San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum made history of two kinds in winning his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award. Lincecum's 15 wins marked the fewest ever for a Cy Young-winning starting pitcher in a non-strike-shortened season, and he also became just the second pitcher in history to win the award without receiving the most first-place votes.

Lincecum received only 11 of the possible 32 first-place votes in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America, or one fewer than St. Louis Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright. Lincecum, though, received 12 second-place votes and nine third-place votes, for a total of 100 points (based on a 5-3-1 tabulation system).

Wainwright, meantime, got five second-place and 15 third-place votes, for a total of 90 points -- and he didn't even finish as the runner-up. That honor went to Wainwright's Cardinals teammate Chris Carpenter, who received nine firsts, 14 seconds and seven thirds for a total of 94 points.

The only other time a pitcher won the Cy Young without receiving the most first-place votes was in 1998, when Atlanta's Tom Glavine (11 firsts) beat out San Diego's Trevor Hoffman (13), 98 points to 88 points.

Full voting results can be found here.

Mike Scioscia, who led the Los Angeles Angels to the American League Championship Series after a season marked by tragedy and numerous injuries, was named American League Manager of the Year on Wednesday, the second such honor of his career.

In the National League, Colorado's Jim Tracy won the award, after taking over an 18-28 Rockies team in May following the firing of Clint Hurdle and leading them to the playoffs as the NL wild card. Under Tracy, the Rockies went 74-42, the NL's best record in that stretch.

Scioscia steered the Angels through a harrowing year that began with the automobile-accident death of phenom right-hander Nick Adenhart and also included significant injuries to pitchers John Lackey, Ervin Santana and Kelvim Escobar, and designated hitter Vladimir Guerrero.

Scioscia received 15 of a possible 28 first-place votes in balloting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire received six first-place votes and finished second, while New York's Joe Girardi received four first-place votes and finished third.

Tracy, meantime, becomes just the second manager to win the award after taking over a team in midseason, joining Jack McKeon, who did so for Florida in 2003. Tracy was a runaway winner, receiving 29 of the possible 32 first-place votes. Tony La Russa of the St. Louis Cardinals received two first-place votes and finished second, and Joe Torre of the Los Angeles Dodgers received the other first-place vote and finished third.

Full voting results can be found here.

Kansas City Royals right-hander Zack Greinke, who put together an historic pitching season in relative obscurity for the second-worst team in the American League, was voted the winner of the AL Cy Young Award on Tuesday by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Greinke, 26, won only 16 games in 2009 -- fewest by an AL Cy Young winner since David Cone (16) in the strike-shortened 1994 -- but his sparkling ERA of 2.16 was about a third of a run lower than anyone else in the league and represented the lowest ERA by an AL pitcher since Boston's Pedro Martinez had a 1.74 in 2000. His ERA+ (adjusted for park and league effects, with 100 representing league-average) of 205 was the best since Martinez posted a 210 in 2003.

Formerly the Royals' top pitching prospect, Greinke missed all of the 2006 season due to social anxiety disorder and depression. After recovering and having a breakthrough season in 2008, Greinke signed a four-year $38 million contract extension with the Royals in January.

A complete story and full voting results can be found here.

Oakland Athletics closer Andrew Bailey and Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan were named the winners of the Jackie Robinson Rookie of the Year awards in the American and National Leagues, respectively, in voting by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Texas Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus in the AL and Philadelphia Phillies lefty J.A. Happ in the NL were the runners-up.

A recap and the full voting totals can be found here.

Way back on Oct. 27, a day that feels ages ago, the Yankees held a pre-World Series workout at Yankee Stadium, on the day before Game 1. Chad Gaudin, a right-handed pitcher who had been used exclusively in relief during the first two rounds of the playoffs, went through a simulated game of some 80 or so pitches in an effort to "stretch out" his arm -- because the Yankees were thinking about using him to start one of the games in the World Series.

