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Bauxites! Entries for our Majestic Cool Base jersey giveaway close in two days. If you like free things that are nice, or even nice things that are free, you owe it to yourself to type in your name and hit "submit".
Bauxites, I'm just going to put something out there: I have a lot of jerseys. Some of them are things you'd expect, like my 1977 Jays road jersey, or my 1974 Braves jersey with the number 44 on the back. Some are glorious, like my 2005 Shea Hillenbrand All-Star jersey. Some of them are ironic, like my Houston Astros Technicolor Rainbow jersey, and some are just inexplicable, like my Tampa Bay Rays fauxback Wil Myers jersey. Why do I own that?

Guys, I own so many jerseys that when I had the opportunity to buy a stitch perfect reproduction of a 1968 Star Trek season three sciences tunic, I told myself that it was just another uniform and made total sense for me to buy. It's true, I am an equal opportunity nerd.

While I owned a late 1980s dark blue alternate Jays jersey, it was a little small for me and I traded it for a Rollie Fingers A's jersey. But I always loved that dark blue, and I was thrilled when the Jays overhauled their look and brought it back. It therefore should not surprise you to find out I have just acquired a one. Well, another one. It's actually my third version of this jersey. So, like any sensible person with more than one similar object and an Internet connection, I am going to tell you which of these jerseys is the best one.

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Via http://bbwaa.com/ he came in 3rd. Verlander got it, named on 27 of 28 ballots vs Bautista being on all 28.
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Two of Major League Baseball's proudest, most tradition-laden teams made big announcements this morning ...

For the ex-Brooklyn Dodgers, Clayton Kershaw won the team's 10th Cy Young Award, joining a list of names including the likes of Koufax (three times), Drysdale, Valenzuela and Hershiser, not to mention two closers, in Mike Marshall and Eric Gagne. Kershaw, frighteningly just 23, finished well ahead of runner-up old friend Roy Halladay. Like Justin Verlander Tuesday, Kershaw's Cy comes in the wake of his winning his league's 2011 Pitcher's Triple Crown.

In other news, the long-suffering Cubs named a new manager today for the 2012 season, opting for Milwaukee hitting coach Dale Sveum after Texas pitching coach Mike Maddux withdrew his candidacy. Sveum was a third-base coach for the Red Sox when new Cubbies GM Theo Epstein held that same post in Boston.

So, today's QOTD .... Were these the "right" choices for the NL and for the Cubs? If not, who shouldawouldacoulda?

Joe Maddon never played major league baseball, spending four years in Angels A-ball catching and hitting in the .260s with almost no power.

Kirk Gibson DID play major league baseball, winning the 1988 NL MVP award and earning two World Series rings, with the 1984 Tigers and 1988 Dodgers.

Now, the two have something specific in common, as each has won their respective league's 2011 Manager of the Year award.

Do you agree? Also, I don't know how to look this up, is Gibson the first former MVP to win a Manager of the Year award?

 

Justin Verlander, as projected yesterday by Da Box's own stalwart soothsayer Gerry (in this thread) is your unanimos AL Cy Young Award winner for 2011. Winning the pitching triple crown will do that for a guy.

Verlander is just the ninth unanimous winner in AL history and the first since then-Twin Johan Santana in 2006; Santana '06 was also the last pitching triple crown winner (wins, ERA and strikeouts). The Detrooit ace takes home the first Tiger Cy since Willie Hernandez in 1984 and is the first Tiger to win the pitching triple criwn since Hal Newhouser in 1945.

So Cy Young Award winner? As the headline mentions, well, duh. But here's a QOTD -- is Cy Verlander also deserving of earning the imminent AL MVP award?

 

 

Tampa Bay pitcher Jeremy Hellickson, who went undefeated in five consecutive starts against American League East opponents in September as the Rays earned the wild-card playoff berth, was voted the AL winner of the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award.

Atlanta Braves pitcher Craig Kimbrel, who set a major league record for saves by a first-year pitcher with 46 in tying the Milwaukee Brewers’ John Axford for the National League lead, was elected the NL winner of the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year Award, unanimously.

