Where I went wrong...
As always, there are times when i pick a team that nobody believes in and I am rewarded by getting to say "I told you so" all winter. Last season, I did that so much that everyone else decided to pick Minnesota to win the AL Central too.
I thought the Mariners were going to win the AL West. I thought if they kept Junior around for one more year, and they added Chone Figgins and Cliff Lee to a team that made a huge turnaround from 2008 to 2009, they would be able to compete with the best of the American League. It turns out that the "Jr." in Ken Griffey's name is a misconception and he actually is quite old so he was retired by May and Cliff Lee was traded away in July, and Figgins forgot how to play baseball or something. Also there was the Milton Bradley factor which could have gone either way and it went the wrong way. They tried to build their team on pitching and defense, but they could not score enough for it to matter. At least they have King Felix and Ichiro or this entire team would have been demoted to the minors.
My apologies to the San Diego Padres. I wrote them off, like most people did and counted down the days before Adrian Hernandez would get traded to Boston starting in March. I guess I was wrong. Bud Black deserves some serious consideration for Manager of the Year but the ten game losing streak that let the Giants climb back into the race hurts his chances. As of today, they are still in it when they were expected to be one of the worst teams in baseball along with Washington, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh.
Opps. I thought the NL Central would be won by either the Cardinals or Cubs. My bad. The Cincinnati Reds are going to the playoffs for the first time since 1995. I honestly know very little about this team, but I am excited for the playoffs because of all the teams that are going to be in it that usually are not. No wonder Dusty Baker is smiling in this picture.
And the award goes to...
Now for the awards. First MVP.
Josh Hamilton is one of those feel good success stories that make sports fun for more than just the sport itself. His story of going from superstar high school prospect to drug addict and alcoholic out of baseball to recovery and starting over in baseball to superstar center fielder will make a great movie someday if they cast the right actor. He has had a tremendous season and he helped Texas make the playoffs for only the fourth time in their history. The next most deserving player is Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers, but playing on a team that fell out of the pennant race early hurt his chances. Jose Bautista of the Toronto Blue Jays will also get a lot of votes for his impressive breakout season.
Troy Tulowitzki played really well down the stretch, but it was not enough to get the Rockies into the playoffs this time. Brian McCann had a great season for the Braves. Placido Polanco had a great season for Philadelphia. Albert Pujols is in the discussion. This year was Joey Votto's year though. Votto helped lead the Reds to their first division championship in fifteen years and flew under the radar for a while doing it.
Now for Cy Young...
The American League is a tough one because there are so many good pitchers. C.C. Sabathia had the most wins, but he also had the best lineup in baseball providing run support for him. The Cy Young Award in recent years has been rewarding good pitchers on bad teams (The last time the Cy Young winner in either league was on a playoff team was in 2007. Sabathia and the Indians got to the ALCS that year and Jake Peavy and the Padres were eliminated in a one game playoff against Colorado for the Wild Card spot). Clay Bucholz and Jon Lester of the Red Sox are up there as well as Felix Hernandez of the Mariners and David Price of the Rays. Hernandez has a losing record on the season but had the worst run support pitching for Seattle. My prediction during spring training was Lester, who made his first All Star appearance this year. This one is a real toss up, so I am sticking with Lester.
In the National League, Tim Lincecum pitched admirably but not well enough to three-peat the Cy Young Award. His teammate Matt Cain pitched well, too. Tim Hudson has resurrected his career after Tommy John surgery and has restored his reputation as a big time pitcher as he and his teammates prepare for Bobby Cox's final playoff run. Ubaldo Jiminez had a phenomenal season for Colorado which included the first no hitter in franchise history. The National League Cy Young Award will instead go to Roy Halladay of the Philadelphia Phillies. Halladay, who was the victim of playing on a bad team his entire career before the 2010 season, threw his first perfect game and is going to pitch in October for the first time in his career.
Now for Manager of the Year...
There are several deserving candidates. This award is basically anyone's in the American League.
Ron Gardenhire led the Twins to yet another division title. He has not won this award yet. This is probably his year. That umpire might not vote for him, but Gardenhire deserves it for keeping his team consistently competitive year to year. Maybe this year will be his chance to improve his post-season record.
Ron Washington became only the second Rangers manager to make the playoffs. He had that issue with the drug test in the off-season and many were surprised that he was able to keep his job. He could also be eligible for "Comeback Manager of the Year" for that.
Bob Geren got a lot more out of the Oakland A's than anybody expected. Dallas Braden pitched a perfect game and they were competitive in the West for most of the season. The A's are heading in the right direction and Geren deserves credit for turning them around.
Terry Francona did what I believe was his best job this season. He had to deal with several injuries to critical personnel including Dustin Pedroia, Kevin Youkilis, Jacoby Ellsbury, Mike Cameron, Victor Martinez and Jason Varitek. He kept the Sox competitive and they were the last team to get eliminated with very little help from the front office.
Ozzie Guillen had to manage Manny Ramirez. I felt bad for him after that. He is also great for sound bytes and he gets as much as he can out of that poorly constructed White Sox team. With what seems like half the managers in Major League Baseball retiring after this season, Ozzie will be the undisputed biggest dugout personality in the big leagues in 2011.
Cito Gaston has not been to the playoffs since the his Blue Jays won the 1993 World Series, but this season he pointed them in the right direction. In the toughest division is baseball, Gaston's Jays finished fourth but were the toughest non-contender all season long. They were never pushovers against the Yankees, Rays or Red Sox this season. Gaston is retiring at the end of the season and his three year return to the Toronto dugout only enhanced his legendary reputation in that city.
In the National League there are also several deserving managers.
Bobby Cox is going out in style. He is likely getting the Braves back into the playoffs. The Manager of the Year Award would be a nice lifetime achievement thing for him.
Dusty Baker led the Reds to the playoffs for the first time in a while. Perhaps this is the year he gets back to the World Series.
Bud Black turned the Padres around this season. He may lose this award because of their struggles down the stretch and the inexcusable mistake of putting a different team out of the field than it said on the lineup card back in the spring.
Bruce Bochy deserves the award for all of the close games that the Giants won with pitching and defense (a team that actually got that strategy to work? I cannot believe it!). The offense in San Fran has been limited, but the pitching has been spectacular.
The season is not over yet. There are still the playoffs to look forward to. There are a lot of story lines to be excited about. As long as the Yankees do not win again, I will be happy.
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