As if Helly (2.95 ERA/.210 OBA/1.15 WHIP) winning the AL rookie of the year on Monday, and James Shields (2.40 ERA/.217 OBA/1.04 WHIP, cough… not to mention 225 K’s and 11 complete games) coming in third behind Jared Weaver and Justin Verlander for the Cy Young Award on Tuesday weren’t enough, the Baseball Writers’ Association of America just announced that Joe Maddon is the 2011 AL manager of the year!
In an almost unanimous vote, Maddon was listed first on 26 of the 28 of the ballots cast by two writers in each league city. The Tigers Jim Leyland, and the Rangers Ron Washington took the other two spots. Maddon received 133 manager of the year points, finding his closest competitor, Jim Leyland, 78 points behind him at 54. By the by, how Joe Girardi at only 14 points was even listed on the ballot is beyond me?!? This is the second time that Joe Maddon has won the AL manager of the year in the last four years.
Maddon led the Rays from an 0-6 start, to a spectacular (read: history changing) September run, which culminated when the Rays reached the playoffs for the third time in four years.
Huge congratulations go out to HellBoy, Shields, and Maddon! Now, let’s re-sign Damon and Kotchman, dump Upton and Howell, and get back to the business of putting together another dominating team!