AL Manager of the Year: Only non-Maddon voter defends himself -- sorta

It's been a pretty good week, after a pretty good year, for Tampa Bay Rays manager Joe Maddon.

He currently is in Italy on his honeymoon following his wedding last weekend. In between, he was named AL Manager of the Year for leading the Rays to a shock-the-world AL pennant. So why quibble about the fact that only one of 28 voters didn't put his name atop the ballot?

Ah, but Rays fans weren't as accepting of the fact that longtime Cleveland Plain-Dealer columnist Terry Pluto was the lone dissenter in the balloting, naming Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire first, and Maddon second.

They peppered Pluto with e-mails, and the string of comments that follow this St. Petersburg Times article by Joe Smith says it all -- many times over.

And here's what Pluto had to say -- and didn't say -- about his vote:

"I had great respect for both men, and gave the edge to Gardenhire for keeping his team in contention after losing Santana, etc. I had no idea how anyone else was voting. I certainly didn't set out to stiff Joe by being the lone voice not to have him No. 1.  I'm glad Joe won. Clearly, after what he did in the playoffs, he deserves it. It's just how it is.''

For more info: The complete AL/NL Manager of the Year voting; 

See more awards posts: Rookies of the Year;  NL Cy Young;  AL Cy Young.

Check out Rays examiner Rob Quinn's page.