Robinson fourth in NL manager voting

11/09/2005
Guiding a club that had one of the lowest payrolls in baseball and entered the season with low expectations in a talented National League East, manager Frank Robinson turned the Nationals into one of the feel-good stories in baseball in 2005.
Robinson's work was recognized by the Baseball Writers' Association of America on Wednesday, when it was announced the Nationals skipper finished fourth in the ballotting for the NL Manager of the Year.
Bobby Cox, who led the Braves to their 14th consecutive division title despite fielding a rookie-laden lineup and carrying an injury-depleted staff, took home the award, finishing with 28 first-place votes. It was Cox's third NL Manager of the Year Award and fourth overall.
St. Louis skipper Tony La Russa (52 points) and Astros manager Phil Garner (38 points) finished second and third, respectively. Robinson garnered two first-place votes, four second-place votes and seven third-place votes for 29 points. Milwaukee's Ned Yost (7 points), Phliadelphia's Charlie Manuel (5 points), San Diego's Bruce Bochy (4 points) and New York's Willie Randolph (1 point) rounded out the balloting.
Ozzie Guillen, who piloted the Chicago White Sox to their first World Series championship since 1917, won the award for the American League.
In their first season in Washington, D.C., the Nationals jumped out to a 52-36 record at the All-Star break, taking hold of the top spot in the NL East. But the offense, one of the lowest-ranked in baseball, would sputter in the second half and the terrific pitching the club enjoyed wasn't enough to overcome the struggles at the plate. A trade for slugger Preston Wilson didn't provide the expected boost, and injuries down the stretch ultimately took its toll as Washington faded to a 28-45 mark after the break.
"I loved the first half and I think we did what we had to do to capture the enthusiasm and the imagination of the fans in the D.C. area," Robinson told MLB.com last week. "With the personnel that I had during the second half of the season, there's nothing much I could have done. They gave me all they had. I think they got worn down."
But despite the downturn, Robinson was able to keep the club in the Wild Card race heading into the final week of the season as they finished at 81-81, the third time in four years the club has finished at or above .500.
The 70-year-old skipper -- the third-oldest manager in 2005, behind only Florida's Jack McKeon and San Francisco skipper Felipe Alou -- finished his 15th as a big-league manager. He was named the first African-American manager in baseball in 1975 by the Indians.
Robinson's contract as Nationals manager expired on Oct. 31, and he likely won't know his final status with the club until a new ownership group is in place. But Robinson has expressed his desire to remain at the Nationals' helm.
"I don't know if I'm going to be back or not," Robinson said last week. "No one has talked to me about next year. [General manager] Jim Bowden has told me that he can't do anything until ownership is named. After that, we'll see. I told you guys before, I would like to come back."
It's the third top-five finish for Robinson since taking the helm of the franchise before the 2002 season. Robinson previously earned the 1989 AL Manager of the Year Award when he piloted the Orioles to an 87-win season on the heels of a 101-loss campaign in 1988.

Source: http://washington.nationals.mlb.com/