Henkenjohann surprised to pick up MVP

He never played in either of Germany’s last two contests.
But after the World Baseball Challenge championship game ended on Sunday, Tim Henkenjohann returned to the spotlight.
The same pitcher who led Germany in a 6-3 round robin victory over the USA National Team on July 20, the biggest upset of the competition, received recognition for a second time in front of the Americans.
This time Henkenjohann never picked up a victory on the mound. Instead, he accepted the tournament Most Valuable Player award. The hardware couldn’t have been awarded to the pitcher without his efforts in a pair of victories, the second being an 8-1 triumph over Team B.C. in the playoff round on Saturday.
Bittersweet may best describe the most common feeling for a player on a losing team accepting such an award. The Americans held the most important trophy after defeating Germany 8-1 for the tournament title.
Henkenjohann said the news surprised him, but it made him feel good about his efforts during the 10-day, six-team competition. So where does he rank the feat?
“Pretty up top, I would say” he said. “We had some other good games, 2007 at the World Cup and beginning of 2008 at the Olympic qualifying, we played Cuba and South Korea, and there were some pretty good teams there too.”
In addition to his 2-0 record, Henkenjohann led Germany with a 1.76 earned run average, and struck out 11 batters. His earned run average was higher than only six pitchers in the competition who averaged at least one inning of duty per team game.
Despite losing in the final, Germany defeated every team in the World Baseball Challenge.
“(The victory over Team USA) set a tone for our team too,” Henkenjohann said. “The motivation and stuff helped a lot, and like I said, it showed us too that we can play on that level too, and can compete with those kinds of teams.”