Just like this past Padres season, it came down to the wire, and in the end, Bud Black prevailed over Dusty Baker, and is the NL Manager of the Year in 2010.
Deserving? You bet. To me, and admittedly I'm a bit biased, it was a no brainer. I didn't however think that the BBWA would get it right. I figured it would go to the sentimental favorite, Bobby Cox, but in the end the writers did the right thing and gave the nod to our own skipper.
The case is a simple one. He did the best job of managing a baseball team this season. Going through the peaks and valleys of the 162 game schedule, Black, guided his team to a 90 win season, 15 more wins than the previous year. That was the best win differential in MLB.
Did anybody expect this? No. Did anybody figure out how to get the most of all his players, every single game? No. Case closed. Vegas set the Padres win line at 71.5 before the season, and as GM Jed Hoyer pointed out today in a conference call, "They don't build those casinos by losing money. For me, [Black] was a clear choice."
Congratulations Buddy, on a well deserved honor. It has been my privilege to work with him every game for the last four seasons, and I really enjoy talking baseball and other things with him all the time. What you see is what you get with Bud Black, one of the good guys in the game of baseball.
I'm Baaaack...
Many of you have sent me Facebook and Twitter messages wondering about the status of my blog and after a long hiatus, I've decided to bring back Masur's Musings. I can't guarantee it will be updated every day, or even every week, but I will certainly do my best to keep it relatively current. I'm just happy that there were so many people that actually read my blog, I had no idea really, and I do appreciate the following.
Random Musings...
- What a win for the San Diego State Aztecs men's basketball team the other night at Gonzaga. I've broadcast a few games at the "Kennel" and I've never heard the place as quiet as I did late in the game yesterday. These Aztecs are for real, and will be a force to be reckoned with when conference play begins.
- The USD Toreros are off to a 1-1 start, coming off a loss at Stanford, Monday night. This is a young team that Bill Grier has, 2 seniors, 2 juniors and 11 sophomores/freshman. Hopefully the non-conference season, will get this inexperienced group ready for WCC play. It's a great bunch of kids, and they are hard not to root for.
- By the way, in case you didn't hear, the Toreros games are on XTRA Sports 1360 this season. I'm back for my fourth season of play-by-play and couldn't be happier. I'll be away for the next couple of games to attend a good friend's wedding, so Ben Higgins will step in and handle the games, Friday night and Sunday afternoon at the JCP.
Alright, that's a wrap. Chat soon.
