Charlie Manuel got very little love from the Baseball Writers Association of America today, just a day after his ace Roy Halladay won the Cy Young Award.
Manuel finished 5th in the NL in the Manager of the Year Award vote, as San Diego Padres skipper Bud Black took home the trophy by one point over Dusty Baker of the Reds, 104-103. Brucy Bochy of the San Francisco Giants finished third and the newly-retired Bobby Cox of the Atlanta Braves ended his career in fourth place.
Over in the American League, Ron Gardenhire won his first Manager of the Year Award after getting the Twins to the playoffs yet again.
But back to Manuel; he deserved a little more credit, although it’s hard to argue that Black, Baker, Bochy, and Cox didn’t deserve to be where they placed. Cox got some sympathy votes even though Atlanta nearly blew it down the stretch and got in on the last day. Bochy pushed a pitching-heavy Giants team to 91 wins and a playoff berth during the regular season. Baker also led the upstart Reds to the playoffs. But Black turned the Padres into an NL West contender, although they did miss out on the postseason. San Diego was picked by many to end up in the gutter in the division, however Black helped change the fortunes of the low-budget Padres.
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