WAY TO GO BUCK!!! - Dallas-Mavs.com Forums

Male30Dan · 11-10-2004, 03:03 PM

Link!

ESPN.com news services

NEW YORK -- Bobby Cox was voted NL Manager of the Year on Wednesday for leading the rebuilt Atlanta Braves to a record 13th straight division title, and Buck Showalter won the AL honor after his Texas Rangers went from also-ran to contender.

Cox received 22 first-place votes and 10 seconds for 140 points to win easily. Tony La Russa of St. Louis, who has won four manager of the year awards, was second with 62 points, and Jim Tracy of Los Angeles was third with 52.

It was the third award for Cox, who won in the AL with Toronto in 1985 and in the NL with the Braves in 1991, the first year of Atlanta's record run. Cox has won at least 95 games in eight of the last nine seasons and passed the 2,000 career victory plateau this year -- a mark that only eight other managers have reached.

Showalter kept Texas in the chase for a playoff berth until the final week of the season after four straight last-place finishes. He received 14 first-place votes, nine seconds and four thirds for 101 points, finishing ahead of Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire, who got 11 firsts, 11 seconds and three thirds for 91 points.

Showalter also won the award in 1994 with the New York Yankees. Gardenhire, who managed the Twins to their third straight AL Central title, finished second in the voting for the second straight season.

Atlanta was expected to finish no better than third in the NL East after slashing its payroll and losing pitcher Greg Maddux and sluggers Gary Sheffield, Javy Lopez and Vinny Castilla. But the Braves went 96-66 and finished 10 games ahead of second-place Philadelphia before losing 3-2 to Houston in the first round of the playoffs.

Despite trading AL MVP Alex Rodriguez to the Yankees, Texas went 89-73 -- its most wins since 1999 -- and finished third in the AL West behind Anaheim and Oakland, just three games out of first.

Max Power · 11-10-2004, 04:12 PM

I heard about this on the news earlier. Buck did a great job and it is fantastic news that he is recognized for it.

Male30Dan · 11-10-2004, 04:18 PM

Amen... Hopefully this will be a stepping stone for the Rangers and we can allow this to carry over into the 2005 campaign!

kingrex · 11-10-2004, 05:02 PM

Showalter may have been the recipient of the A-Rod anti-jinx. The A-Rod anti-jinx occurs when A-Rod leaves a team and that team automatically plays above their heads the following year. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Male30Dan · 11-10-2004, 05:04 PM

Did the Mariner's skipper win the AL MOY award the year after Texas got him??? If so, I think you might just have something here!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

kingrex · 11-10-2004, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Male23Dan
Did the Mariner's skipper win the AL MOY award the year after Texas got him??? If so, I think you might just have something here!!! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Honestly, I'm not sure. It was a theory that I actually read in passing somewhere. I thought it was a funny coincidence, especially since part of the jinx is that whatever team A-Rod goes to will ultimately underacheive.

Male30Dan · 11-10-2004, 05:34 PM

Yup... I think the year A-Rod left was the year that the Mariners almost broke the single season win record so I would not be suprised if their manager did win the MOY award!!!

kingrex · 11-10-2004, 05:42 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: Male23Dan
Yup... I think the year A-Rod left was the year that the Mariners almost broke the single season win record so I would not be suprised if their manager did win the MOY award!!!

It would be funny if a jink really did exist. Oh well, your problem now Yankee fans.

Male30Dan · 11-10-2004, 05:47 PM

If you followed my posts in this forum during the Boston-NY series, you would know that I am rather happy that it IS the Yankee's problem!!!

Drbio · 11-10-2004, 06:27 PM

Newberg flashed this earlier today. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

Nice to see a Ranger getting some positive pub.

ames7 · 11-10-2004, 07:45 PM

He definitely deserves it this year. And the reasons why IMO have more to do w/what he did w/all the injury problems we had and the revolving door starting rotation than anything to do w/A-Rod. WTG.

mary · 11-10-2004, 09:59 PM

Its amazing to me that there were 11 people that didn't vote for Buck. He didn't win it as handily as I expected.

Congrats to him - he definitely deserved it.

mercury_rev · 11-10-2004, 10:00 PM

Buck certainly deserves a ton of credit for what he was able to squeeze out of the starting rotation, especially after Ricardo Rodriguez went down.

Yes, Lou Piniella won the AL Manager of the Year in 2001 after the metrosexual left. They went 116-46.

Big Boy Laroux · 11-11-2004, 12:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by: kingrex
Showalter may have been the recipient of the A-Rod anti-jinx. The A-Rod anti-jinx occurs when A-Rod leaves a team and that team automatically plays above their heads the following year. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]

Also known as the Ewing Theory.

Big name star and face of the team leaves and team then performs even better without him. Happens a lot in sports... Most recently with the Patriots (when Bledsoe was gone) and Red Sox (Nomar gone).

sike · 11-12-2004, 03:08 PM

well deserved