It's THAT time of year when baseball tries to maintain fan interest in a sport that should have ended 30 days earlier, by announcing their "best..." whatever. Gold Gloves, Silver Sluggers, MVPs, Cy Youngs, Rookies of the year, the list goes on and on. The latest, to be announced today, is the Manager of the Year.
Traditionally, the award goes to the manager of one of the 4 clubs in the Championship series, and this year will be no different. In the AL, the top candidates are Joe Girardi (why not? The Yanks have won everything else) and Mike Scioscia of the Angels. Fine managers and both worthy of the award, but Picasner has his own candidate: Ron Gardenhire of the Minnesota Twins. Here's a team that was the pre-season pick for 4th place (behind Chicago, Detroit and Cleveland) and ended up winning even though half of their offensive powerhouse duo, Justin Morneau, missed the last month of the season. Every year, it seems to be the same story: Twins have nothing, Twins finish first. Don't you think the manager had something to do with that?
Speaking of managers, there is a book out, "Evaluating Baseball's Managers, " by Chris Jaffe. A website, The Hardball Times, is currently publishing excerpts from the book, currently, Billy Martin. Very interesting reading. Follow the link:
http://www.hardballtimes.com/main/article/book-excerpt-evaluating-baseballs-managers-billy-martin/
They focused on pitching and base running, but that wasn't all of Martin's ability. He knew every rule and how to use them, every trick and every mind game. This a biography that should be written.
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