I’m writing this post from the Bronx, where I am awaiting the opening of the ALDS in a few hours. End of the regular season, though, means End of Season awards. As a founding member of the Baseball Bloggers Association, I take part in the voting. We’re not as glamourous as the ink-stained wretches in the BBWAA. I suppose as bloggers we’re the eye-strained kvetches.

Here’s what we eye-strained kvetches award:

Connie Mack Award: top manager
Willie Mays Award: top rookie)
Goose Gossage Award: top reliever
Walter Johnson Award: top pitcher
Stan Musial Award: top player

Since Why I Like Baseball is ostensibly a Yankees blog (with a healthy side of Red Sox), I get to vote for the American League entry in each category. Here are my picks:

Connie Mack Award: top manager
If I were voting in the NL, I’d pick Kirk Gibson, but I’m not. But the tendency to want to pick a guy who took a load of underachievers and made them achievers, or a load of achievers and made them overachievers, is high. In that way, I’m tempted to pick Buck Showalter, especially after seeing the Orioles end their season in a dogpile after being the ones to kill Boston’s playoff hopes. Yeah, Showalter takes my #2 vote for getting those kids to prove something. And how about Don Wakamatsu taking over for John Farrell in Toronto? Let’s give him #3.

That leaves Joe Maddon as my #1 vote, for all the teaching and training he does with the Tampa Bay Rays, which certainly makes a huge difference with a young team, and also how much he does to keep it fun. The team dressing up for themed road trips and such? Maddon’s brainchild.

Willie Mays Award: top rookie
I’ve got to give serious consideration to my own team’s rookie sensation, Ivan Nova. The only reason he was “sent down” in mid-season was because the Yankees have a huge financial investment in A.J. Burnett, who clogged up a slot a the rotation. But as I did above, I’ll give my sentimental favorite my #2 vote. There isn’t any one rookie this year I feel is running away with it. Maybe Brett Lawrie would have a shot, but I just looked him up and he hasn’t been up for that long. (Ah, turns out he had an injury or might have been called up sooner.) Well, I’ll give him #3 because of the short service time.

Which leaves my top rookie as…? Let’s go with Jeremy Hellickson, starting pitcher for the Rays. If he were in any other division, his numbers would probably be more eye-popping. Hm, my second Rays pick! Am I starting to like the Rays?

Goose Gossage Award: top reliever
You’re kidding, right? No sentimentality in this. #1 Mariano Rivera. He’s the all time saves leader now, and has had another typical great season. We’re almost jaded to how great he is, and that’s why now he’s practically under-rated. Let’s give #2 to the Yankees’ David Robertson. No, I’m not kidding. There’s a reason this guy has the nickname “Houdini.” Lowest WHIP of his career (1.125), lowest HR/9 (0.1!), highest K/9 of his career (2.86), and a 1.08 ERA in 66+ innings pitched. If you have a look at the Baseball-Reference.com leaderboards for pitchers you’ll see most of the entrants are starters. And then there’s Robertson in the top ten in Win Probability Added, Adj. Pitching Wins, and some other stat-lovers’ stats. See? I don’t just vote with my heart.

Hm, looking at those same leaderboards leads me to my #3 pick, Alfredo Aceves for the Boston Red Sox. Yes, a former Yankee, who has done yeoman work for the Sox this year. And yes, I know only I would put two set-up men on a list of “best relievers.” Truth is, I’m not that impressed with a lot of the closers this year.

Walter Johnson Award: top pitcher
#1. Verlander. No reason to even look at anyone else for that. But when it comes to the #2 and #3 guys to vote for? I’m looking at the Wins Above Replacement (WAR) list. Most of the guys on the top ten are position players, but two pitchers after Verlander stand out CC Sabathia and Jered Weaver. (James Shields and Josh Beckett just miss the cut. And I have never liked Beckett anyway.) So #2 Sabathia, #3 Weaver. Oh wait, just re-read the instructions and I get to name two more. Well, okay then: Shields #4 and Beckett #5. Have a great offseason, Josh.

Stan Musial Award: top player
We don’t mess around with semantic arguments about what part of an “MVP” is “valuable” to his team. We just vote for “best player.” Which actually makes it harder, I think.

