Okay, it’s been a couple of days since our last entry. And over the past few days, there’s been plenty of baseball news. With Thanksgiving around the corner, MLB has been handing out their annual awards. So let’s get to each item and give our little synopsis starting with the awards that have been handed out:

NL ROY: Hanley Ramirez, Marlins- One of Florida’s many talented rookies, the first-year shortstop acquired in the Josh Beckett deal was a consistent sparkplug at the top of the surprising Marlins’ lineup who hit .292 with 51 steals (3rd in NL) along with 17 home runs, 51 RBI’s and 119 runs scored (5th NL). That kind of production was good enough to edge super National third baseman Ryan Zimmerman 105-101 in what was the closest vote ever. Zimmerman finished with a .287 average to go with 20 dingers and 110 RBI’s. The Marlins also had second baseman Dan Uggla and starter Josh Johnson finish 3-4 while Scott Olsen, Josh Willingham and Anibal Sanchez all received votes. Impressive stuff. This award could’ve gone either way. I’d have even been happy if Ramirez and Zimmerman shared it.

AL ROY: Justin Verlander, Tigers- No surprise here that Verlander garnered 26 of 28 first place votes to easily outdistance injured competitors Jonathan Papelbon and Francisco Liriano. The 23 year-old righty went 17-9 with a 3.63 ERA in helping Detroit to its first postseason since 1987. He also became the first Tiger to take home the award since “Sweet” Lou Whitaker back in 1978. Had his chief competition been healthy, the vote would’ve been much closer. Also, Seattle’s Kenji Johima and former Angels top pick Jered Weaver finished 4-5 to round out one of the best AL rookie classes.

NL Cy Young: Brandon Webb, Diamondbacks- In about as unheralded an NL class ever, the Arizona sinkerballer proved to be the best and won by a comfortable margin (103-77) over Padres closer Trevor Hoffman. The 27 year-old Webb went 16-8 with a 3.10 ERA. To put in perspective how rare it was that an NL Cy winner took home the hardware after winning just 16 times, the last pitcher to do it was the Cubs’ Rick Sutcliffe in 1984 when he dominated to go 16-1 after coming over in a trade from Cleveland. Different circumstances. So was Webb the best choice? Hard to say. Last year’s winner Chris Carpenter finished third while the Astros’ Roy Oswalt was fourth. Also getting votes were Carlos Zambrano and Mets’ closer Billy Wagner. Considering how weird a year it was in the senior circuit, it’s hard not to go along with Webb. He’s not a flamethrower but is rock solid and probably flew under the radar as much as the Yanks’ Chien-Ming Wang, who ironically finished second in the AL balloting to Johan Santana. The difference being Santana dominated and was a clearcut above.

AL Cy Young: Johan Santana, Twins- No surprise here that the Twins’ southpaw took home his second Cy Young in three years by becoming the 14th unanimous winner to sweep all 28 first place ballots in easily outdistancing the aforementioned Wang above. The 27 year-old Santana tied for the league lead with Wang in victories (19) while leading in ERA (2.77) and strikeouts (245)- becoming the first pitcher to lead in all three categories since the Mets’ Doc Gooden in 1985. Meanwhile, the second-year Yankee hurler Wang received 15 second place votes and 51 points to place second after going 19-6 with a 3.63 ERA. Finishing third was Toronto’s Roy Halladay while Angels’ closer Francisco Rodriguez took fourth. Also getting consideration were Joe Nathan, Verlander and Kenny “Vaseline” Rogers.

NL Manager of the Year: Joe Girardi, Marlins- Predictably, this has caused a typical overreaction of whining from Daily News columnist Mike “Know It All” Lupica, who of course went to bat for Mets skipper Willie Randolph yesterday. Nothing against Willie. He’s an excellent manager and did a solid job overcoming injuries to Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and then El Duque in October. But correct me if I’m wrong. How did Randolph’s club finish with the best record in the NL, tying the Yanks for the ML lead? With plenty of offense. Their offense destroyed opponents. When you have a top five of Reyes-Lo Duca-Beltran-Delgado-Wright, you should be able to win consistently. Their payroll was the highest in the NL. So while expectations were up, Randolph had plenty of talent to work with here in getting the Amazins back to the postseason. Girardi on the other hand managed mostly a very young club full of rookies and turned them around from a dreadful start (14-31) to an NL wildcard competitor before they fell off the last two weeks. Impressive stuff and with the lowest payroll in baseball. And don’t forget. Two of Randolph’s best players (Lo Duca, Delgado) came from Florida. They raped their own division rival. So Lupica should just can it. He’s the biggest hypocrite ever. We all know if it was Joe Torre and the Yanks, this Mets shill would never utter a word. Only with one New York baseball team does payroll matter. Never with the other guys. Congrats to the writers on getting this one right in what was a close vote with Girardi beating Randolph 111-81. Don’t forget that most expected Florida to finish with over 100 losses. That’s why what Girardi did in getting them to win 78 games was very impressive. Too bad he won’t be back to get them to the postseason next year.
AL Manager of the Year: Jim Leyland, Tigers- Little suspense here after what the 62 year-old Leyland did turning around Detroit. Drawing 118 votes, he beat out the Twins’ Ron Gardenhire, who got 93 votes. Former A’s skipper Ken Macha finished third while Torre was fourth. Leyland became just the third manager to win this award in both leagues, joining exclusive company in Tony LaRussa and Bobby Cox.

Coming next week: NL and AL MVP announcements.

We’ll have more hot stove talk in our next entry later tonight.