There comes a time in a typist's life when the shooting pains in one's arm can no longer be ignored, and a trip to the doc is in order. My time came yesterday. Having been bothered by what I assumed was the onset of carpal tunnel, I trudged to my generalist after work yesterday.

My doc put my wrist and arm through the motions, jabbed at some muscles, and concluded that, while my wrist nerves were just fine, I had a case of tennis elbow.

How embarrassing. Despite not having played tennis in eons (yes, I know, it's really a misnomer), and not having done too much physical activity in the past month, I now have an injury named after a sport--seemlingly acquired by doing something tragically banal like taking out the garbage or picking up my bag of laundry from the cleaners.

Oh well. Some anti-inflammatories and a tennis elbow guard later, and I'm back in business.

Mr. Bonds won himself yet another MVP yesterday, in a vote that closely resembled the Internet Baseball Writer's Association tally from a few weeks ago. In fact, the top six names on both results lists were the same, though Edmonds and Rolen switched places.

In yesterday's vote, three Cubs scored some points. Aramis Ramirez placed 10th overall, and he even garnered votes for fourth and fifth place, though I'm not quite sure why.

Moises Alou placed 15th, an occurrence I never could have guessed before the 2004 season began.

Finally, Big Z picked up one ninth place vote, popping up at the tail end of the results sheet.

This wasn't a year where there was a clear-cut Most Valuable Cub, so it's probably not surprising to see several guys grab some votes. If you're one who likes Win Shares, then Alou might be your pick for MVC. If you're more a believer in VORP (pitchers here), then maybe you'll choose Ramirez or Zambrano. And despite falling off at the end, Derrek Lee deserves some consideration as well.

Who'd be your pick for MVC? I lean towards going with Ramirez, though I admit I have a couple biases in play: I'm not crazy about Alou as a player or personality, and I generally like to give a nod to the everyday types over the pitchers, unless a pitcher is clearly head and shoulders above the field.