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It's time to announce the winners of the 14th annual Internet Baseball Awards. More than 1,300 cyberspace baseball fans participated in this effort to honor those players and managers whose performance in 2005 were most deserving of honors.

The point system for the balloting was as follows:

  • Player of the Year ballots: 14 points for first-place votes, nine points for second-place votes, eight points for third-place votes, etc., down to one point for a tenth-place vote.

  • Pitcher of the Year ballots: 10 points for first-place votes, seven points for second-place votes, five points for third-place votes, three points for fourth-place, and one point for fifth-place votes. (This is the one award where our point system differs from the BBWAA point system, because we use a longer ballot.)

  • Rookie of the Year ballots: five points for first-place votes, three points for second-place votes, and one point for third-place votes.

  • Manager of the Year ballots: five points for first-place votes, three points for second-place votes, and one point for third-place votes.

And now, the results from the American League:

American League Most Valuable Player

 Rnk Name                      1    2    3    4    5    6    7    8    9   10       B       P
  1. Alex Rodriguez          943  248   53   30   17    4    4    1    1    1    1302   16212
  2. David Ortiz             318  706  164   62   26   12    7    6    2    3    1306   12821
  3. Vladimir Guerrero        18   64  226  267  207  114   79   36   28    9    1048    6806
  4. Travis Hafner            21   79  272  245  155   76   51   32   23   12     966    6564
  5. Manny Ramirez             7   69  218  200  182   90   92   56   35   32     981    6043
  6. Mark Teixeira             6   26   68  103  118  116   85   70   54   25     671    3554
  7. Mariano Rivera           10   42   75   57   68   65   47   32   30   34     460    2628
  8. Johan Santana             1    8   39   54   62   63   44   24   30   16     341    1787
  9. Paul Konerko              6    9   27   50   61   43   51   45   25   30     347    1731
 10. Mike Young                1   14   53   34   55   34   47   36   51   24     349    1724

Complete results for AL Player of the Year

Alex Rodriguez emerged victorious in the 2005 Internet AL Player of the Year Award balloting, winning the fourth Internet Player of the Year award of his career by capturing almost 70% of the first-place votes from the electorate. His victory marks the eighth straight year he has finished among the top eleven in Internet AL Player of the Year voting. Red Sox designated hitter David Ortiz continued his recent success by finishing a strong second and was placed first on over 23% of the ballots. 2005 marks Ortiz' third straight finish in the top ten; after never appearing on any ballot before 2003, he finished seventh that year and fifth in 2004.

Last year's Internet AL Player of the Year, Vladimir Guerrero, finished in third place, marking the eighth straight year he has finished in the top twenty in Internet Player of the Year voting, and the fourth time he has finished in the top five. Travis Hafner, who first appeared in Internet AL Player of the Year voting last year with a thirteenth place finish, vaulted into fourth place this year. Hafner and David Ortiz' high rankings mark the first time two designated hitters have ever finished in the top five in Internet Player of the Year voting. Manny Ramirez finished fifth, marking the eighth straight year he has finished in the top ten; he becomes the first player in Internet Player of the Year voting history to do that, hurling past his and Mike Piazza's old record of seven straight top ten finishes. Mark Teixeira, who finished sixth, was the highest votegetter on a non-contender.

Mariano Rivera finished in seventh place, the highest ranking for a relief pitcher in AL Internet Player of the Year voting since Dennis Eckersley's fifth-place finish in 1992. Johan Santana, who finished eighth, was the highest finishing starting pitcher for the second year in a row. Paul Konerko, in ninth place, was the only member of the White Sox to finish in the top twenty.

American League Pitcher of the Year


 Rnk Name                        1      2      3      4      5       B       P
  1. Johan Santana             750    197     99     37     21    1104    9506
  2. Mariano Rivera            228    251    177     95     67     818    5274
  3. Bartolo Colon             126    264    246    156     78     870    4884
  4. Mark Buehrle               53    243    233    173     82     784    3997
  5. Kevin Millwood             13     78    108    121     91     411    1670

Complete results for AL Pitcher of the Year

Johan Santana is the winner of the Internet AL Pitcher of the Year voting for the second year in a row. While Santana did not overwhelm the other candidates at the ballot box as much as he did in 2004, he still won by a wide margin, picking up more than 61% of the first-place votes cast.

