As much for keeping the Angels together through the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart and a rash of early-season pitching injuries as for winning the AL West, Mike Scioscia was named American League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Wednesday.Scioscia earned 15 of 28 first-place votes. Runner-up Ron Gardenhire of the Twins got six first-place votes. Joe Girardi of the Yankees, Don Wakamatsu of the Mariners and Ron Washington of the Rangers all got at least one first-place vote, and no manager was named on all 28 ballots (first, second or third place).
This is Scioscia's second Manager of the Year award. He also won in 2002 as the Angels won the World Series.
This year was different. The Angels lost starters John Lackey, Kelvim Escobar and Ervin Santana in spring training, and then on April 9, Adenhart was killed in a car crash.
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Scioscia was forced to use 14 different starting pitchers and 12 rookie pitchers. Stars Vladimir Guerrero and Torii Hunter also had to spend time in on the disabled list. And after the games of June 12, the Angels were 4 1/2 games out of first with a 30-29 record.
| How They Voted |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voting for 2009 AL Manager of the Year Award (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third): | ||||
| Manager, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts |
| Scioscia, Angels |
15 |
10 |
1 |
106 |
| Gardenhire, Min. |
6 |
12 |
6 |
72 |
| Girardi, Yankees |
4 |
3 |
5 |
34 |
| Wakamatsu, Sea. |
2 |
2 |
3 |
19 |
| Washington, Tex. |
1 |
1 |
11 |
19 |
| Leyland, Det. |
|
|
2 |
2 |
But they went 67-36 from then on, including a 19-7 record in July. Scioscia now gets some credit for that.
"He's our leader," Hunter said. "We see him, and he's OK, so we just go play hard, no matter what."In September, Scioscia said it was just a matter of staying the course.
"At no point did we think that we weren't going to have a team that was championship caliber," Scioscia said. "We had a lot of confidence that we'd play at a high level, and as the summer went on, we did."Voting was conducted before the postseason, during which the Angels swept the Red Sox in the Division Series but lost to the Yankees in six games in the ALCS.
Scioscia, the longest-tenured manager in the AL, is the first manager to reach the playoffs in six of his first 10 seasons as a big-league manager.
Gardenhire has finished second in the voting five times, a record for an AL manager.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
(Over) manager of the year!
Who are the 2 D-bags that left him off their ballot?
Good decision
Hey Matt,
I believe that Sciosia is probably one of the most astute managers in the game. He was a catcher when he played just like Torre & Girardi.
Definitely one of the better managers.
This year's award was won mainly on his past reputation and accomplishments and with a little sympathy thrown in.His team was the favorite to win it all in the AL. He had injuries to deal with, but, other teams did as well.
Gardenhire finished second due to the SMALL market syndrome sympathy votes by the writers.
His team backed into the playoffs in a very weak
division with the worst winning percentage of any team.
Girardi came in second because of the myth of an ALL STAR at every positin or the Yankees bought the ring.
They had their share of injuries as well.
Arod missed the first 40 days of the season, Wang was out all year, Posada and Molina were both out for over thirty days and Girardi used a minor leaguer and a cast off to catch.
I don't call Melky, Gardner, or Damon all stars.
Maybe Girardi didn't deserve it, but, the number of writers that voted against his accomplishments reaks of anti-Yankee undercurrent.
All he did was have the best record in baseball, make it to the world series and win it.
Sure post season doesn't count, but he did a great job in an no win situation with a lot of scrutiny, unlike Gardinhire or Sciossa who manage in a small media vacuum.
Huh????? Really poor choice.. How stupid are these folks?
Poor Joe. All he did was win a WORLD SERIES. Man what a bummer huh?
The one thing about all of the voting is that all votes are cast at the end of the regular season.
So what you do in the post season doesn't count.
I respect Scioscia as a manager but who else was going to win the west. Adenhart's death allthough it was tragic, had nothing to do with their success this season. They were the favorite right out of spring training and finished the season where they were expected to.
The media had it that Girardi should be fired back in june after losing the first 7 games to Boston and the Yankees went on to having the most wins in the regular season in either league with a second half run that nobody could match.
Voting is a popularity contest and Mike got the sympathy vote.
It doesn't take skill to manage the NY Yankees. They just bought a championship. Girardi didn't even finish second, because everyone knows he isn't that good. He almost cost his team in games. The Yankees would be better without him.
Attila the Hun and Nelson Mandela and King Kong would have won the series managing the NYY. Girardi would have been a winner during the time when the Dead Sea was sick. Otherwise, he should go to church and give the lord his thanks.
agree gardinhire should have won , easy chioce for me really. plus garadi should have been second... that simple . gardinhire has the least amount of talent on the field.....while joe garardi has to deal with a star at every position and a media that is like pack dogs. that isent easy either.....
eli, did he win last year? nope. having a gazillion dollar payroll means squat. one, you must actully get hard work out of guys who make 15 times as much as the manager. 2, deal with the ny media, honestly they are all over you even during the regular season. 3, joe has been a manager for all of 3 years.... so eli if your a giant fan, please dont talk cause they arent no better , and if so why do they suck with all there talent? talent and $$ dont always = winners...
incase you dident watch , like most new 98 yankee fans, they had one thing the last 8 teams dident , chemistry , that simple . they were the right bunch of guys. you can put 9 stars on field and it at times dont work man....
once agian , i see you padin, wrong... simply put your wrong man. just like eli. dont stick up for other owners who dont spend. the yankee owner is prolly not even in the top 15 richest owners in baseball. it isent a money maker for them to own the team its a hobby. trust me they dont need our simpithy they are just cheap. bottom line is to win you must have atleast 60 to 100 million payroll. all you fans complian but trust me when i tell you those other owners dont need hand outs . they are loaded out the cazoo. i feel not one bad feeling for them for not putting some talent on the field and then taking the yankees free money.....cause the yanks prolly make each team 20 million a year , then plus the extra that they make when they go to those teams parks . so without the yankees most teams wouldent make that extra 50 to 60 million. trust me....