Clint Hurdle named NL Manager of the Year, Terry Francona wins in AL
Clint Hurdle took the Pirates to their first postseason in 21 years. (Charles Rex Arbogast/AP)
Clint Hurdle of the Pirates and Terry Francona of the Indians were named Manager of the Year in the National and American League, respectively, in voting announced Tuesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Hurdle won easily in the NL, picking up 25 of 30 first-place votes to beat out Don Mattingly of the Dodgers and Fredi Gonzalez of the Braves. The voting was much closer in the AL, where Francona edged John Farrell of the Red Sox by just 16 points. Francona had 16 first-place votes, 10 second-place and 2 thirds for 112 points while Farrell had 12-10-6 to finish with 96.
Francona took Cleveland to the postseason for the first time since 2007. That year, the Red Sox, then managed by Francona, came from a 3-games-to-1 deficit to eliminate the Indians in the ALCS. Francona's pitching coach that year was Farrell, who returned to Boston this season after two years as manager in Toronto and guided Boston to its first division title since that '07 season.
The Red Sox went on to win the World Series this year -- their third in 10 years, with the first two coming under Francona in 2004 and '07 -- but the votes were cast before the start of the postseason.
