Each season, we award to players rankings according to outstanding performances during the season. Using this system, here’s how the Batters and Pitchers of the New York Yankees placed:
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Twilight Dawning Baseball Awards 2010 Season
Before we turn our attention to 2011 Spring Training…….
Twilight Dawning Baseball Awards
In 2008 and 2009, we did something fun called the “Twilight Dawning Baseball Awards”. Once again we’re going to repeat it
Baseball – Rounding up last season
Somewhere along the line life became too busy and my opportunities for posting here became too infrequent. Consequently, I never got to post last season’s Yankees October and post-season reports here (and I’m secretly glad that some of you noticed) and didn’t get to award my TWiD player of the season prizes. Over the next few days I am definitely going to rectify that before posting about Spring Training and the 2011 season.
The Twilight Dawning 2nd Annual Yankees Baseball Awards
That’s TWI-D (Twilight Dawning) not TWIB (This week in Baseball)
Here’s the roll of honour:
Batter of the Year 2009: Derek Jeter
Pitcher of the Year 2009: C.C. Sabathia
Bench player of the Year 2009: Ramiro Pena
Relief Pitcher of the Year 2009: A three-way tie:
David Robertson – Mariano Rivera – Alfredo Aceves
For the record, here are the total points gained:
Batters
Derek Jeter 8
Alex Rodriguez 5
Robinson Cano 4
Jorge Posada 3
Hideki Matsui 2
Melky Cabrera 2
Johnny Damon 2
Mark Teixeira 1
Brett Gardner -1
Xavier Nady -1
Nick Swisher -2
Bench
Ramiro Pena 4
Francisco Cervelli 3
Jerry Hairston jr 1
Juan Miranda 1
Kevin Cash -1
Cody Ransom -2
Eric Hinske -2
Shelley Duncan -2
Freddy Guzman -2
Angel Berroa -2
Jose Molina -3
Pitchers
C.C. Sabathia 6
David Robertson 5
Mariano Rivera 5
Alfredo Aceves 5
Andy Pettitte 3
Joba Chamberlain 3
Phil Hughes 1
Mark Melancon 1
Phil Coke 1
Chad Gaudin 1
A.J. Burnett 0
Damaso Marte 0
Brett Tomko 0
Brian Bruney -1
Jose Veras -1
Sergio Mitre -1
Ian Kennedy -1
Jonathan Albaladejo -2
Chien-Ming Wang -2
Anthony Claggett -2
Edwar Ramirez -3
The way that is calculated favours those players that are consistent. Teixeira’s awful April and October explains why he might have ranked lower than on other season summaries. Other than I think it’s pretty reflective.
Coming Soon – The Twilight Dawning Baseball Awards 2009
Last year we did something fun called the "Twilight Dawning Baseball Awards". I thought it was worth repeating.
Basically, any New York Yankee who got a positive mention in one of my monthly baseball reports scores a point. Any Yankee who gets a negative mention loses a point. Any player who ranked as a good surprise in a report also scores a mark and anyone who was noted as bad surprise also loses a point.
We total up the marks and award the best batter, best pitcher, best bench player and best reliever with a mention in my column – what more could they want!
It also enables me to have a jumping off point to get the baseball discussion running until the new season starts.
Just for the record, the 2008 winners were:
Batter – Alex Rodriguez
Pitcher – Mike Mussina
Bench – Wilson Betemit
Reliever – Mariano Rivera
Mussina, seeing this award as the peak of his career, retired and obviously can’t repeat. Betemit left the Yankees and signed on with the White Sox. Failing to capitalise on the momentum given to any career by the prestigious Twilight Dawning award, he lasted until June in the majors for Chicago before being assigned to Triple-A. For 2010, he has signed a minor league deal with the Kansas City Royals. A clear sign that a TWI-D* will make your career for you – and to think he was just a journeyman infielder before I brought him to the attention of my readers.
So can either A-Rod or Mo repeat? Do they want to?
All will be revealed.
* The TWI-D (Twilight dawning) awards are not associated with the TWIB (This week in Baseball) awards or any other less prestigious prize.
The Twilight Dawning 1st Annual Yankees Baseball Awards
That’s TWI-D (Twilight Dawning) not TWIB (This week in Baseball)
Using the rules I explained so clearly yesterday, here are the Yankees players who fared best according to my bi-monthly updates during the 2008 season:
Batter of the Year 2008: Alex Rodriguez
Pitcher of the Year 2008: Mike Mussina
Bench player of the Year 2008: Wilson Betemit
Relief Pitcher of the Year 2008: Mariano Rivera
Most appearances without getting mentioned in the Twilight Dawning reports:
Jonathan Albaladejo (7 games)
For the record, here are the total points gained:
Batters
A. Rodriguez 6
B. Abreu 3
J. Damon 2
D. Jeter 1
X. Nady 1
R. Cano 1
H. Matsui 0
J. Posada 0
J. Giambi -1
I. Rodriguez -2
M. Cabrera -3
J. Molina -4
Bench
W. Betemit 6
B. Gardner 2
C. Ransom 2
C. Moeller 1
J. Miranda 1
J. Christian 0
M. Ensberg -1
A. Gonzalez -2
S. Duncan -2
R. Sexson -2
Pitchers
M. Mussina 6
M. Rivera 5
B. Bruney 4
J. Veras 4
K. Farnsworth 3
J. Chamberlain 2
A. Aceves 2
D. Giese 2
P. Coke 2
C.M. Wang 1
Andy Pettitte 0
Carl Pavano 0
E. Ramirez -1
H. Sanchez -1
B. Traber -1
R. Ohlendorf -1
S. Ponson -1
D. Marte -2
C. Britton -2
P. Hughes -2
L. Hawkins -2
K. Igawa -2
D. Robertson -3
I. Kennedy -3
D. Rasner -5
There’s the odd anomaly (Rasner simply wasn’t that bad, he was just simply left on the roster longer than other struggling pitchers!) in this but I think it is surprisingly evocative of the way the season went.
It’s fifteen years since my first trip to Yankee Stadium. It was a privilege to be there again this season and particularly to be present for the final game at the old Stadium. Hopefully, next year will see them back in the post-season.
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