And I just don't get it. He finished in a stone-cold tie for twenty-eighth in innings pitched and was only five wins off the league lead. And he had the second-most ERAs in the league. Wait, that's bad.
I suppose there would be more verisimilitude in saying Chad Cordero was shut out of the vote, but whatever. Congratulations to Brandon Webb. It's somewhat amazing to consider more than half of the Diamondbacks' nine seasons have ended Cyliciously. It's somewhat less amazing to consider that eighty percent of those seasons involved Randy Johnson, at least until you recall the last CBA banned Samsonstolzol.
* * * *
In a surprise move, the Nats named Manny Acta manager today. Late this afternoon, the club unveiled the product of its thorough search, and I can report I wasn't there.
I'm certain Acta, by all accounts an engaging and interesting fellow, made a grand impression. However, unless Acta did something truly noteworthy, like identifying himself as one of the LXX or inquiring whether the scribes hate pants, I'm not sure there's much here that wasn't disclosed in the articles published during the days when Acta's hiring was on a conspicuous version of the old down-low. At any rate, good luck to Manny, because we're all happy he's with the team.
And he's gonna need it.