Five games later, the Yankees have not started Gaudin, and it is clear at this point -- as we await Wednesday night's Game 6 -- that they will not. In this fine column, my esteemed colleague Tom Boswell argues the Yankees should have used Gaudin in Game 4, rather than sticking to a three-man rotation that forces them to use a starter on short rest in Games 4, 5, 6 and (if necessary) 7.

I almost never disagree with Boz, but in this case I do. Starting Chad Gaudin against the Phillies would have been a disaster. (Okay, as it turns out, A.J. Burnett in Game 5 was also a disaster, but his previous record on short rest suggested it would work.) Gaudin has always been vulnerable to left-handed hitters, and since coming to the Yankees in August, even more so. Lefties hit .297/.398/.446 (that's batting average/on-base/slugging) off him, for an OPS of .844, while right-handers hit just .207/.282/.435, for an OPS of .716 -- a difference of 128 points of OPS. That's pretty extreme, like the difference between facing a lineup full of David Wrights (.837 OPS) or a lineup full of Ryan Theriots (.712 OPS).

And against the Phillies' murderer's row of left-handed hitters -- chiefly, Chase Utley, Ryan Howard and Raul Ibanez -- it would have been fatal. This season, the Phillies led the NL in homers and slugging percentage against right-handers. So with Gaudin, you would have been sending a right-hander who struggles against lefties to the mound to face a predominantly left-handed lineup that devours right-handers. That's a horrible mix.

If we're going to blame anyone for the Yankees' decision to stick with a three-man rotation, it should be General Manager Brian Cashman, not Manager Joe Girardi. It was Cashman's job to build the Yankees' roster, and somehow, despite a payroll of over $200 million, they could not come up with a serviceable fourth starter in the postseason. Yes, the injuries to Chien-Ming Wang and Ian Kennedy, plus the struggles of Joba Chamberlain as a starter, handcuffed them. But every team suffers attrition in its starting rotation, and it smacks of mismanagement that the Yankees couldn't come up with a fourth starter they could trust, when they have known for months they would be a playoff team.

In any case, it's Andy Pettitte starting for the Yankees on Wednesday night -- on short rest. The last time he started on short rest? Sept. 30, 2006. The last time he did so after throwing 100+ pitches in his previous start? July 19, 2001. In that start, against the Tigers, Pettitte gave up 10 hits and seven earned runs in only four innings in an 11-2 loss. And he was 29 years old at the time. Now, he's 37.

"Yikes," you say?

I say: Against this lineup, I'd still rather have Pettitte out there than Gaudin.

Greetings from the press box at Citizens Bank Park in Philadelphia, where we will have many plagues to look forward to this weekend -- rain on Saturday night, a transit strike on Sunday night and -- something, perhaps locusts or more bad umpiring, on Monday night.

Both the Phillies and Yankees will be working out in a little while, but I don't expect a lot of news to come out of today's proceedings. The biggest question on everyone's minds -- will both teams use their aces, Philly's Cliff Lee and New York's CC Sabathia, on short rest in Game 4? -- probably won't be answered until after Game 3 late Saturday night.

[UPDATE 2:55 p.m. Phillies Manager Charlie Manuel just named RHP Joe Blanton his Game 4 starter, a bit of a surprise. Blanton gets the nod over lefty ace Cliff Lee, who now gets Game 5 on full rest, and rookie lefty J.A. Happ. One big reason for the decision: Lee has never pitched on short rest in his career. More on this later...]

In the meantime, here are some leftover thoughts from Game 2 and a look into the future:

*I made note in the game story of Mariano Rivera's steep pitch-count -- 39 -- during his two-inning stint in the Yankees' win. This is significant on at least two different levels. Rivera hadn't thrown that many pitches in a postseason game since 2004, and it comes on the heels of a 34-pitch effort four days earlier against the Angels. From a tactical standpoint, Rivera, given the off-day, should be available again on Saturday night, but with the three consecutive games Saturday, Sunday and Monday, the Yankees certainly can't count on six outs from Rivera every night.

But beyond that, the high pitch-count was indicative of Rivera's sudden inability to put away hitters the way he normally does. After the game, I heard some Phillies players chirping about Rivera looking beatable. "We can hit Rivera," Manager Charlie Manuel said. "We can hit any closer. We've proven that."

