Here's something you don't see every day: a manager who got fired picks up quite a few votes for manager of the year. First time ever, in fact. Even more of an indicator that the problem in Boston was the players... http://espn.go.com/mlb/news/2001/1114/1278065.html Jimy Williams, fired by Boston on Aug. 16 after keeping his team in contention for most of the season, finished fourth with 12 third-place votes and 12 points. He was the first manager fired during a season to receive any votes since the BBWAA began the manager awards in 1983. At the time Williams was fired, Boston was 65-53, two games behind Oakland in the AL wild-card standings and five games behind the New York Yankees in the AL East. Boston went 17-26 under Williams' successor, Joe Kerrigan, and finished 13½ games behind the Yankees and 19½ games back of the Athletics.