Read more here on MLB.com ...

According  to The Sporting News yesterday, your 2011 Rookies of the Year in each league are ...

  • Angels first baseman Mark Trumbo, who hit .254 with a team-leading 29 home runs and 89 runs
    batted in this season, was awarded the honor in the American League.
  • Atlanta Braves closer Craig Kimbrel, who had 46 saves and a 2.10 earned run average,
    nabbed the NL rookie honors.

Voting was done by 289 major league players, 177 in the AL and 112 in the NL.

Every site has a predict-the-division-winners-and-playoffs challenge (including this one).

Here's our annual step off the beaten path to get your predicitions regarding 2011 individual award winners.


Bedazzle your friends! Shock the world! Accumulate points and win an as-yet-unnamed prize! (A cuttlefish? A Batter's Box No-Prize? A song written in your honor? What could it be?)

Just cut and paste my predictions, below, into your reply, change the names to reflect your predictions (warning: mine will be way wrong, they always are) and impress us all with your wisdom, daring, cunning and knowledge! (Entries accepted through April 15.)

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HamiltonTexas Rangers OF Josh Hamilton is your 2010 AL MVP. (To which I can only say, "Well ... duh!")

That said, it wasn't quite the blowout award that yesterday's Votto-for-NL-MVP slamdunk proved to be.

Four players were named on every AL ballot -- Hamiltion, Miggy Cabrera, Robby Cano and Toronto's own Jose Bautista. And Hambone received "just" 22/28 first place votes (Votto was 31/32) with others going to Cabrera (5) and Bautista (1).

Trivia: four Rangers prior to Hamilton have won the AL MVP. Who were they? (Hint: three should be pretty "-ez" to think up!)

Toronto-born Joey Votto, Cincinnati's young slugging 1B, is your 2010 NL MVP.

It wasn't close -- Votto collected 31 of 32 possible first-place votes (the other went to Phat Albert Pujols) in easily outdistancing Pujols, Carlos Gonzalez, Adrian Gonzalez. (Two Gonzos in the top four? Huh!), and Troy Tulowitzki, who rounded out the top five. Roy Halladay, who earlier this month received the NL Cy Young Award unanimously, was the highest-ranking pitcher in the voting at sixth.

Votto is the third Canadian-born MVP, after Larry Walker and Justin Morneau. Just 27, Votto hit .324 with 37 homers and 113 RBI; the first-time All-Star also posted a seasonal OPS of 1.024.

On the heels of a frankly pedestrian 13-12 won-loss record in the 2010 regular season, Seattle Mariner SuperArm Felix Hernandez is the '10 AL Cy Young winner.

I suspeect CC Sabathia and David Price are less than happy today., as are many fans -- the majority? -- who don't pay much attention to secondary statlines. I am not personally unhappy with the voting, but admit I am surprised. And a little, tiny piece of Nolan Ryan might be thinking today, "Dang, where were y'all in 1987?"

San Diego's Buddy Black and Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire are your NL and AL managers of the year, respectively, continuing an awards season that lacks anything remotely categorizeable as "surprising." Blue Jay leader Cito Gaston finished fifth in the AL balloting, one spot ahead of Joe Girardi.

Comments, Bauxites?

Roy Halladay 2010 NL Cy Young Award winner?

Roy Halladay. Unanimously.

QED.

Texas reliever Neftali Feliz has been named the 2010 American League Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year, the first Ranger to win since Mike Hargrove,in 1974, 14 years before Feliz was born. Feliz and runner-up Austin Jackson, the Detroit OF, were the only players named on all 28 ballots. According to noted baseball humorist (and Batter's Box's own) Jamey Newberg, "Derek Jeter placed third. (Not really.)"

Giants catcher Buster Posey got the National League nod. Read the full story on ESPN.com.

Feliz and Posey, recent World Series rivals ... that's some kinda all-rookie battery!