*I'm told the Fox crew absolutely crushed Manuel for the decision not to start his baserunners from first and second on the 3-2 pitch to Chase Utley with one out in the eighth -- a pitch that resulted in a double-play grounder that ended the Phillies' best chance against Rivera.

I didn't have a problem with it. The chances of Utley grounding into a double-play (something he did only five times during the regular season) were smaller than the combined chances of either a strikeout (leading to the potential of a strikeout/caught stealing double-play) or a line drive (which also would have resulted in a double-play).

And of course, as it turned out, replays showed that Utley beat the relay throw to first -- which, had the umpires called it correctly, would have validated Manuel's decision.

*Ryan Howard struck out four times in Game 2. Alex Rodriguez struck out three times. Both have K'd six times so far in the series. And yet, no one is asking whether Howard is choking. That question only gets posed -- as it was today to me on a national radio show -- about Rodriguez. Why? Because he's A-Rod.

*The Yankees' biggest strategic decision involving Game 3 is whether to play DH Hideki Matsui in the outfield -- after Matsui went the entire regular season without playing in the field. Nick Swisher's struggles at the plate give the Yankees an opening, but -- just a guess -- I suspect Matsui is on the bench.

Enjoy your Friday, everyone, and pray for no rain, transit strikes, locusts or blown calls.

It's an off day in the World Series so what better time to go a bit off-topic?

If you're any kind of baseball fan you've probably heard that Tony La Russa is welcoming former single-season home run king Mark McGwire back to baseball by adding him to his St. Louis Cardinals staff as hitting coach.

While one might think that Major League Baseball would want to distance itself from a player that was prominent during the Steroid Era (though never proven guilty of taking steroids), Commissioner Bud Selig is welcoming McGwire back with open arms.

"Over the years I developed affection for players who I get to know and have been good," Selig said on Thursday in reference to McGwire.

The move marks the largest, if not first, step baseball has made toward accepting the Steroids Era where home run totals went through the roof to the delight of fans and the chagrin of baseball purists.

But by opening its arms to McGwire, has baseball opened the door for other players who have been disgraced by association to get back into the game? There have already been plenty of players who have returned to the field after having tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug, including World Series participants Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte. What makes the McGwire hiring so interesting is that it's a player being brought back in to the league in a leadership role.

McGwire could wind up being a rare case, as he benefits from having a strong personal relationship with La Russa. But it's also possible that we will look back at this hiring the same way we view his summer of 70 home runs: where McGwire becomes the first to reach a new plateau but not the last.

Of course, I wonder if this greases the wheels for McGwire to some day be admitted to the Baseball Hall of Fame as he quietly goes about repairing his tarnished (rightfully or not) image.

Further, does McGwire's hiring mean we could some day see a team take a chance and hire Barry Bonds as a hitting instructor or special assistant? Hard to say, but let us know what you guys think in the comments.

It's never a good idea to read too much into Game 1 of the World Series. The classic example from recent history is 1996, when the Atlanta Braves -- the defending champs, no less -- romped to a 12-1 victory over the New York Yankees in Game 1 at Yankee Stadium. You would've sworn, at that point, the Yankees were finished and the Braves would probably sweep. Um, no. The Yankees won in six.

(And for anyone who thinks Cliff Lee is literally unbeatable, consider that in 1996 the Yankees were throttled by Atlanta's John Smoltz, who went on to win the Cy Young Award that year, in Game 1, but came back to beat him in Game 5 in Atlanta. Yeah, it took a brilliantly pitched, 1-0 victory by Andy Pettitte to do so -- but CC Sabathia, the current Yankees' ace, is perfectly capable of such a thing.)

So the Yankees aren't finished, not by a long shot. At the same time, there are things you have to be concerned about if you're a Yankees fan.

Concern No. 1, without a doubt, is the bullpen. Ask yourself this: If A.J. Burnett manages to hold a lead through six innings Thursday night in Game 2, but then runs out of gas, how will the Yankees bridge the gap between Burnett and Mariano Rivera? Rivera is surely good for six outs in Game 2, but not nine.

