Orioles, Nats skippers are Managers of Year

Buck Showalter

Baltimore’s Buck Showalter was voted American League Manager of the Year for the third time on Tuesday, and Washington’s Matt Williams won the National League honor following his first season as a big league skipper.

Showalter received 25 of 30 first-place votes and 132 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. He kept up his pattern of winning the award once a decade, after victories with the Yankees in 1994 and Texas in 2004.

The Los Angeles Angels’ Mike Scioscia was second with four firsts and 61 points and Kansas City’s Ned Yost third with 41 points. Seattle’s Lloyd McClendon followed with 29 points.

Showalter guided the Orioles to a 96-66 record and their first AL East title since 1997. Voting took place before the playoffs, where Baltimore swept Detroit in the Division Series and then was swept by Kansas City in the AL Championship Series.

Until the ALCS, the Orioles had not lost four in a row since May and had not dropped consecutive home games since June 28-29.

Showalter became the third Orioles winner, following Frank Robinson in 1989 and Davey Johnson in 1997.

Williams, who played under Showalter in Arizona from 1998-00, guided the Nationals to an NL-best 96 wins. He joined Houston’s Hal Lanier (1986), San Francisco’s Dusty Baker (1993) and Florida’s Joe Girardi (2006) as the only men to win for their first seasons as big league managers.

Williams got 18 first-place votes and 109 points. Pittsburgh’s Clint Hurdle, who earned the NL honor last year, was second with eight first-place votes and 80 points. Bruce Bochy of the World Series champion San Francisco Giants was third with three firsts and 30 points. AP