First off, before we even begin to discuss the Rookie of the Year awards that I skipped over last time, or the Manager of the Year winners, or even the coveted Cy Young awards, I would just like to state my annoyance at how Roy Halladay's nickname is Doc, as in John Henry "Doc" Holliday. It bothers me, because while the nickname does not suite Matt Holliday of the St. Louis Cardinals, it still makes more sense because the names are actually the same. It's really quite petty, and so stupid that it irritates even myself for bringing it up. I love Roy Halladay and think the Good Doctor is a fantastic nickname, but still, it's aggravating to some extent. Anyway, off we go to some more awards!
I know, the Rookie of the Year winners were out when I wrote my last post, but I didn't have enough space to congratulate them properly. To be honest, I have all the space I want for these posts, but I try to keep them at a reasonable length for you, the fine readership. So let's start with the young lads, shall we? First up is American League Rookie of the Year Neftali Feliz. Neftali is such a cool name, and this kid is as cool as they come. In his first full year in the big leagues, the young fireball pitcher saved a rookie-record 40 games. He did so in style, striking out more than a batter per inning while walking only 18 all year. Those are superb numbers. Second in A.L. voting was Detroit Tigers center-fielder Austin Jackson, who had a wonderful season batting leadoff, but when stacked up against Neftali's numbers, Mr. Jackson (if you're nasty) just had to settle for number two.
Over in the National League, the other R.O.Y. winner was catcher Buster Posey, and this baby-faced dude had a little bit more of a fight on his hands for the honors. Posey was matched up against Jason Heyward, the right-fielder from Atlanta who caught the baseball world by storm during Spring Training. Heyward had a great first couple of months, but a subsequent hand injury kept his second half numbers down. And then came Posey. The World Series battery played 34 less games than the J-Hey Kid, but tied him in homers, had a higher batting average and slugging percentage, and had just 7 less RBI and 20 less hits. It was a close race, but I think what pushed Posey over the edge was that he was able to come in and not only handle a bat pretty well, but also a young pitching staff, with poise and maturity. Both were deserving, but Buster was better.
On to the Manager of the Year awards. Both leagues had tremendously talented men competing for the accolades this year. In the National League, Dusty Baker brought the Cincinnati Reds back to the playoffs for the first time in 15 years. But there was also Bruce Bochy, who took a rag-tag group of throw-aways and youngsters and won a World Series Championship. But ultimately Bud Black proved to win the hearts of the voting sports writers, as he lead his No-Name Friars to a 15 game win increase from the previous year. Just two years removed from a 99 loss season, Black took a team that absolutely nobody in baseball thought would win 90 games, and came achingly close to playing October baseball. The fact that the team didn't make the playoffs is almost irrelevant. All three of these men could have taken home the award, but Black is the one doing it, and boy does he deserve it.
Meanwhile, in the American League, Ron Gardenhire took a team that was supposed to be good, and made sure they won despite losing a dominant closer, and a power hitting first-baseman. The Minnesota Twins' manager definitely had severe competition however, as Ron Washington took his Rangers to the World Series, Joe Maddon scored the best record in the A.L., and Terry Francona won 89 games with a team riddled by injuries all season. Each man guided his men to a great season, but in the end, Gardenhire's patient mentoring and skilled game-management took the cake. And in thanks for his efforts, he's been granted with a two-year extension by the Twins. I'm proud of my co-worker. Oh, you didn't know? I work for the company that owns the Twins. So I'm practically a member of the team. Well no, not really. But a man can dream.
And then it came down to this, the Cy Young awards. I had speculated about this during the season, and in the end, I was only partially correct. Roy Halladay, the Good Doctor, Rapid Roy, dominated not only in Philadelphia, but all over the Senior Circuit, and blatantly exhibited that he was the pitcher to beat in 2010. With a stat-sheet that included 9 complete games, 4 shutouts, a 7.30 K/BB ratio (the best of his career by far), a perfect game during the regular season, and a no-hitter in the playoffs, no one could really compete with Halladay in 2010. He led all of baseball in innings pitched by the way too. He not only gave Philadelphia everything they ever could have expected, he helped redefine what it means to be an ace pitcher, and made history while doing it. Congrats to all the other wonderful pitchers in the National League this year. But take a seat gentlemen, because Rapid Roy deserves some hardware.
The case wasn't so cut and dry in the American League. Far from it actually. Today it was announced that Felix Hernandez won the A.L. Cy Young award for the first time in his career. First, let's talk about all the great stuff King Felix did this year. He was second to Halladay in IP by just one inning. He was second in all of baseball in strikeouts by one. He led all pitchers with an outstanding 2.27 ERA, and even threw 6 complete games for good measure. He was the lynch-pin that held the Seattle Mariners together during a dismal season. What Hernandez didn't do was win a lot of games, though. But King Felix can hardly be held accountable for that. While only recorded 13 wins to go with his 12 loses, Felix pitched an incredible 30 quality starts. For those of you unaware, a quality start in baseball is when a starting pitcher goes at least 6 innings while giving up no more than 3 earned runs. To pitch 30 out of 34 games with a quality start and walk away with only 13 wins is practically a crime. Over the course of the last two months in baseball, Hernandez gave up only 11 ERs, and dropped his ERA by 0.57. Now it hurts me a little inside that somebody can take home a Cy Young award while only collecting 13 wins. However, the award is supposed to honor the best pitcher in the game, not the pitcher on the best team, or with the best lineup scoring runs for him. While there is something to be said for winning games over having a lot of strikeouts or a low ERA, Hernandez did everything he possibly could to ensure those wins. More often than not though, he was let down by the other 8 guys on the field. So while I don't 100% agree that Hernandez should be given the 2010 A.L. Cy Young, I have to honor the man for the tremendous year he was able to compile. He certainly helped make the Year of the Pitcher a reality.
The only remaining major award left is for the Most Valuable Player. I was right with one Cy Young. Let's see if I'll be close with the MVPs this year. Once the awards have been completed, I'm going to start in on some Hot Stove discussions, and hopefully even bring back some individual analysis that I began over a year ago now. It's been a great year for me personally. I hope you've enjoyed it too, and you keep enjoying it as long as I can type these little explosions of mine. Until next time folks.
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