Phil Hughes, the Yankees' main set-up man, would seem to be out of the question at this point, after firing fastballs all over the joint and walking the only two batters he faced in Game 2. I'm guessing Hughes doesn't pitch another meaningful inning in this series. He was that bad.

It was odd in Game 1 that Yankees Manager Joe Girardi went the matchup route through the heart of the Phillies' order in the pivotal eighth inning -- Hughes for the top of the lineup, lefty Damaso Marte for lefties Chase Utley and Ryan Howard, then right-hander David Robertson for Jayson Werth -- but then all of a sudden stopped with Raul Ibanez. The situation was screaming for lefty Phil Coke. But Girardi left Robertson in to give up a two-run single. Ballgame.

To answer my own question up there about bridging the gap to Rivera, it may be time to unleash Joba Chamberlain -- who, thus far, has been mainly a supporting actor in this bullpen, but who, with Hughes's profound struggles, may be the Yankees' best hope.

Other thoughts, as we look back at Game 1 and ahead to Game 2:

*Lee is having nothing less than an historic postseason. Here are the pitchers with the lowest ERAs in a single postseason (minimum 20 IP). Note in particular the K/BB rates:

Pitcher (Year and Team) W-L ERA IP BB K
Waite Hoyt (1921 Yankees) 2-1 0.00 27 11 18
Carl Hubbell (1923 Giants) 2-0 0.00 20 6 15
Christy Mathewson (1905 Giants) 3-0 0.00 27 1 18
Kenny Rogers (2006 Tigers) 3-0 0.00 23 7 19
Sandy Koufax (1965 Dodgers) 2-1 0.38 24 5 29
Harry Breechen (1946 Cardinals) 3-0 0.45 20 5 11
Cliff Lee (2009 Phillies) 3-0 0.54 33 1/3 3 30

*I was covering the Baltimore Orioles when Jerry Hairston Jr. was a young, slick-fielding starting second baseman, and I remember him always faring well against Pedro Martinez. Now that Hairston is a utility man on the Yankees, I looked up his career numbers against Martinez, and was not surprised to see he has hit .370 (10 for 27) against him, with two doubles, a triple and three walks. Among active players with at least 30 plate appearances against Martinez, that ranks second only to Jose Guillen (.371).

Might Girardi give Hairston a start in Game 2? The only options would appear to be center field (in place of Melky Cabrera, who is 1 for 5 with two strikeouts lifetime vs. Martinez) or right field (in place of Nick Swisher, 0 for 2 vs. Martinez).

The World Series is about to start tonight, and there's a million reasons to be excited about baseball in Philadelphia and New York. Well, maybe we should make that a million and one in New York (at least for Yankees fans), because up the Northeast corridor, the Yankees' annual chief opposition is suddenly having a hard time retaining people in leadership positions.

After three consecutive seasons with nearly no turnover, the Red Sox are hemorrhaging members of their front office and managerial staff. First, Jed Hoyer, longtime assistant general manager and the highest ranking member of the front office below Epstein in charge of the Boston farm system, accepted a position to run the Padres. Then Brad Mills, Terry Francona's longtime bench coach and right-hand man (not to mention his college roommate), bolted town to manage the Houston Astros.

That's two key departures in one week. Sure, the Red Sox held on to pitching coach John Farrell (who may be considered even more important than either Hoyer or Mills), perhaps thanks to a clause in his contract, but there's little question that he'll be hotly pursued for a managerial opening at some point in the next year or two as well.

Whenever a team is successful, it's bound to lose senior members of its front office and managerial staff. That's no surprise. Perhaps what is a surprise is that Boston is losing so many bodies all at once. Yes, Josh Byrnes, Epstein's former top-lieutenant, has been running the Diamondbacks for three years, but he was the sole departure before the past week.

So many reasons why this World Series is going to be fascinating:

*A matchup of ace lefties, CC Sabathia and Cliff Lee, in Game 1. That's the 2007 and 2008 American League Cy Young Award winners, mind you. I'll have a story on the Web site shortly, and in the paper Tuesday morning, showing just how historic this matchup is.

