Mike Sciossa is the 2008-2009 MLB Manager of the Year. Really? I’m not saying it shouldn’t have been considered, but Joe Girardi of the New York Yankees served a lot more, for a number of reasons. First, he won the World Series in just his second year leading the team. In New York, where the goal every year is to win the World Series, he was under a lot more pressure than Sciossa, and he did it. But looking at the regular season, the Yankees were the only team to top 100 wins and the only team with a winning percentage of 600 or higher. They had a better home record, a better road record, scored more runs and allowed fewer runs than the Angels. Girardi was able to do something that Joe Torre could never do, and that is beat the Angels in the playoffs.

In 2002, when the Angels won the World Series, Mike Sciossa also won manager of the year that year. But then again, judging by regular season stats, they were only a wild card team, while the Yankees had the better record during the regular season. So if the voting is based on the regular season alone, Torre should have easily eliminated Sciossa that year, just as Girardi had much better numbers in the regular season this year. Voting is too subjective. Perhaps, as with the BCS, a formula should be used to determine the winners. The number of wins, losses, runs scored, sacrifice plays, blown saves, and the like could be used to help determine who gets the most to win. Mike will tell him that he would rather trade his award for the World Series ring, and that may well be true, and Girardi is much happier with a ring than he is with the Manager of the Year award, but it still would have been good for Joe. win it simply because he was serving so much more. Another thing that would make voting easier is if there were some criteria. Which makes a person the league MVP or the league manager. Is it just the statistics, the leadership, that guides the team to the playoffs? Is he the person who helps his team win the most, or is he the best player in the league? There must be better guidelines and less human judgment involved.

Also, check out the turnaround both teams had. The Yankees went from making the playoffs 13 years in a row to not making it the first year Girard took over, not just making it in his second year, but winning it all. The Angels went from a 100-win team to a 97-win team, having a worse home-and-away record than the year before and allowing 64 more runs than the year before. In an interview on a local Los Angeles sports radio show, Angel’s general manager was heard saying that the manager of the year award is, in a way, a team award that has to do with the general manager, the owners and other people. And if that’s the case, which owner is more committed to winning than Steinbrenner? What Gm is more interested in is keeping his job based primarily on World Series success than Cashman. If it is indeed an award ream, the 2009 Yankees were far better than any other team in baseball from ownership to management to players. Sure, they had the highest payroll, but that shows how committed Steinbrenner is to winning.

The Yankees not only went further than the Angels in the postseason, they beat the Angels themselves in 6 games in the postseason. Girardi outclassed in the regular season and head-to-head in the playoffs. They pretty much dominated against every team in terms of having a winning record during the Torre years, but they didn’t have a winning record against the Angels. This year, Girardi not only beat them in the playoffs, but also had a better record in the regular season against them.

The Angels had to deal with the unfortunate and untimely death of Nick Adenhart. It was a tragic accident that could have been easily avoided, but it could have been argued that the Angels would have even more motivation to play for a cause. Sciossa and the Angels handled it well and with class, but as they said themselves, they still had to move on because they had a job to do, and they just didn’t this year. They had a good year, but Girardi had a better year.

Above all, in my mind, It’s nowhere near Joe Girardi being the 2008-2009 Al, and MLB manager of the year based on sheer numbers, and the pressure of expectations, and the Yankees’ earlier failure with the Angels for dominance. of them this year, so Congratulations Joe in the ring, I know you’d rather have that than the award anyway, and I’m sure yours will be coming soon.