St. Petersburg, FL - Tampa Bay Rays Manager Joe Maddon has been named 2011 American League Manager of the Year by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. It marks his second AL Manager of the Year Award in a span of four seasons, after earning the same honor in 2008.
After an offseason that saw the Rays lose the likes of Carl Crawford, Rafael Soriano, Carlos Pena, Jason Bartlett and Matt Garza, expectations were a bit tempered for Maddon's club entering the 2011 campaign, especially after the team opened the year with six straight losses.
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However, Maddon, a 2008 winner of this award, showed why he is considered one of the best managers in the game, as the Rays rallied from a nine-game deficit in early September to overtake the Boston Red Sox in the wild card standings on the season's final day to end the year 91-71.
Maddon received 26 of 28 first-place votes and finished with 133 points on the Baseball Writers' Association of America's 5-3-1 tabulation system. Detroit's Jim Leyland and Texas' Ron Washington received the other two first place votes and finished second and third, respectively.
Since the Manager of the Year awards began in 1983, Maddon becomes the 12th in either league-and seventh in the AL-to win the honor multiple times. He is one of four active managers to be named Manager of the Year two or more times, joining Mike Scioscia, Jim Leyland and Dusty Baker.
The Arizona Diamondbacks' Kirk Gibson won manager of the year honors over in the National League.
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