Tony LaRussa
The 2006 World Champion St. Louis Cardinals won it all thanks in large part to their Manager Tony LaRussa. Yet when Joe Girardi of the Florida Marlins was announced winner of the best manager in the NL award, LaRussa didn’t even get one vote, even Phil Garner of the Astros got one 3rd place vote. It doesn’t make any sense. Surely Girardi overachieved with his Baby Fish, but LaRussa won the whole thing. Tony did so, despite having to play players like Aaron Miles and castoffs Preston Wilson & Jeff Weaver, and with his closer, Jason Isringhausen, on the shelf. Other Redbirds who were overlooked for postseason awards were Chris Carpenter who lost to Brandon Webb for Cy Young and Albert Pujols who was beaten out by Ryan Howard for NL MVP. But the biggest oversight has got to be LaRussa, not even one vote, the writers should be ashamed of themselves. I guess these three guys will have to take solace in winning World Championship Rings.
Here are the vote totals for National League Manager of the Year as selected by the Baseball Writers Association of America:
(Tabulated on a 5-3-1 basis)
Manager, Team 1st 2nd 3rd Tot
Joe Girardi, Fla 18 6 3 111
Willie Randolph, NY 8 11 8 81
Bruce Bochy, SD 5 6 7 50
Grady Little, LA 1 5 10 30
Charlie Manuel, Phi – 3 – 9
Jerry Narron, Cin – 1 3 6
Phil Garner, Hou – – 1 1
that puzzled me too.
those who really watched the game say that this year, he actually did the best job out of all the years the Cards made the playoffs.
eh, it’s either political or media driven, I guess.