Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!americast-post Newsgroups: americast.twt.sports From: americast-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: americast-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: Leyland chosen NL's top manager Date: Thu, 29 Oct 92 14:38:17 EST Message-ID: \SE D;SPORTS;BASEBALL \SS (WS) \HD Leyland chosen NL's top manager \BY ASSOCIATED PRESS \DT NEW YORK NEW YORK (AP) - Jim Leyland, who guided the Pittsburgh Pirates to their third straight National League East championship this season, was named NL Manager of the Year yesterday. Leyland received first-place votes on 20 of 24 ballots and received 109 points overall to beat rookie manager Felipe Alou of the Montreal Expos. Alou, who took over in May for Tom Runnells, was voted first on three ballots and received 65 points. The other first-place vote went to Atlanta's Bobby Cox, who finished third with 29 points. It was the second time in three years that Leyland has been named Manager of the Year in voting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. "This is real pleasing to me," Leyland said at a news conference in Pittsburgh. "Nobody wants to sound like they're boasting, but I think it was my best year. We had to do some unorthodox things, and everything happened to work out." The Pirates finished 96-66 and beat the Expos by nine games. It was a surprising success for Pittsburgh after losing outfielder Bobby Bonilla to free agency and trading starting pitcher John Smiley and waiving reliever Bill Landrum just before the start of the season for financial reasons. Leyland's regular-season success, however, was once again spoiled in the playoffs as the Pirates lost to the NL West champion for the third straight year. This time was particularly painful as Atlanta rallied for three runs in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 to keep Leyland and the Pirates out of the World Series again. "A lot of people think that [Game 7] is going to be lasting and won't go away, but 1992 is going to be a good memory for me," Leyland said. "I'm sad for our community and sad for the organization, but 1992 was a great year for the Pittsburgh Pirates. We won 96 games - 99 if you count the playoffs - we came back from 3-1 down in the playoffs and we were ahead 2-0 in the ninth inning of Game 7. How could that be a bad year?" Leyland did a masterful job of platooning this season, using his bench players to near perfection and usually coming up with the right pitcher. The Pirates got the expected production from outfielders Barry Bonds and Andy Van Slyke, but Leyland got more than expected from players like Alex Cole, Cecil Espy and Don Slaught. Leyland also managed to help the Pirates to an easy win in the NL East even though his No. 1 starter, Doug Drabek, won only 15 games. Leyland took a chance with rookie Tim Wakefield late in the season and the knuckleballer responded with an 8-1 record and two more wins in the playoffs against Atlanta. "Each year's a new year and our chances are as good as anybody's," Leyland said. "I still feel we'll get to the World Series some day." After a long career in the minor leagues and as a coach with the White Sox, Leyland was named manager of the Pirates prior to the 1986 season and finished last with a 64-98 record. Alou, who received 15 second-place votes, rallied the Expos to a 70-55 record and pennant contention after Runnells was fired. Cox was followed in the voting by Houston's Art Howe with nine points and former Cincinnati manager Lou Piniella with four. Piniella resigned following the season and is now in contention for the Seattle Mariners job. This article is copyright 1992 The Washington Times. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM