Baseball Postseason Awards Thread
 

From ESPN.com
The baseball awards have begun, this year should be interesting.

For complete story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1658488

"NEW YORK -- Kansas City shortstop Angel Berroa beat New York Yankees outfielder Hideki Matsui in the closest AL Rookie of the Year vote in 24 years. The close voting revived heated discussion about what defines a rookie in Major League Baseball.

Florida pitcher Dontrelle Willis won the NL award.

Berroa received 12 first-place votes, seven seconds and seven thirds for 88 points in balloting released Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Matsui got 10 firsts, nine seconds and seven thirds for 84 points.

It was the closest vote since the BBWAA adopted the current format in 1980, a year after Minnesota's John Castino and Toronto's Alfredo Griffin tied with seven votes each. Berroa and Matsui each were picked on 26 of 28 ballots.

Berroa received 12 first-place votes, seven seconds and seven thirds for 88 points in balloting released Monday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Matsui got 10 firsts, nine seconds and seven thirds for 84 points.

In the NL, Willis received 17 first-place votes and 118 points, easily defeating Milwaukee outfielder Scott Podsednik, who got eight firsts and 81 points."

Right picks on the ROY's. Next up, Doc Halladay for the AL Cy Young. Then Gagne in the NL. Arod with the AL MVP, then Pujols in the NL.

I'd have gone with Matsui as AL ROY. He had a pretty good season and put up some good numbers.

gold gloves:
 

nl:
pitcher Mike Hampton
catcher Mike Matheny
first baseman Derrek Lee
second baseman Luis Castillo
shortstop Edgar Renteria
third baseman Scott Rolen
outfielder Jose Cruz Jr. Cruz
Outfielder Jim Edmonds
outfielder Andruw Jones

al:
pitcher Mike Mussina
catcher Bengie Molina
First John Olerud
Second Bret Boone
shortstop Alex Rodriguez
third baseman Eric Chavez,
outfielder Torii Hunter
outfielder Ichiro Suzuki
outfielder Mike Cameron

Still not sure I like the idea of a closer as Cy Young. Wait, I am sure, I don't like it :)

I'm also never really sure what the MVP award should be given for. Should it be given to the player who performed the best throughout the season, or to the player who is most valuable to his team? The argument could be made that A-Rod didn't change the outcome of the season for the Rangers at all, while without I-Rod the Marlins wouldn't have made the playoffs.

I think relievers can be Cy Young deserving pitchers. They get outs too.

He pretty much got screwed because 2 of the baseball writers didn't even put him on their ballot. It's a contreversial topic of wheather or not he's a "rookie" by definition he is, but he played pro in Japan. That same thinking affects Ichiro and Nomo. They didn't have to vote for him, but at least give him second, third or fourth according to the rules.

I understand their logic but they are wrong. The very first ROY award was given to Jackie Robinson after he played several years in another professional league. So I think the Japanese players should be looked at the same way.

But I do understand only wanting to vote for players in their first year of playing for the highest available league.

Re: gold gloves:
 

Greg Maddux's 13 year gold glove streak was snapped by teammate Mike Hampton (who won the "Silver Slugger" award, as well, for best hitting pitcher). Hampton made 67 of 68 fielding opportunities while Maddux made 71 of 73. Pretty damn impressive...:thumb:

Jim Kaat had a streak of 16 consecutive years in the sixties and seventies--:eek:

linky

Webb should of been rookie of the year in the NL, he had better numbers the the Dtrain, but never got the publicity.

NEW YORK -- Toronto's Roy Halladay won the American League Cy Young Award on Tuesday, easily beating Chicago's Esteban Loaiza.

Halladay, who won a major league-high 22 games, received 26 first-place votes and two seconds for 136 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Loaiza, who went to spring training with a minor league contract, got two firsts, 16 seconds and five thirds for 63 points.

Boston's Pedro Martinez was third with 20 points, followed by Oakland's Tim Hudson (15), Seattle's Jamie Moyer (12), the Yankees' Andy Pettitte (four) and Oakland's Keith Foulke and Minnesota's Johan Santana (one each).

This is basically the same group of writers that voted Sasaki & Ichiro ROY's in 2000 & 2001. What makes you think they would all of a sudden change their tune on Matsui just 2 years later?

If Webb had won his last two starts instead of getting shelled (making him 12-7 instead of 10-9), I bet he would've won it. Podsednik wouldn't have been a bad choice either.

Ya but his whip was lower, so was his ERA, and his K/9. I still think even if he would of won those last 2 starts, Dtrain would of won. Willis got all the publicity, and that is why he won. Thats my view. I still think Webb is a better pitcher as of right now. oh well the voters are all iditos, they showed that two years with Roger Clemmans as the Cy Young.

NL & AL Manager of the Year

Pena an overwhelming choice in AL

Jack McKeon was voted NL Manager of the Year after turning around the Florida Marlins' season, and Tony Pena won the AL honor for keeping the Kansas City Royals in contention until the final week.

McKeon received 19 of 32 first-place votes and 116 points in balloting released Wednesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, becoming the first manager to win the award after taking over a team during the season. He also won the award with Cincinnati in 1999.

Dusty Baker, a three-time winner of the award, finished second with 62 points after leading the Chicago Cubs to the NL Central title in his first season as Chicago's manager.

