Baseball

The regular season is over and it is that time for the end of the season awards. Much like the newspapers have the BBWAA that votes on the end of the year awards that everyone makes a big deal about, us bloggers have the Baseball Bloggers Alliance that votes on our own version of the awards.

The Atlanta Braves will name a new manager to their franchise for the first time since Bobby Cox joined the Braves for the second time in 1990.

"Multiple baseball sources have confirmed that the Braves will introduce Fredi Gonzalez as their new manager Thursday," reports MLB.com Atlanta Braves beat writer Mark Bowman.

The Reds did not belong in the postseason this year.

Cincinnati fell into the National League Central Division title by doing what any team is expected to do: win games against teams with worse records and teams with losing records.

However, Cincinnati proved more than once that they could not do what is expected of winning ball clubs, and that is to overcome clubs equal than or better that yourself.

Tigers RHP Armando Galarraga missed out on a perfect game against the Indians on June 2, 2010 due to a blown call by first-base umpire Jim Joyce with two outs in the ninth inning. Galarraga was perfect through 8.2 innings and coaxed a grounder to first base out of nine-spot hitter Jason Donald. The throw from Miguel Cabrera was on time, but Joyce missed the call and ruled Donald safe.

Josh Beckett suffered through one of the worst seasons of his career.  All you have to do is look at the numbers to understand just how bad it was:

6 Wins
127.2 Innings
5.78 ERA
1.54 WHIP
116 Strikeouts (8.2 K/9)
45 Walks (3.2 BB/9)
.349 BABIP

Before we get into specifics, Beckett has coincidentally alternated good and bad years dating back to 2005.  It’s odd, for sure, but it actually is a fact.  Just look at his ERAs:

If the Phillies win the upcoming National League Championship Series, they will be the first team since the St. Louis Cardinals from 1942-44 to win three straight National League pennants. 

But a very dangerous and hungry San Francisco Giants team will have a lot to say about the Phillies chase towards almost 70 years of history.

The Giants eliminated Bobby Cox and the Braves Monday night to advance to the NLCS for the first time since 2002, where they will face off against those Philadelphia Phillies. 

After the Alex Gonzalez throwing error to extend the seventh inning and ultimately give the San Francisco Giants the lead, it felt like the beginning of the end. From that moment until the bottom of the ninth when Melky Cabrera hit the ball to third off of Brian Wilson for a groundout, the only thing I could think about was Bobby Cox. The coach. The man. The legend.

Ichiro Suzuki is an aberration.

At 5'9" and 170 pounds, Ichiro’s slender frame belies his incredible talent. He has one of the most feared arms in all of baseball. His bat is lightning quick through the zone. His speed on the base paths is that of a track star. But you wouldn’t know all that just by looking at him.

Naturally quiet, Ichiro keeps a low profile. Besides being one of baseball’s best, the 10-time All-Star seems to shy away from the attention usually sought by superstar athletes.

Lost in all the hubbub of baseball’s postseason was that Major League Baseball announced their Comeback Players of the Year award last week. Let’s see who won this award in both the American League and National League…

National League

For the first time in my life, I am ashamed to call myself a Cincinnati Reds fan. I have endured 15 straight years without a playoff appearance, twelve of which have been losing seasons. In 2000, Ken Griffey Jr. was traded to the Reds. He was supposed to be the missing piece to a team that had just missed the playoffs the year before, after going 96-66. Instead, Griffey spent time on the disabled list during every season in Cincinnati.