Honestly, I think I have to give the #1 spot to Jacoby Ellsbury. He has managed to shine even while the whole rest of the Red Sox teamed seemed mired in the negativity that is the Boston legacy. #2 goes to Jose Bautista, for a breakout season for a team that is otherwise marching in place. #3 Curtis Granderson whose season is an easy comparison with DiMaggio, Mantle, and Bernie Wililams’ top seasons. (One of my writers for the Maple Street Press Yankees Annual is working on a piece on that.)

I get to name a top ten, so here they are:
1. Jacoby Ellsbury
2. Jose Bautista
3. Curtis Granderson
4. Miguel Cabrera
5. Adrian Gonzalez (Boston’s problem was not their offense)
6. Evan Longoria (and not just for that walk-off)
7. Josh Hamilton (look at that nice fat WPA)
8. Alex Gordon (ditto)
9. Dustin Pedroia (I know! Three Red Sox on this list!)
10. Derek Jeter (I needed another Yankee to balance all the Red Sox! And yeah, sentimental favorite. That 3000 hits stuff just.. yeah. You know.)

I’m a member of the Boston chapter, but also one of the first “online chapters,” the SABR charter community of bloggers known as the Baseball Bloggers Alliance. Since I’m feeling a bit under the weather and may not make it to my Boston chapter meeting, I figured I’d offer this trivia quiz for seamheads everywhere to enjoy.

Caveat: I am not a serious baseball trivia type. At the annual SABR convention, I don’t think I’d even make it past the first round in their trivia contest. Pictured at left are myself and fellow baseball writer Stu Shea (I’m the one with the Bun of Doom, in case you couldn’t tell…) chit-chatting at the convention. However, my head is packed full of miscellany, so out come questions like the following.

There’s no prize for getting the answers right, by the way, other than that terrific feeling of superiority. No Googling! (Although the answers to these can be found in my books The 50 Greatest Yankee Games and The 50 Greatest Red Sox Games… Just sayin’.) But no, the answers aren’t ALL Red Sox/Yankees. Just some.

I’ll post a separate post with the answers hidden under a link.

1. The only modern players (post 1900) to record three hits in a SINGLE INNING both played for the Red Sox. Can you name them both?

2. This past year Melky Cabrera hit for the cycle. Can you name the previous TWO Yankees to accomplish the feat?

3. Three times in history a single pitcher has recorded a no-hitter, but lost the game. I’m not talking about guys like Harvey Haddix, who pitched 12 perfect innings only to give up a game-winning homer in the unlucky 13th, but guys who actually gave up no hits and lost anyway. The first was Ken Johnson on April 23, 1964, who pitched 9 no-hit innings for Houston but lost 1-0 to Cincinnati. Can you name the other two unlucky souls?

4. Who holds the record for most putouts by a catcher on two consecutive days? Hint, he’s one of the catchers who caught a game where his pitcher struck out 19 or more men in one day. He caught 20 strikeouts one day, and 16 the next.

5. Three times pairs of teammates have thrown no-hitters in the same season. The first time was in 1917 when Ernie Koob and Bob Groom did it for the St. Louis Browns, on back to back days, no less. The last time was in 1962, when Earl Wilson and Bill Monboquette both turned the trick for the Red Sox. Who are the other two pitchers to do it?

6. Aaron Boone did it in 2003. Bernie Williams did it in 1996 and 1999. Mickey Mantle did it in 1964. But who was the first Yankee to hit a walk-off home run for the Yankees in a postseason series? Can you name him and what pitcher he hit it off?

7. This past season saw both Nick Swisher and Nick Green take the mound for their teams. In 1940 a position player more noted for his bat took the mound and struck out Rudy York. Who was he?

8. Three Yankees have hit three triples in a game. The first was Hal Chase in 1906. Earle Combs did it in 1927. Who was the third? He did it in 1938, his third year in the big leagues.

9. Only two players in history have 400 home runs or more AND 10 or more steals of home. Can you name them? Hint: they usually batted back to back in their lineup.

10. Randy Johnson pitched a perfect game when he was 40. David Cone was 36 when he threw his. But there is one man who was 37 when he accomplished the feat. Who?

Okay, give up? Find the answers here.