The Atlanta Braves' Bobby Cox was next with 56 points, followed by Felipe Alou -- Baker's replacement in San Francisco -- with 51.

Pena was an overwhelming choice for the AL award, getting 24 first-place votes and 130 points. The Minnesota Twins' Ron Gardenhire was second with four firsts and 44 points.

McKeon, 72, is the third-oldest manager in major league history, trailing Hall of Famers Connie Mack (88) and Casey Stengel (75).

Florida was 16-22 when McKeon replaced Jeff Torborg on May 11. The Marlins dropped to 10 games under on May 22, then rebounded to finish 91-71 and win the NL wild card.

Voting took place before the postseason, when Florida upset San Francisco in the first round, overcame a 3-1 deficit to beat the Cubs in the NL championship series, then rebounded from a 2-1 deficit to beat the New York Yankees in the World Series. It was McKeon's first time in the postseason.

Pena took over the Royals in May 2002 and Kansas City finished 62-100, its first 100-loss season. The Royals won their first nine games this year, got off to a 16-3 start and were 51-41 at the All-Star break, leading the AL Central by seven games.

But they slumped in the second half and wound up 83-79, their first winning season since 1994. Kansas City used 29 pitchers, including an AL-high 15 starters, and set a team record by using 53 players.

Kansas City and Florida managers had not won the award before.

Re: gold gloves:
 

Oh my goodness how did Jose LOSE Jr. win a Gold Glove? I don't care about his assist numbers, he cost the Giants 2 playoff games. He was probably the best player that series. FOR THE MARLINS.

yes jose did play well during the regular season and sucked it up in the playoffs


as for ROY honors, I'm surprised that Jason Phillips didn't even get one vote.


and i hope gagne wins.

Speaking of blowing stuff, Gagne handed the AL home field in the Series. That should count for something. It's ALMOST like he did it on purpose to screw the NL because the Dodgers were out of the race.

NL Cy Young

NEW YORK -- Eric Gagne of the Los Angeles Dodgers became the first relief pitcher in 11 years to win a Cy Young Award, easily beating San Francisco's Jason Schmidt for the National League honor.

Full Story:
http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1660942

why?

because "this time it counts"? PUHAHAHAHAH!


the all star game is a JOKE. and in the end...the marlins didn't need any home field advanatage.

The end result (an NL team winning) isn't my point. He totally served that homer up. I just knew he was going to do it too. It might not matter to a fan or player whose team is out of the race, but for a contending team that's big.

so when exactly were the dodgers out of the race?

Let's see... at the All-Star break they were 7 1/2 games behind in the West (and they continued to slip back, finishing 15 1/2 games back in the NL West, 6 games back and in fourth place in the NL Wild Card.) From the start of the season it was clear that they weren't going to displace SF in the West, and the Wild Card hopes didn't pan out either.

Serving up that Blalock homer might not have meant a ton to Dodgers fans, but to fans of the Giants--who eventually ran away with the NL West and were shocked by the resilient Marlins in the postseason--it seemed huge at the time. Remember, the orange and black let the World Series slip away to that other lame SoCal team just a year prior. And if it did cause panic for Series-hopeful Dodgers fans, that's all the more reason that inning should have counted against Gagne for the Cy Young considerations.

Beyond that, if the Yanks pulled off the World Series win in 7 games or something, everything would come back to that inning of the All-Star game.

dodgers were still trading trying to improve their offense till the trading deadline. they added payroll to do that. they were still going after a playoff spot. (how far back were the marlins at the same time).


and a retarded rule by seilig to make the allstargame mean something shouldn't count against gagne.

did he really serve it up?
did chan ho park really give a homer to cal on his last all star game...

you can't say that they did those things....

so let me guess.... you're a giants fan? :P

I don't think it was intentional, but that had "fat pitch" written all over it. The only way it could have been more served up is if it was on a silver platter and garnished. It's because he was so good the rest of the season (hence the Cy Young) that that inning of the All-Star game just screams conspiracy.

And yeah Giants fan here. Seriously, every fan of a contending NL team had to be screaming at the television at that moment. Losing home field advantage before you even get to the big dance is frustrating.

then, that leads to the question...why did gagne give him that pitch? cuz from a different perspective, I thought the Dodgers were still in the race till the last 2-3 weeks.

Yeah you're probably right; the Dodgers' wild card hopes were alive until pretty late in the season... even more evidence that Gagne's bad pitch there was accidental. I really don't think he would leave it up there for Blalock on purpose; I'm just saying it was very uncharacteristic for a lights-out type closer to give up a 2-run dinger in the only game that would affect the entire league. He pitched well this year though, so it's tough to argue against him winning the Cy Young even though he's a reliever. Somehow I think if an AL team won the Series in 7 he wouldn't have gotten as many votes though.

The All-Star game is not an official game (those stats don't get counted outside of the game) and as such his performance there is not considered. It would be like taking into consideration what happened in spring training. They may have said that it counted this year buy please. Everyone is still just out to have fun in that game.

I'm glad that Gagne won as a closer. I'm still a little bitter about when it was stolen from Trevor Hoffman a few years ago because some people thought that closers shouldn't be eligible, and therefore didn't even give him a point. It was a travesty and I am glad that now Gagne has broken the barrier for closers.