Showalter named Sporting News AL Manager of the Year

Buck Showalter has been named the Sporting News American League Manager of the Year for 2012. The Nationals' Davey Johnson made it a clean beltway sweep by winning the National League honor. Showalter and Johnson were chosen by a panel of 17 major league managers. The Orioles improved from 69-93 in 2011 to 93-69 in 2012, winning the wild card game in Texas and pushing the Yankees to a fifth game in the American League Division Series. The Orioles hadn't posted a winning season or made the playoffs in 15 years. Showalter received four votes, followed by Oakland's Bob Melvin with three and the White Sox's Robin Ventura with one. "It's quite an honor coming from my peers, but I view this as a team award. I really do. The players, coaches and everyone involved made this possible," Showalter told The Sporting News. "Every player back in spring training believed we could be successful. We have some injuries along the way, we had some bumps in the road, but everyone does over 162 games. We never turned it into a woe-is-me situation. We played through it. Some people said we were lucky, and we probably were at times. But there are no Cinderellas in baseball. There are too many games for that. "Now comes the hard part. You have to build on this season and improve." The Baseball Writers Association of America will announce its AL and NL Managers of the Year on Nov. 13.