Sport books this past season saw the Colorado Rockies and Los Angeles Angels do quite well and their managers made the news recently by winning Manager of the Year awards.
Internet sportsbook had Jim Tracy of the Rockies winning the National League Manager of the Year while Mike Scioscia won the American League Manager of the Year award.
Sport books indicate that neither of the races was close. Tracy ran away with the NL award getting 29 first place votes and 151 points. “One guy doesn’t win an award like this,” Tracy said, “The Colorado Rockies won this award.”
Tracy was given the job after Clint Hurdle was fired in late May. Colorado was 18-28 when Tracy took over as sport books stats noted. The Rockies went 74-42 the rest of the season and were a great bet at the Internet sportsbook. They nearly won the division as Internet sportsbook results showed and they did win the Wild Card in the National League.
The National League really only had three managers getting attention. They were Tracy, Tony La Russa, who was almost 100 points behind, and Joe Torre. Also receiving votes were Bruce Bochy, Charlie Manuel, Fredi Gonzalez and Bud Black. Sport books noted that Tracy is only the second manager in history to win the award after taking over after the season began. The other one to win the award after taking over mid-season was Jack McKeon in 2003 for Florida.
Scioscia had 15 first place votes in the American League and had 106 points as sport books stats show. The Angels won at sport books again last season. It was the fifth AL West title in the last six years for the Angels. “This award is a true honor and a testament to the perseverance of our players and staff,” Scioscia said, “As a team, we overcame several obstacles to put together a successful season in 2009.” Ron Gardenhire finished second in the voting for the second straight season. It is the fifth time he has finished second in the voting. He has never won the award.
The Angels had a good season versus the Internet sportsbook odds under Scioscia even with difficult off the field issues. The team had to deal with the death of pitcher Nick Adenhart in addition to using 14 starting pitchers throughout the sport books season.