MLB Award season begins: Rollins, Victorino snare Gold Gloves

The beginning of the MLB off-season is here, but there are a few more orders of business to take care of from the 2008 season. Namely, a bunch of awards need to be given out. The Phillies figure to have contenders for MVP (Ryan Howard) and Coach of the Year (Charlie Manuel), and even a longshot possibility for Cy Young (Brad Lidge). A few awards have already been given to Brad Lidge, including NL Rolaids Reliever of the Year and NL Comeback Player of the Year.

Two more Phillies were honored yesterday when the National League Gold Glove winners were announced: Jimmy Rollins and Shane Victorino. Rollins won his second Gold Glove in a row for his work at shortstop, and seems a lock to win a few more before he's done. Victorino won the first Gold Glove of his career and is the second Phillie in a row to win for playing centerfield as Aaron Rowand took it last year. Victorino's Gold Glove comes as a bit of a surprise because he is a little unorthodox out there, but he gets the job done.

No other Phillie had a strong claim to win a Gold Glove. Chase Utley is a fine fielder, but he's hardly "Golden" and Pedro Feliz has a decent argument, but it's hard to argue with giving it to David Wright.

The complete NL Gold Glove list:
P Greg Maddux (San Diego-Los Angeles)
C Yadier Molina (St. Louis)
1B Adrian Gonzalez (San Diego)
2B Brandon Phillips (Cincinnati)
3B David Wright (New York)
SS Jimmy Rollins (Philadelphia)
OF Nate McLouth (Pittsburgh), Carlos Beltran (New York) and Shane Victorino (Philadelphia).