Gold Gloves

Half the NL Gold Glove winners have Phillies or Red Sox connections, but only one, Shane Victorino, is a current Phillie, meaning Chase Utley got hosed. Just like last year.

Though there was no travesty as bad as yesterday's award to the fraudulent Derek Jeter, who is among the worst defensive shortstops in baseball. Yes, he's that bad.

For the record, former SoxandPhils honored today include Bronson Arroyo (P), Scott Rolen (3B) and Michael Bourn (OF).

Gold Gloves for Christmas

Only two SoxandPhils won Gold Gloves this year, meaning Chase Utley, Dustin Pedroia and Kevin Youkilis got hosed.

To be fair, Rob Neyer, whose assessments I trust on these things, said Jimmy Rollins didn't deserve his third straight gold glove and that Shane Victorino may not have earned his second trophy.

But being a partisan blog, we'll focus on the praise, such as these plaudits heaped on Utley followed by some backhanded love for Shane-O on the end:

This year, the voters returned to Hudson, once again spurning Utley, who still doesn't have a Gold Glove despite being arguably the league's top defensive second baseman for five seasons running. And not over the last five seasons; I mean in each of the last five seasons.

Who cares, right? Well, someday Utley's going to be on a Hall of Fame ballot, and at least a few voters will say, "Gosh, I love the guy's hitting stats, but why didn't he win any Gold Gloves?"

The answer isn't that Utley wasn't a great fielder; the answer is that the Gold Glove voters just weren't paying attention.

Speaking of which, I'm not sure what to say about Matt Kemp and Shane Victorino. Kemp gets bonus points because he's a good hitter and he's fast and he's got a good arm, with the only problem being that Kemp doesn't make a particularly large number of plays, which is sort of the point of the thing.

Victorino didn't make a great number of plays this season, either. But one can almost forgive the voters, because Victorino was solid last season (when he won his first Gold Glove) and even better in 2007 as a right fielder. Players typically peak early as fielders, but Victorino's (apparent) decline has been precipitous, and I have a hard time holding the voters responsible for tracking Victorino.

In the American League, the Red Sox were shut out, much to Neyer's consternation:

Shockingly, the voters selected MVP candidates Joe Mauer, Mark Teixeira, and Derek Jeter, all of whom were probably solid defensively but might not have been the best fielders in the league (my choices at those positions were Gerald Laird, Kevin Youkilis, and Elvis Andrus). At second base, the voters chose Placido Polanco because he made only two errors all season. Polanco is a pretty good second baseman, but nowhere near as good as Dustin Pedroia, who won the award last year (and, coincidentally enough, was also the American League's MVP).

Stupid Yankees. Speaking of which, I went Christmas shopping today. It was very sad and disturbing to see all the Yankees championship gear. Unlike the last two Christmases, there will be no championship garb under our tree this year, but we'll probably see some disgusting trinkets when we visit the family.

I'm pleased with my shopping. I have a feeling Santa will remember which team Christine roots for.

Today's news: Jason Varitek will be back to back up Victor Martinez. ... Some delusional Japanese media think the Red Sox offered Hideki Matsui a contract. I don't believe it for a moment. ... And, while Pedro Martinez remains on the back burner, the Phillies may target Fernando Rodney for the beleaguered bullpen.

Little appetizer and other morsels

Yesterday it was Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Today Dustin Pedroia won a Gold Glove, his first. Actually, he knew yesterday and didn't keep it a secret. I never knew award winners were told a day ahead, and I don't know if he'll get in trouble for spilling the beans.

Thankfully, I think they still wait until hours before the official announcement to tell a player that he won the MVP. That's the main course for Pedroia this year (and the Red Sox, as Christine reminded me that they didn't get the job done this season). Today's fielding award is just a little shrimp cocktail for the littlest big hitter in baseball.

Things don't look so good for Pedroia and the Sox next year. Manny Ramirez won't consider coming back. Did I miss something? Was this even a possibility? Didn't we bend over backward last summer shipping him out of town so he could get the Dodgers' hopes up for the Phillies to knock them down? Whatever. The season ended just over a week ago, and I'm already sick of hearing from Scott Boras.

There's some talk that Manny could replace Pat Burrell in Philadelphia. I don't buy it. To quote Tony Massarotti: "One glitch: Pat Gillick, who just stepped down as Philly's GM but is staying on in an advisory role, is too smart to advocate signing a guy like Manny. (We think.)"

One glitch with that glitch theory: Gillick might be interested in winning a Stanley Cup instead.

I thought this was a slow day when I sat down to write tonight, but things are certainly getting crazy. Next thing you know, we'll be reading that the World Champs are again considering trading the farm, and Shane Victorino, for Matt Holliday. Oops.

{No way, I'm not buying that. This city loves Shane-O, and I think he loves it back. I hope management isn't dumb enough to trade him.}

They're golden

And the awards are starting to roll in for the World Champions.

A day after he was named the best-fielding shortstop in baseball by a stats group led by Bill James (Derek Jeter was named the worst), Jimmy Rollins today won his second consecutive Gold Glove award. Shane Victorino was awarded his first Gold Glove. Congratulations to them.

But guess who didn't win an award this year? Why, that would be Aaron Rowand! Man, sucks to be him. Leave a team, and then they win the World Series and retain the award you won last year. I'm glad that players such as J-Roll and Victorino stepped up this year to end all of that nonsensical chatter about the Phillies not having the same fire and drive without Rowand. I think they managed just fine without him.

Personnel move: The Phillies fired third base coach Steve Smith. I agree with this article that Smith's bad base-running decisions fell off the radar as the Phillies started to win and the pennant race heated up. But he definitely made some boneheaded moves, and he wasn't well-liked by the fans. Turns out that Charlie Manuel didn't like him too much either. It was Manuel's decision to fire him.

[Photo credit: Reuters]