Year Award

Orioles catcher Matt Wieters, who has emerged as one of the club's main leaders, was a little disappointed when he found out that Buck Showalter didn't win the 2012 AL Manager of the Year Award, as voted on by members of the BBWAA. It's not that Wieters doesn't recognize the year turned in by the winner, Oakland's Bob Melvin, who received 16 first place votes and 12 second-place ones to Showalter's 12 first-place votes and 16 second-place ones. It's just that Showalter is Wieters' guy. “I'm surprised that he didn't get it. But for him to take us from where we were a couple years ago and where we are now and, on top of that, do it in the AL East, is a pretty huge accomplishment.

The Orioles' improbable run to the postseason wasn't enough to earn Buck Showalter the American League Manager of the Year Award. Up until Tuesday evening's announcement on the MLB Network, the race between Showalter and Oakland A's manager Bob Melvin for the AL's top manager of 2012 seemed too close to call. Both were equally deserving and both led their teams to storybook seasons that captivated baseball. The award was decided by a mere couple of votes, Melvin beat Showalter in a vote of 28 AL market Baseball Writers' Association of America voters.

The grind of the baseball season had just hit Memorial Day and the Orioles were struggling. They had lost six straight in tough-luck fashion, including a three-game sweep in Toronto. The bats were struggling, pitchers were frustrated and Orioles manager Buck Showalter called his team together for a meeting that many players pointed to months later as a testament to their skipper's ability to get the most of his club. Instead of a fiery speech, Showalter inspired his team with calm.

Orioles closer Jim Johnson may have had an historic season for the Orioles, but it wasn't enough to win him Major League Baseball's Delivery Man of the Year Award. That went to someone who made major league history. MLB announced today that Tampa Bay's Fernando Rodney was chosen for the top reliever award by a baseball panel. Rodney also won MLB's American League Comeback Player of the Year Award, with San Francisco Giants' catcher Buster Posey winning the National League's version; both comeback awards are voted on by mlb.com reporters.

Major League Lacrosse announced Wednesday that Boston Cannons midfielder   Paul Rabil (Johns Hopkins) has been named Offensive Player of the Year for the second straight season and the third time in the past four after setting a league record with 72 points in 14 games. "I'm very honored and humbled to have earned the Offensive Player of the Year award. It's always rewarding to receive individual achievements from all the hard work I put in each year,” Rabil said. “That said, no matter the amount of work I put into my game, this is a team sport, and without such tremendous players I have the honor to play with each week, I wouldn't be in this position.

Maryland failed to repeat as the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament champion this past weekend, but the No. 8 Terps didn't walk away empty-handed. Junior long-stick midfielder Jesse Bernhardt shared the ACC Defensive Player of the Year award with Duke senior long-stick midfielder C.J. Costabile. Bernhardt leads Maryland in caused turnovers with 22 and is first in the conference in caused turnovers per game with 2.0. He is also averaging 3.3 groundballs per game. Defenseman Goran Murray became the seventh Terp to earn the Freshman of the Year award.

The Carroll County Chamber of Commerce recognized 192 teachers at its annual Outstanding Teacher program, held Wednesday, March 28, at Winters Mill High School, and also named eight educators as its Outstanding Teacher Awards: • Anthony Cimino, drama teacher, Liberty High School • Janel Fosnot, mathematics teacher, Shiloh Middle School • Patricia DiLeonardi, social studies teacher, Liberty High School • Deanne McGrath, mathematics...

The Harford Bird Club announced its annual awards for 2011 at its recent March meeting. Awardees are, from left, Chris and Rebecca Kellar, Bird of the Year for hosting Harford's first Rufous hummingbird; Dennis Kirkwood, club president, holding the second Bird of the Year award for Swan Harbor Farm Park for hosting Harford's first LeConte's sparrow; Kerry MacLellan, special award from the Maryland Ornithological Society for her help with the youth...

You can stop whining. Or start. Either way, the 2012 Whiner of the Year Award has been claimed by Brooklyn-based Jason Diamond. Diamond has a piece on the New York Times Opinionator page about how annoying it is when he is recognized by the former customers who don't or won't acknowledge that he is no longer a barista and has even had his writing published in the "Paris Review. " Diamond getting a lot of response from readers, most of it negative, but a few have stepped in to admonish the former customers for undermining Diamond's self-esteem.