A few years ago in a Sox/Yankees Sunday night game, Mike Mussina had a no-hitter broken up in the bottom of the ninth, with one out to go, by certified crazy-man Carl Everett. Watching this, I couldn’t help but feel for Mussina. I’ve never been a big “Moose” fan. I just couldn’t imagine coming that close to doing something like that, only to fall flat and how disappointing it must be. Pitchers dream of throwing a no-hitter. I did it once, albeit in a neighborhood backyard game. It was still exciting. Mussina has never thrown one and it is very likely that he never will. So in 20 years when he’s talking about his career and someone asks, “Hey Mike, did you ever throw a no-hitter?”, Mussina can respond, “I almost did once…” but it just won’t be the same.

Well last night, White Sox pitcher Gavin Floyd, formally of Philadelphia Phillies “Savior” lore, threw his second near-no-hitter of this SEASON! We’re about 30 games in and he’s lost one on the last out of the eighth inning against Detroit and last night with two outs to go in the game. To me, the situation would be completely psychologically damaging. However, kudos to Gavin Floyd, who has gone through a whirlwind of emotion in his Major League career. He was drafted high by the Phillies and dubbed “The Right Handed Steve Carlton.” Of course, Floyd never even approached that title, Philly fans turned on him, as they do to everyone, and he was shipped out of town for Freddy Garcia, who has clearly paid big dividends for the Disabled List All-Stars. Personally, though I’m not a fan or hater of Gavin Floyd, it’s nice to see a guy bounce back from a series of disappointing moments and continue to seek excellence.

Another even bigger kudos goes to the Boston Celtics who proved me wrong by winning Game 1 at the TD Banknorth FleetCenter last night over the Fightin’ Illgauskuses. LeBron James decided, apparently, that he wasn’t in the mood to make baskets last night (he apparently talked this out with “The Truth” and “Ray-Ray” before the game) in an absolute stink-fest, including his missing the game-tying LAYUP. I had mentioned that last night’s game was a potential trap-game (of a sort) for the C’s. Very glad that they’re still running free today.

We’re going to switch to baseball now with the second installment of the 1/10th awards. We’re now at the 2/10 mark (that’s 1/5 for you math majors) of the season. Most teams have played 32 games at this point, some more, only four teams have played 31 games. The LA Angels have played 35. To refresh your memory, I will include the previous winner of each award. Here goes:

AL MVP
Previous Winner: Joe Crede
Current Winner: The Manny Ramirez. Apologies to Crede, but he was never going to win this award anyway. The Manny Ramirez, however, is probably going to win this award if he continues the season he’s currently having. The Sox are in first and Manny has been a stud.

NL MVP
Previous Winner: Mark Reynolds
Current Winner: Albert Pujols. Quick! Who has the second best record in all of Major League Baseball? That would be the St. Louis Cardinals and Mr. Pujols and his elbow that is barely attached to his body look like contenders somehow. Pujols is having a typical Pujols year, .348, 6 HR, 24 RBI. Pujols is for real. Time will tell if the Cards are.

AL CY YOUNG
Previous Winner: Zack Greinke
Current Winner: Ervin Santana. I had a feeling that he was going to have a breakout year, but I didn’t think it would be like this. He’s 6-0 with a 2.02 ERA and a K/BB ratio of over 4 for a first place team without their two best pitchers (John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar). He’s going to regress. He has to. But he’s been the best pitcher in the AL so far (and yes, I know Cliff Lee has ridiculous numbers, but that’s not going to last very long. Probably not after tonight against the Yankees. And the Indians aren’t in first place in their division. Or second.).

NL CY YOUNG
Previous Winner: Ben Sheets
Current Winner: Brandon Webb. My preseason pick for this award looks like a lock at this point. Webb could very well be the best pitcher in all of baseball. And how many baseball fans would say that? I wish people would pay attention to teams outside of a 100 mile radius of where they live. His numbers don’t blow you away, but he is perhaps the most consistently effective pitcher since Greg Maddux in his prime.

AL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Previous Winner: David Murphy
Current Winner: Jacoby Ellbury. That’s more like it. In a league with a dearth of rookie talent, Ellsbury, call him what you want to, is the best of the bunch.

NL ROOKIE OF THE YEAR
Previous Winner: Johnny Cueto (My how the mighty have fallen)
Current Winner: Geovany Soto. Most people would give it to Soto’s teammate Kosuke Fukudome, despite the itty-bitty tidbit that Soto’s number are better across the board and he’s an everyday catcher. Oh, and for those of you who like this sort of thing, his OPS is 1.093.

AL MANAGER OF THE YEAR
Previous Winner: Trey Hillman
Current Winner: Mike Scoscia. I’m tempted to give it to Joe Maddon of the Rays and Terry Francoma, however, as previously mentioned, Scoscia’s team is in first with zero games pitched by the club’s two best starting pitchers. Take Daisuke and Josh Beckett off of the Red Sox and let’s see if they’re still in first place. I’d guess no.

NL MANAGER OF THE YEAR
Previous Winner: Freddi Gonzalez
Current Winner: Same. Until the Marlins fall out of first in the East (and I don’t think that’ll happen until mid-June), Gonzalez has to get this, despite Tony LaRussa’s St. Louis club and Bob Melvin’s Diamondbacks. Did anyone…anyone see the Marlins in first place in the NL East at any point in this season? I’d still guess no.

Game O’ The Day: Utah @ Los Angeles (Game 2). If Utah steals one in LA following the Kobe Bryant hand job party yesterday, this will be a series. If not, I’m not convinced that the Jazz can go back to LA for Game 5, at the very least, tied in this series.