Scioscia, Tracy both deserving of top honors

Rosenthal: It had to be Scioscia

In any other season, the Twins' Ron Gardenhire might have been American League Manager of the Year. The Rangers' Ron Washington and Mariners' Don Wakamatsu also were strong candidates. So was the Yankees' Joe Girardi, who many voters disqualify because of the Yankees' high payroll. This season, though, there could be only one choice. The Angels' Mike Scioscia demonstrated uncommon leadership and grace in confronting the most awful challenge imaginable. The loss of a player. The death of pitcher Nick Adenhart after the third game of the season devastated the Angels, but it did not ruin them. Scioscia held the team together. He did it by focusing on the people who had lost the most — not the Angels, but Adenhart's mother and father, his family. Scioscia's perspective was refreshing; too often in professional sports, players and teams think only of themselves. His approach, intentionally or not, also gave his players a framework to deal with their grief. The Angels had other, lesser obstacles last season — specifically, injuries to their pitching staff that required them to use 14 different starters. As always, though, the Angels bore the undeniable stamp of their manager, playing soundly, playing aggressively, always playing hard. This is the second time Scioscia has been voted AL Manager of the Year by the baseball writers, but surely will not be the last time he draws consideration for the honor. Never will he be more deserving than he was this season.

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Morosi: Tracy an exception to the rule

In general, I put the Manager of the Year Award in the same category as the Rookie of the Year Award: When all things are equal, the edge should belong to the candidate who was in the majors on Opening Day, who navigated The Full 162 from start to finish. This year, in the National League, all things were not equal. The best managerial work was turned in by Jim Tracy of the Colorado Rockies, from May 29 through the end of the regular season. The Baseball Writers' Association of America has been reluctant to honor partial-season managers. When Tracy was named NL Manager of the Year on Wednesday, he joined Jack McKeon (Florida, 2003) as the only men to win the award for a season in which they didn't manage from Opening Day onward. McKeon deserved the award then, just as Tracy does now. They led their respective teams on inspired runs to the NL wild card, after it seemed playoff hopes had long been extinguished. The Rockies were 18-28 when Tracy took over, a .391 winning percentage. They were 74-42 thereafter, a .638 winning percentage. So, yes, this was a pretty straightforward decision. Particularly if the postseason had been a factor — and it wasn't, because the ballots are due before the playoffs start — then you could have made a very strong case for Philadelphia's Charlie Manuel, who finished sixth in the voting. Manuel took his Phillies to the World Series for a second straight year. He has the most wins of any NL manager over the past five seasons. He has won a division title in each of the last three years, something only Mike Scioscia of the Angels (the AL honoree) has matched. Manuel had a better 2008 and 2009 than any other NL manager. But that's not what this award is about. It goes to the man who did the best job during the '09 regular season, and that man is Jim Tracy.