New York, NY (My Sportsbook) - Philadelphia Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins has been named the National League's Most Valuable Player, as voted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Rollins, who follows up teammate Ryan Howard's MVP campaign from a year ago, garnered 353 points to outdistance Colorado outfielder Matt Holliday by 17 points. Rollins placed first on 16 of the 32 ballots cast by two writers from each NL city, second on seven others, third on four, fourth on four and fifth on one.

He becomes the fifth different Phillies player to win the award, joining Chuck Klein (1932), Jim Konstanty (1950), Mike Schmidt (1980-81 & 1986) and Howard (2006).

Holliday picked up 11 first-place votes, 18 second-place tallies, one third, one fourth and one sixth-place vote for a total of 336, based on a tabulation system that rewards 14 points for first place, nine for second, eight for third on down to one for 10th.

Prince Fielder of the Milwaukee Brewers finished third with 284 points in the voting.

Rollins put together one of the best offensive seasons by a shortstop in NL history, while playing a more demanding position than Holliday at a Gold Glove level.

"I had a real big smile on my face," Rollins said about the time he first found out about the results. "I never really thought about being MVP. I always figured if I won a Gold Glove then that was the MVP for a shortstop to me."

The player that declared the Phillies the "team to beat" in the National League East this year, Rollins did his part, batting .296 while setting new career highs in home runs (30) and runs batted in (94). He also swiped 41 stolen bases, ripped 38 doubles, and his triple on the final day of the season gave him 20, making him the fourth player in major league history to finish a season with 20 doubles, triples, homers and stolen bases. He joined Wildrire Schulte (1911), Willie Mays (1957) and Curtis Granderson (2007) in that exclusive club.

"If I say something it's because I believe in it," Rollins said of his bold prediction at the beginning of the year. "Bottom line, I don't try to say things to bring attention myself or bring attention to the team. It's just, if that's the way I feel I'm going to say it."

Rollins also started in all 162 games for the Phillies last season and set a new record with 716 at-bats on the season. He and Howard are the 11th set of teammates to win the NL award in consecutive seasons and the first since the Giants' Jeff Kent (2000) and Barry Bonds (2001).

"I was like, 'if he can win it, I can win it,'" Rollins said chuckling about Howard. "The only thing he could do is hit home runs further than I can do."

The last time an NL team went three straight years with different MVPs was the Cardinals in 1942 (Mort Cooper), 1943 (Stan Musial) and 1944 (Marty Marion).

Holliday, meanwhile, was the offensive force behind the Rockies' drive to the postseason and eventual NL pennant, as he led the league in batting with a .340 average and his two-RBI performance in the tie-breaker game to get Colorado into the NLDS gave him the RBI lead over Howard by one with 137.

The 27-year-old also paced the Rockies with 36 homers and finished first in the league in hits (216), doubles (50), total bases (386) and extra-base hits (92). He was third in slugging percentage (.607), fourth in homers (36) and seventh in on-base percentage (.405).

Holliday, who is just the sixth player in baseball history to have a year that included at least a .335 average, 35 homers, 130 RBI, 200 hits and 50 doubles, was at his best down the stretch for the Rockies, as he hit .367 in the month of September with 12 home runs and 30 RBI.

The biggest knock on Holliday, though, was that most of his power numbers came inside of hitter-friendly Coors Field. Of his 36 home runs, only 11 of them came on the road. He also had just 55 RBI in visiting ballparks, compared to the 82 he racked up in Denver.

While also playing in a hitter-friendly environment in Philadelphia, Rollins' numbers on the road were pretty much even compared to at Citizens Bank Park.

Fielder led the NL with 50 home runs - becoming the youngest player to ever hit that mark. However, his chances were hurt when the Brewers faded out of the playoff picture.

Rounding out the top five were David Wright (182) of the New York Mets and Howard (112), who finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

The Phillies had three players in the top 10, as second baseman Chase Utley finished eighth (89) in the voting, behind Atlanta third baseman Chipper Jones (107), and San Diego's Jake Peavy (97), this year's NL Cy Young Award winner.