Gibson's Arizona club goes from worst to first
As the 2011 season draws to a close, most of the playoff teams have staked their claim on a postseason berth. Only the wildcard qualifications have yet to be determined and those will excitingly come down to the final games of the season. While I was opposed to the wildcard implementation in 1995, I now see that it promotes exciting September baseball and affords the best non-division winner to overcome divisional deficiencies and still make the postseason. I do reserve the right to plead with the Commissioner and MLB to refrain from further expanding the wildcard and prevent fixing what isn’t broken.
Individual awards will not be announced until mid-November but they are only predicated upon regular season statistics. In March 2011 I made predictions on this very web portal regarding NL & AL Cy Young, MVP and Rookie of the Year.
My Manager of the Year picks:
AL Manager – Buck Showalter, BAL With all due respect to Joe Maddon and Jim Leyland, Buck Showalter has a much larger hill to climb trying to save the Baltimore Orioles franchise. Despite their 2010 and 2011 season records, Showalter has amassed 99 victories over the past 13 months. Moreover the team has been playing much better during the month of September in a spoiler role and can put some icing on that cake in the season finale.
NL Manager – Clint Hurdle, PIT Most writers will go for the manager that has most wins on the season (Manuel) or perhaps largest separation between division winner and their second place team (Leyland) or new manager taking his team’s division for the first time in 30 years (Roenicke). Even Kirk Gibson took his squad from worst to first.
Clint Hurdle took over the Pittsburgh Pirates, a franchise that has been losing for the better part of a generation. Not since 1992 have the Pirates sniffed the playoffs and on July 15, 2011 Clint Hurdle had his Pirates in first place. There is hope in Pittsburgh and we’re not talking about the Steelers for a change.
| NL Manager of Year | TEAM | W | L | COMMENT |
| Kirk Gibson | Arizona | 93 | 66 | Worst to First for Sparky’s legacy |
| Tony La Russa | St. Louis | 88 | 71 | How many postseason appearances? |
| Clint Hurdle | Pittsburgh | 71 | 88 | July 15 first place first time in 19 years |
| Charlie Manuel | Philadelphia | 99 | 60 | Best record in MLB; Fifth NL East title – what more can be said? Don’t ask Charlie that!!! |
| Ron Roenicke | Milwaukee | 94 | 65 | First Division title since 1982; Mike Scocia’s coaching tree includes Joe Maddon and Bud Black as well! |
| AL Manager of Year | TEAM | W | L | COMMENT |
| Terry Francona | Boston | 89 | 70 | Wins 90 games and lose a job for a 9 game lead? Possible |
| Ron Washington | Texas | 93 | 66 | 2010 AL Championship wasn’t fluke but still no respect |
| Jim Leyland | Detroit | 92 | 67 | No one picks Leyland to win and yet he often does. Why? |
| Buck Showalter | Baltimore | 67 | 92 | 100 wins since August 2010 |
| Joe Maddon | Tampa Bay | 88 | 71 | when will this manager get respect? |
Still to come will be Rookie of the Year candidates as well as GM of the Year and comeback player of the year. You’ve seen Cy Young Award, MVP candidates and Manager of the Year candidates. Voting will proceed through the final week of the regular season and postseason – though postseason stats and performance will not count for these regular season awards.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Rookie of Year http://www.prosportsblogging.com/2011/09/28/rookie-of-year-award-goes-to/
MVP http://www.prosportsblogging.com/2011/09/26/mvp-award-goes-to/
Cy Young Award http://www.prosportsblogging.com/2011/09/26/cy-young-award-goes-to/
MLB Wildcard Podcast Forum
Brenda Sepanek (Boston Red Sox), John Morgo (Atlanta Braves) and Matthew Hesse (Arizona Diamondbacks) join Adrian Fedkiw (Philadelphia Phillies) to discuss the AL & NL Wild Card.
http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?episodeId=538567&cmd=apop
http://www.prosportsblogging.com/2011/09/24/mlb-wild-card-forum/
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Written by Christopher Rowe
Contributing writer Comcast Sports, NY Times contributing stringer 1996-2000, Contributing writer Yahoo Sports (2001 World Series). Contributing writer Newsday Long Island (1992-1994, Jets Training Camp) and Newak Star Ledger. Freelance Copywriter, Editor/Founder Atlantic Times Weekly (1993-2003) fantasy football magazine, produced screenwriter and general humorist. Hofstra University grad, Marist College honorary alum, Salesian; Purveyor of the Value and Valor of Philadelphia Eagles 1960 NFL Championship; Adrent believer that Eagles could have won Super Bowl XV...and Super Bowl XXXIX...plus modern decade of Eagles 5 NFC Championships... Believer in the Broad Street Bullies and the 1983 Sixers... Witness to Philadelphia Phillies World Series championships 1980 & 2008, Suffered Phillies first pro sports team to reach 10,000 losses,witnessed "1980 Cardiac Kids," 1983 "Wheeze Kids," 1993 "Macho Row" and many, many, many not-so-memorable seasons in-between... until the Philadelphia Baseball Renaissance of 21st Century, Five NL East division titles 2007-2011, 3 NLCS appearances 2008-2010, 2 consecutive World Series berths 2008 & 2009. 2008 World Champions of baseball [miss ya Harry and Richie]; "collector" of MLB ballparks (42 stadiums including 15 which are gone); Fantasy Football & Baseball player since 1992. Always a sports fan... Tenui Nec Dimittam Contact me christopherrowe@prosportsblogging.com
Sonny Sep 26 20115:13 pm
Yes, the Pirates gave a sniff to this years playoffs…WHATEVER! Hurdle deserves squat as the Pirates arent even close to “sniffing” .500 for the season! Ridiculous.
