Phillies have several nominees for GIBBY Awards
PHILADELPHIA -- The Phillies have several nominees for MLB.com's 2014 Greatness In Baseball Yearly awards.
Major League Baseball's A-listers will take home 2014 GIBBY trophies, based on votes by media, front-office personnel, MLB alumni, fans at MLB.com and the Society for American Baseball Research.
This year's GIBBY Awards feature nominees in 25 categories. Individual honors will go to the MLB MVP, in addition to the year's best starting pitcher, hitter, closer, setup man, rookie, breakout hitter, breakout pitcher, bounceback player, defensive player, manager, executive and postseason performer.
GIBBY trophies also will be awarded for the year's top regular-season play, outfield throw, storyline, hitting performance, pitching performance, oddity, walk-off, Cut4 topic, regular-season moment, postseason storyline, postseason walk-off and postseason play. Fans can watch these and more by accessing MLB.com's Must C highlight reels.
The Phillies' nominees are:
• Jonathan Papelbon for best closer. Papelbon went 2-3 with a 2.04 ERA and 39 saves in 43 opportunities. He ranked eighth in baseball in saves, 24th among 138 qualified relief pitchers in ERA and 19th out of 185 relievers in WHIP (0.90).
• Marlon Byrd for best play. Byrd made a diving catch in right field on Sept. 1 at Turner Field to keep the Phillies' combined no-hitter alive.
• Jimmy Rollins' franchise-record hit for best moment. His single to right field June 14 at Citizens Bank Park was the 2,235th hit of his Phillies career, which set the Phillies' all-time hits record, passing Hall of Fame third baseman Mike Schmidt.
• Cole Hamels, Jake Diekman, Ken Giles and Papelbon for best pitching moment. The four pitchers combined to no-hit the Braves on Sept. 1 at Turner Field.
• Jerome Williams for oddity. His win against the A's on Sept. 20 gave him three wins against Oakland in 2014: one with the Astros, one with the Rangers and one with the Phillies. He is the first pitcher since at least 1900 to have at least one win against the same opponent with three different teams in the same season.
• Ryan Howard's walk-offs for best heroics. Howard had three walk-off hits this season: May 28 against Colorado (three-run home run in the ninth), Aug. 5 against Houston (single in the 15th) and Aug. 10 against the Mets (single in the ninth).
• Tom McCarthy for Cut4 Topic. Phillies broadcasters called the action from center field on June 27, and in the top of the first inning Freddie Freeman crushed a three-run home run to center field. McCarthy slipped on his glove and never missed a beat with the play-by-play as he made the catch.
In the past several seasons, fans have cast millions of votes across the GIBBY categories, none of which is restricted to individual league affiliation. That's how you know the GIBBYs consider the best of the best.
Fans can vote as many times as they want through Nov. 21 at 11:59 p.m. ET by visiting mlb.com/gibbys, and winners will be announced live on the MLB Network and MLB.com on Dec. 6.
All 30 clubs are represented among the award candidates, a fact many consider to be a testament to the competitive balance around the game.
Several categories -- Play, Oddity, Walk-Off and Cut4 Topic -- opened balloting with at least one nominee per club. After a week of voting, the four lists were trimmed to 10 finalists per group by a panel.