Mariano Rivera finished a strong second with over 18% of the first-place votes; 2005 marks the fourth time Rivera has finished in the top three in Internet AL Pitcher of the Year voting. Bartolo Colon of the Angels finished third; he had previously finished fifth in 1999, eighth in 2000 and 2002, sixteenth in 2001, and eighteenth in 2003. Mark Buehrle's fourth-place showing marks his highest finish ever and his third time finishing in the top 10. Kevin Millwood had the second best result in Internet Pitcher of the Year voting of his career by finishing fifth; he finished third in the NL in 1999. Former Internet AL Pitcher of the Year winner Roy Halladay was the leading candidate for this year's award in 2005 when his season was ended by a line drive on July 8th; he ended up in sixth place. Six time Internet Pitcher of the Year winner Randy Johnson was not named on a single ballot for only the third time since 1993. Improbably, the Red Sox were able to make the playoffs without having a pitcher who ranked higher than eighteenth, which is where Tim Wakefield placed.

American League Rookie of the Year

 Rnk Name                        1      2      3       B       P
  1. Huston Street             468    245    134     847    3209
  2. Joe Blanton               183    160    110     453    1505
  3. Jonny Gomes               119    197    165     481    1351
  4. Tadahito Iguchi           150    132    109     391    1255
  5. Robinson Cano              78    119    132     329     879

Complete results for AL Rookie of the Year

The 2005 AL rookie crop was one of the deepest classes in the history of these awards, and the results of the Internet AL Rookie of the Year balloting confirms that, with 28 different players and pitchers receiving a first place vote. The winner, however, was pretty clear to the 40% of voters who gave Huston Street their first-place vote. Street became closer after Octavio Dotel was injured and finished with 23 saves in 27 opportunities; his performance helped lead the A's into an unexpected pennant race in what was supposed to be a rebuilding year. Joe Blanton, a righthanded starter for the Athletics, finished second, also helping that team stay in a pennant race by finishing in a tie for second in the league in quality starts. Blanton stayed under the radar for most of the season and will certainly finish much lower in the BBWAA voting for this award.

Devil Rays outfielder Jonny Gomes finished third and was clearly the best hitting rookie of the year with a .372 OBP and a .534 SLG. Gomes was a little old for a rookie and was not expected to perform at such a high level at the plate, so it'll be interesting to see where he fits into a very crowded Devil Rays outfield in 2006. Tadahito Iguchi, a relatively unknown Japanese player in the United States who took a significant pay cut to come and play here, finished fourth; he was an above average second baseman without any glaring weakness for the World Champion Chicago White Sox. Robinson Cano, the young Yankees second baseman who came up in May to replace the awful Tony Womack, earned a fifth-place finish by providing the Yankees with some youth and some pop. Gustavo Chacin, who threw 203 innings while posting a 3.72 ERA for the Toronto Blue Jays, finished sixth. 19 year old Mariners sensation Felix Hernandez finished seventh after coming up in August and posting a terrific 2.67 ERA in 84 1/3 innings while striking out 77 batters and walking only 23. Devil Rays starter Scott Kazmir, whose 2004 trade to Tampa Bay for Victor Zambrano will never be understood by Mets fans, placed eighth after posting a 3.77 ERA in 186 innings despite walking 100 batters.

American League Manager of the Year

 Rnk Name                        1      2      3       B       P
  1. Ozzie Guillen             497    276    119     892    3432
  2. Eric Wedge                413    296    129     838    3082
  3. Joe Torre                 106    167    165     438    1196
  4. Mike Scioscia              55    188    169     412    1008
  5. Ken Macha                  40    130    121     291     711

Complete results for AL Manager of the Year

In the closest race in this year's Internet Baseball Awards, loquacious White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen won the Internet AL Manager of the Year Award by leading the Sox into a postseason which ended with a Sox World Series victory. Guillen earned over 42% of the first-place votes placed after finishing tenth in the voting after his first year as the White Sox manager in 2004.

Eric Wedge hadn't been very popular in previous Internet Manager of the Year voting either, finishing ninth in 2003 and seventh in 2004, but after leading the young Indians through an exciting pennant race with the White Sox that lasted until the final weekend of the season, he finished just behind Guillen in this year's voting after capturing more than 35% of the available first-place votes. Joe Torre, who endured perhaps his most turbulent season as Yankees manager but was still able to lead the team to the AL East title, finished third; he's now finished in the top five in seven of the last eight years. 2002 Internet AL Manager of the Year Mike Scioscia finished fourth while leading the Angels to the AL West title, while 2004 winner Buck Showalter fell to seventh place in the 2005 balloting.

We'll announce the National League winners tomorrow.

To see past winners, check out the IBA history page.

Thank you for reading

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