Easy…Gibson for NL Mgr of the Year! For ANY team to do what they have done this year is unheard of…this team has NO real names, just a bunch of kids who love to play the game…and believe they can win! This is a true reflection of how Gibby played the game, and has always been his philosophy.
Matthew Hesse Sep 26 201110:59 pm
Gibson hands down for NL Manager of the year.
Christopher Rowe Nov 17 20117:47 pm
Matthew called Gibby!
Steven Keys Sep 26 20117:12 pm
Good to plausible picks, Chris (Verlander AL-MVP too). But since you’re giving out your own awards, it’s only fitting we get to see a picture of the trophies you’ll be pretending to mail out to all the winners. Please, no more of these ridiculous abstract, glass concoctions. I wanta’ see the trophies they handed out to us as kids. The real things: those gold-painted, cheap metal action figures. The winners with be pleasantly surprised, trust me.
Christopher Rowe Sep 26 201111:36 pm
Gibby has had a fantastic season going worst to first but if the Giants don’t collapse we might not see Arizona in postseason AND this is not the first ragtag bunch of castoffs and kids to go worst to first (1991 Braves, 1993 Phillies, etc.)… Leyland has been there before (World Series wins with Florida and Detroit) and again won a weak AL Central Division… Showalter and Hurdle are turning losing franchises into potential winners and in Hurdle’s case spending one day in first place in 2011 is a feat not seen in Pittsburgh since 1992!
All votes and write-in candidates are of course welcome!
Sonny Sep 27 201110:47 am
Did those same Braves/Phillies “etc.” teams lose over 183 games over the last 2 years? The DBacks were the WORST team in baseball for TWO eyars…Gibby changed it overnight…nuff said.
And please…AZ won because of a SF collapse? funny…Maybe you should look up those previous records also…who collapsed so another team could win…another ridiculous statement.
The DBacks TOOK the West and played good baseball when it counted.
Christopher Rowe Sep 27 201111:24 am
You have every right to root for your team and celebrate their achievement but a little perspective wouldn’t hurt. Arizona won the World Series in 2001 (their fourth year of existence) and last made the playoffs in 2007. Sticking with examples at hand…
Pittsburgh’s last playoff berth was 1992… since then they have AVERAGED 80 losses per season with 9 seasons of 90 or more losses, two 100+ loss seasons and in 2010 they lost 105 games
Prior to their 1991 worst to first and World Series appearance Atlanta had lost an average of 97 games, with 2 straight 97-loss seasons and 106 losses in the previous three years.
AS for Philadelphia… after their 1983 World Series appearance they were abysmal from 1984-1992 averaging 90 losses in the 5 years leading up to 1993 – including a 92-loss season the year before they turned it around with a 97-65 season in 1993.
How bout you learn some history before you thump your chest?
Christopher Rowe Oct 20 20115:59 pm
LaRussa only had 90 regular season wins… but if St. Louis wins, is it because of his manageent or the players’ execution?
Chaz Oct 20 20119:24 pm
If the Cardinals win it all it will be because of both LaRussa’s management skills as well as the players’ execution. I, like most Cardinals’ fans, have questioned some of LaRussa’ maneuvers in the past. But you can’t deny that most of his decisions this post season have resulted into something positive. And obviously the Cardinals hitting and execution cannot be denied.
Christopher Rowe Oct 22 20114:01 pm
Amen to that! LaRussa rules Baseball Heaven
Christopher Rowe Oct 29 20111:10 pm
Add one more championship for LaRussa – and a lot more votes for Manager of Year
Christopher Rowe Nov 16 201112:21 pm
Award doesn’t go to manager of the most successful team – rather the manager who does the most with his team… even if that team lacks some talent. Case can be made for LaRussa, Washington, Maddon, Gibson and all the rest
Christopher Rowe Nov 19 201111:45 pm
AL-Joe Maddon – TB (Second)
NL-Kirk Gibson (Rookie)