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Second comes right after first

By Basil

Our guy, Ryan Zimmerman, didn't win Rookie of the Year. He finished second; one of Florida's eighty-three rookies (and the Marlins' best one, at least among a plurality of sources), Hanley Ramirez, nabbed the crown. But at least the voting was close---really close.

Just to cover both bases, I have prepared two press releases on this occasion. Unlike the Nats, I don't have the luxury of three guys making the same announcement, but I do what I can.

FEDERAL BASEBALL, A NATS BLOG, CALLS NL ROY VOTE "REASONABLE, IF UNSATISFYING"

With regard to today's exceedingly close rookie of the year vote, I recognize both Ramirez and Zimmerman were excellent candidates. In fact, there were several very good candidates, but at least Zimmerman was among the cream of the crop. Ramirez had an excellent offensive year, but his defense seems suspect. Zimmerman seems an incredibly solid and mature play, but to be completely honest the RBI total is a bit puffed up by batting order position, and there are several measures I would give more emphasis to RBI, anyway. It was a toss-up, and the voting seemed to reflect that. You win some, and you lose some. Civilization advances, regardless.

FEDERAL BASEBALL, A NATS BLOG, BITTER, REALLY BITTER

Z-Man plays for the Nats. Hanley sounds like a girl's name. We was robbed.

For what it's worth, I rather extensively broke down the ROY race back on August 21. I don't necessarily commend you to read that, though. I predicted Andre Ethier would keep churning along and take the prize. In my defense, . . . well, he did finish sixth.

* * * *

I haven't made much mention of chats and mailbags in a long time, mainly because when I did, I was guilty of feeding into a sort of blogging cult of personality that, on reflection, reads sort of embarrasingly. But when Stan Kasten drops in da house, people tend to pay attention. As many predicted, he didn't really say anything.

Or, for another take on Kasten's responses, this is pretty hilarious. It's funny 'cause it's true.

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