Sweet Lou Takes NL Manager of the Year

By Marcus Gilmer in News on Nov 12, 2008 8:00PM

Um...really? Don't get us wrong: it's great to see the Cubs capture more postseason hardware and we thought Lou did a pretty swell job and all but given the way the Cubs shat the bed in the playoffs and the job Charlie Manuel did with the Phillies - who, you know, actually won the World Series - or even Torre out in L.A., we were surprised to learn that Lou Piniella has been recognized as National League Manager of the Year. Even more surprising is the fact that Manuel was a distant second place in voting, 103 points to 67. (In case you were wondering, Tampa Bay's Joe Maddon won in the A.L.)

It's Lou's third Manager of the Year Award (he won in 1995 and 2001 for his work in Seattle). He led the Cubs to a 97-64 record, good enough for best in the N.L. and is the first manager in 100 years to lead the Cubs to back-to-back playoff appearances and he's been rightly rewarded with a contract extension that'll keep him in Cub Blue until 2010 at least. After the Dodger series debacle, he said, "I'm excited [about next year], but I want to do more than play the part of the good loser. I really do. I want to do more than play the part of congratulating the other team in the first round of the playoffs.

We love Lou and the job he's done as skipper for the Cubs; there's actually a ray of hope in the clubhouse worth believing in. After all, it's not Lou's fault that the offense went AWOL in October. Lou is a strength that gives the Cubs their best shot at ending this ridiculous drought (that has NOTHING AT ALL TO DO WITH CURSES) and while we think he did an admirable job managing this year...well, we're just saying we're surprised. That's all.

Update: Okay, so multiple commenters and readers have pointed out that the voting is all done prior to the post-season. In which case, yes, Lou deserves it and that makes my questioning completely moot. Thanks, for the heads-up, guys. I don't know how I've followed baseball this long and didn't know that...

AP Photo/M. Spencer Green