what everyone is asking is how many all-time records will he break? In 97 games, or about 60 percent of the season, Nomar has 159 hits, 41 doubles and 92 runs. If he can keep up his current pace, he'll end the year with 68 doubles, 154 runs and 266 hits in 696 at-bats, for a .38218 batting average. He's just two hits off the pace of a .385 batting average, beating Deion Sanders' .3841 mark from 1993; if those two hits are doubles, he'd break Terry Shumpert's record of 69, set last year; and if he can find a way to score 10 more runs, he'll pass Chuck Knoblauch's record 163 in 1997. That kind of production -- from your shortstop! -- will win him his first Kevin Mitchell Most Valuable Batter Award.

Kalani Simpson, Honolulu Star-Bulletin
No Justice, No Peace: That will be the chant emanating from the 50th state if David Justice doesn't win the Kevin Mitchell Award in a landslide this year. DJ has an astonishing 111 RBIs in 97 games -- that's a pace for 185. He's knocked in 20 percent of the team's runs! Without Justice, the Sharks would be battling it out at the bottom of the standings and looking for draft picks. If Justice doesn't bring the award back to Hawaii, the only other logical choice is Kentucky's Benny Agbayani, who is hitting .346 for his third team this year.

Mike Lupica, New York Daily News
It's got to be former Brooklyn star Todd Helton. I know that choice isn't going to make me popular with the boys down at Manny's Bar, but Todd is hitting .346-.442-.617 with 40 doubles, 21 HR, 74 R and 76 RBI. He's nearly out-hitting the combined production of every player we got for him: Mike Lieberthal has been hurt, Steve Finley is hitting .199 and Tino Martinez didn't even make the team. At least the final part of the puzzle, Bobby Higginson, has been producing acceptable numbers (.277, 20 HR, 76 RBI), but acceptable numbers was a steep price to pay for a fan favorite like Helton. If you don't think he's the league MVP, where do you think the Bean Counters would be with Todd at first base, instead of Mark Grace (.245, 4 HR, 29 RBI)?

Dave Campbell, ESPN's "Baseball Tonight"
It's a tough call, because you've got Brian Giles tearing up the league (.322-.422-.636, 115 H, 27 HR, 75 R, 81 RBI), and from what I hear, everyone in Hoboken says Giles is the one guy they all think can lead the Cutters back into the playoff picture. But the hitter every other team in the league would want has to be Mike Piazza. He's putting up huge numbers (.288-.342-.547, 110 H, 24 2B, 25 HR, 62 R, 80 RBI) and he's doing it as a catcher. Most teams hope for anything better than an automatic out from the catcher position; Piazza, year in and year out, continues to put up Hall of Fame numbers from behind the plate. That's why Piazza is my MVP.

Peter Vecsey, New York Post
When Gary Sheffield underwent Tommy John surgery in March, attendance plummeted and Harrison fans started talking about kicking the team back to Austin. At the time, doctors said it was likely Sheffield would be out until the All-Star Break -- in 2002! But Sheffield broke all records when it came to rehabbing from the dreaded TJ surgery, and not only was he back before this year's All-Star Break, he even joined Edgardo Alfonzo and Tom Glavine as the hometown representatives, and went 1 for 1 with a stolen base. The Rats were 15-20 (.429) without Sheffield in the lineup, but since he's been back they've been on a tear, and are now just one game out of the wildcard race. If he'd been in the lineup all along -- hitting .351-.460-.721, with 24 HR and 53 RBI in 61 games -- Harrison would have its sights set not on the wildcard, but on the pennant.

Jerry Izenberg, The Star-Ledger
Growing up, I used to take part in the usual "Willie, Mickey or the Duke?" debates. On the street corners of Newark, a similar battle is being waged over the league's best outfielder, but this year all three are wearing the same uniform. So is it Bobby, Manny or Carl? At the All-Star Game, Manny Ramirez and Carl Everett both won enough votes to be starters, but the guy who didn't even make the team -- Bobby Abreu -- might be having the best season of all three. He leads the team -- and is among the league leaders -- in most "percentage" categories, such as batting average (5th in DMBL), on-base percentage (4th), slugging percentage (2nd), runs created per 27 outs (2nd), isolated power (2nd), total average (2nd), on-base plus slugging percentage (2nd) and secondary average (3rd). Ramirez, the only player on Newark's roster to have played in all 99 games this season, leads in the cumulative categories: doubles (10th), homeruns (7th), runs scored (3rd), RBI (4th), extra base hits (4th), total bases (7th) and walks (6th). But if you ask opposing pitchers who the MVP is, they'll tell you it's Everett. Despite missing 30 games this season due to various ailments, Everett has 26 HR and 84 RBI in just 73 games played -- projected out to a full season, that's 58 HR and 192 RBI. Throw in the contributions of Eric Davis (.385-.429-523), Brian Jordan (.356-.400-.505) and Cliff Floyd (.291-.393-.466) and you could make a great case for giving the award to the whole outfield. But if I have to take one, give me Ramirez: He's the one who's been there, every game, all season long.

Joe Benigno, "The Fan" Sports Radio
Derek Jeter for DMBL MVP? Am I nuts? I know I'm going to take some heat from the callers on this one, but hear me out. People are going to say Derek is having a lousy year, that he's not even the MVP on his own team. It's true that you'll see better numbers if you look at Moises Alou (.318, 21 HR, 82 RBI), Jermaine Dye (.348, 16 HR, 58 RBI), Todd Helton (.346, 21 HR, 76 RBI) or Bernie Williams (.323, 17 HR, 88 R). But despite those gaudy numbers, Stanhope is 4 1/2 games out of 1st place. No, if any player can step up and take Stanhope back to the World Series, it's going to have to be Jeter. In the last month, Derek hit .303 (30-99) with 5 2B, 6 HR, 18 R and 17 RBI, and during his little hot streak the Mighty Men have gone 17-9 (.654). When the dust settles at the end of this season, you will see the Stanhope Mighty Men back in the World Series, and Derek Jeter is the MVP who led them there.