*Alex Rodriguez's first World Series.

*A showdown of the two most powerful lineups in the game -- both teams led their respective leagues in homers this season -- in two of the most extreme hitters' parks in baseball.

*And double miles on Amtrak all fall!

To me, where things will get really interesting is in the way each manager chooses to set up his starting rotation. At this point, we don't know anything official beyond Game 1. Both Philadelphia's Charlie Manuel and New York's Joe Girardi are in similar situations, in that their rotations include one lock-down ace and a handful of good pitchers who are no slouches, but who simply aren't as good as Sabathia and Lee.

The major difference is that the Phillies -- beyond their front three of Lee, Cole Hamels and Pedro Martinez -- have a legitimate fourth option in Joe Blanton (if not a fifth option in J.A. Happ), whereas the Yankees, right now, are only three-deep. And perilously so, I might add. Chad Gaudin, their (theoretical) fourth starter, has pitched exactly one inning since the end of the regular season. Even if the Yankees wanted to send him out there for a start, I'm not sure they could anymore. As for Joba Chamberlain, the fact that the Yankees used him as the set-up bridge from Andy Pettitte to Mariano Rivera in Game 6 on Sunday night underscores his value to them in the bullpen.

That leaves one last option: Could the Yankees make it through the series with only three starting pitchers? Obviously, this would require Sabathia to start on three days' rest in Game 4 and, if it goes that far, Game 7. That doesn't seem to be a giant problem -- Sabathia pitched extensively on short rest in 2008, and the Yankees were smart about resting him in September with this possibility in mind.

But a three-man rotation would also require A.J. Burnett and Andy Pettitte, in whichever order, to start on short rest in Games 5 and 6. Pettitte hasn't pitched on three days' rest at all since 2006 -- and the Yankees have actually tried hard to give him an extra day of rest as often as possible down the stretch. Burnett has done it as recently as 2008.

As scary a proposition as this is, I think it's the Yankees' best chance for winning the series.

So, let's try this again, shall we?

After persistent rain forced the postponement of Game 6 of the ALCS on Saturday night, the New York Yankees and Los Angeles Angels will reconvene Sunday night at Yankee Stadium, with lefties Andy Pettitte (whom Boz wrote about here) and Joe Saunders (a product of West Springfield High and Virginia Tech) squaring off.

Any discussion of the winners from the rainout would have to include the Angels, who, should they win Sunday night to force a Game 7, would then have ace John Lackey available to start Game 7 on three days' rest, and Pettitte himself, whom the Yankees chose to keep on the mound for Game 6, despite the availability of ace CC Sabathia on full rest.

But I can't help suspect that no one was feeling better about the rainout than the NL-champion Philadelphia Phillies, who are getting themselves rested and healed, in preparation for Game 1 of the World Series on Wednesday night, while the Yankees and Angels beat each other up.

And here's what would really make the Phillies happy: a Game 7.

I'd go so far as to say an Angels victory Sunday night in Game 6, thus forcing a Game 7 on Monday night, would make the Phillies overwhelming favorites in the World Series.

Why? Because if there's a Game 7, it would almost certainly be Sabathia vs. Lackey. The survivor of that duel would then be unavailable in the World Series until Game 3.

Let's say the Yankees win that Game 7. More than likely, they would be opening the World Series with A.J. Burnett (facing Phillies ace Cliff Lee) in Game 1 and Chad Gaudin (or possibly Pettitte on three days' rest) in Game 2. (The Phillies as yet have not announced whether Pedro Martinez or Cole Hamels will start Game 2.) Obviously, anything can happen in those games. Cliff Lee is capable of losing. Chad Gaudin is capable of winning. But it is quite conceivable the Yankees could lose the first two games of the series at home, then have to go to Philly's Citizens Bank Park and win two of three just to carry the series back to Yankee Stadium.

If you're the Yankees, you desperately want to win in Game 6 and not get into those sorts of scenarios.