Girardi, now out of managing, captures NL award

~ Leyland won the American League honor, and La Russa received no votes for the NL honor.

NEW YORK -- Sometime soon, Joe Girardi will go looking for another job in a major league dugout. And when he does, he'll have a Manager of the Year award at the top of his resume.

Six weeks after he was fired by Florida, Girardi won the National League honor Wednesday for keeping the rookie-laden Marlins in contention nearly all season.

Jim Leyland took the American League award after a quick turnaround with the Detroit Tigers.

A rookie skipper himself, Girardi beat out Willie Randolph of the New York Mets by a comfortable margin to become the first Manager of the Year with a losing record. Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, who led his team to the World Series crown after a rocky regular season, received no votes.

"I don't know if vindication is a good word," Girardi said, "just because as a manager, you want to manage."

Girardi received 18 of 32 first-place votes and totaled 111 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Randolph got eight first-place votes and 81 points. "It's nice that people who watch the game every day understood what we accomplished," Girardi said, adding he wasn't particularly surprised to win. "We had a lot of good things happen."

Leyland turned around the long-moribund Tigers in his first year with the team, leading them to the World Series and their first winning season since 1993. He received 19 of 28 first-place votes and 118 points to top Minnesota's Ron Gardenhire, who was listed first on nine ballots and totaled 93 points.

"I knew that we had something here. I thought it would take longer than it did. This team started believing," Leyland said. "We had good players going into spring training, but we didn't have a very good team. We made ourselves a good team and that's something I'm very proud of."

Playing 22 rookies, Girardi guided the Marlins to a 78-84 finish and had them in the playoff race until a late-September fade -- a surprisingly competitive performance for a team that was expected to lose at least 100 games.

Florida had a $15 million opening day payroll, the lowest in the major leagues by more than $20 million.

Still, he was fired two days after the season ended following a rift with owner Jeffrey Loria. Girardi has since agreed to rejoin the New York Yankees' broadcast booth, rather than seek another managing job.

"I don't believe in this case perception is reality," he said. "I wanted it to work out but it never got worked out, for whatever reason. ... We move on to bigger and better things."

After the announcement, the Marlins were ready with a statement.

"We are pleased for Joe and we wish him well," the team said.

Girardi, who succeeded Randolph as Joe Torre's bench coach with the Yankees in 2005, is the second Manager of the Year to be fired that year. The other was Baltimore's Davey Johnson, the AL winner in 1997.

The 61-year-old Leyland appears firmly entrenched in Motown after winning his third Manager of the Year award -- and first in the AL. He also won with Barry Bonds and the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1990 and 1992.

"It's obviously a big thrill for me. These are individual honors but it's a combination of a lot of things," Leyland said. "I really share this award with the entire organization because that's what it really stands for."

Leyland returned to the dugout last season following a six-year hiatus, taking over a foundering Tigers team that went 71-91 in 2005. Two seasons before that, Detroit lost an embarrassing 119 games -- an AL record.

But with a deft touch and demanding approach, Leyland led the surprising Tigers to a terrific start and their first postseason berth in 19 years.

Leyland is the third manager to win the award in both leagues, joining four-time winners Bobby Cox and La Russa.

"Anytime you're mentioned in that company you've got to feel awful good about it," Leyland said.

In the NL, San Diego's Bruce Bochy, now manager of the San Francisco Giants, finished third.

La Russa became the first manager to win a World Series and not receive a vote. Leyland got just one third-place vote when he led Florida to the 1997 title.

Voting is completed before the postseason.