NL Gold Glovers Announced

Congratulations to the 2009 National League Gold Glove Winners:

C: Yadier Molina (2nd GG)
1B: Adrian Gonzalez (2nd GG)
2B: Orlando Hudson (4th GG)
3B: Ryan Zimmerman
SS: Jimmy Rollins (3rd GG)
OF: Shane Victorino (2nd GG)
OF: Michael Bourn Astros
OF: Matt Kemp
P: Adam Wainwright

Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino each won a National League Gold Glove Award at their respective positions. This is the eleventh time in franchise history that the Phillies have had multiple Gold Glove winners.

With the award, Rollins becomes the first Phillie to win three consecutive Gold Gloves since Mike Schmidt. Rollins led all shortstops with a .990 fielding percentage. His six errors were the fewest in baseball among qualified players.

Victorino wins his second consecutive Gold Glove. Victorino had the second best fielding percentage among all outfielders (.997).

While Rollins and Victorino were honored, Chase Utley was snubbed. Utley had a 10.8 Ultimate Zone Rating, which was the best among NL second baseman. Orlando Hudson, the NL second base Gold Glove winner, had a UZR of -3.3. With that being said, Victorino probably wasn't the best option either. He had a -4.1 UZR.

Blog Notes: Make sure you take the Swing and a Long Drive Survey! Also, in honor of Veterans Day, More Hardball has the best games at Veterans Stadium.

The AL Gold Glovers and Flaws

Congratulations to the 2009 American League Gold Glove Winners:

P: Mark Buehrle
C: Joe Mauer (2nd consecutive GG)
1B: Mark Teixiera (3rd GG)
2B: Placido Polanco (2nd GG)
3B: Evan Longoria
SS: Derek Jeter (4th GG)
OF: Adam Jones
OF: Ichiro Suzuki (9th consecutive GG)
OF: Torii Hunter (9th consecutive GG)

A little bit of controversy here, but not as much as previous years. Franklin Gutierrez, arguably the best outfielder defensively this year, was snubbed. Adam Jones only played in 113 games.

Derek Jeter wins his fourth gold glove, having one of his better defensive season. Jeter has won gold gloves in the past despite being a below average defender. If this doesn't tell that the Gold Glove system is flawed, then look at Ichiro and Hunter. It shows that if a player wins their first Gold Glove, they are favorites to win the award for many years to come.

The choices weren't horrible, and not to take anything away from the winners. They are each great defenders, but the argument is whether or not they were the best option. That being said, it was "leaked" that Orlando Hudson will win the National League Gold Glove at second base. Once again, Chase Utley will be snubbed. Utley had a 10.8 Ultimate Zone Rating, second in MLB, compared to Hudson's -3.3. Plus, Hudson played about 100 innings less than Utley.

Does this mean that Greg Maddux will win his 19th Gold Glove?

Blog Note: Please click the link and complete this survey for Swing and a Long Drive.

AL Gold Gloves

The 2008 American League Gold Glove Winners have been announced. Here are your winners:

American League
P, Mike Mussina, NYY
C, Joe Mauer, MIN
1B, Carlos Pena, TB
2B, Dustin Pedroia, BOS
3B, Adrian Beltre, SEA
SS, Michael Young, TEX
OF, Torii Hunter, LAA
OF, Grady Sizemore, CLE
OF, Ichiro Suzuki, SEA

Hunter and Ichiro won their 8th consecutive Gold Gloves.

The players and coaches voted for the winner. They could not be vote for their own teammates. The National League winners were announced yesterday.

Gold Gloves

The 2008 National League Gold Glove winners have been announced today. Here are the winners:

C: Yadier Molina, STL
1B: Adrian Gonzalez, SD
2B: Brandon Phillips, CIN
3B: David Wright, NYM
SS: Jimmy Rollins, PHI
OF: Nate McLouth, PIT
OF: Carlos Beltran, NYM
OF: Shane Victorino, PHI
P: Greg Maddux, LAD

This is Maddux's 18th Gold Glove, his 5th in a row. He has won 18 gold glove in 19 years. Maddux plans to retire, according to his agent.

For the Phillies representatives, this is the second for Rollins, and first for Victorino. Wright and Beltran have also won multiple awards.

Other Award Winners previously announced:

Roberto Clemente Award: Albert Pujols

Hank Aaron Award:

NL: Aramis Ramirez
AL: Kevin Youkilis

Delivery Man of the Year: Brad Lidge

MLB Cluth Preformer: Carlos Zambrano

In other Phillies news, third base coach Steve Smith was fired. So Taguchi was also released from the Phillies.

As we now know, Barack Obama will be the next president, but the Philadelphia Phillies recieve 470 votes for the election. And then I found out there was an actual guy by the name of Phillies.