By Ryan Bafaloukos

– Intern

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Dec 29, 2011 – With 2011 quickly coming to an end SB Nation Arizona has decided to give out its first ever 2011 End of the year Awards or EOYAFSBNA’s for short. Over the next four days we will be giving out awards for the best of the best in Arizona Sports in the year 20111. First up is Arizona Coach of the Year.

The Choice: Kirk Gibson: Manager, Arizona Diamondbacks- Although there were plenty of outstanding coaching jobs done all over the state of Arizona in 2011, Gibby takes the cake.

In his first full season as the manager of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Gibson went 94-68 and led the Diamondbacks to the NL West Division Title. Gibson led the snakes back to the postseason for the first time since 2007 and Arizona was one win away from advancing to the NLCS.

Gibson took a team that had been underachieving the past three years and got the best out of them. When their shortstop, Stephen Drew, was lost for the season, Gibson and his team did not miss a beat. Gibson knew when to be agressive this season, and he knew when to lay back and let his team play baseball.

The most impressive trait that Gibson showed in 2011 was the ability to get the best out of his players. Most would say the D-Backs did not have the most talent in the NL West. However, Gibson took what he had and got the most out of it. Guys like Ryan Roberts, Gerardo Parra and Ian Kennedy all had career years under Gibson. Even Aaron Hill put up major numbers after he was acquired from the Blue Jays.

It looks like Kirk Gibson will be with the Diamondbacks for many years to come which is a good thing for Diamondback fans. Right now, Kirk Gibson is the 2011 Arizona Coach of the year from SB Arizona.

Honorable Mention: Sean Miller, U of A Head Basketball Coach- Miller was a very close second. In his second season at the helm of the Wildcats Miller led the team to a 30-8 regular season record and was named Pac-10 Coach of the Year. Miller brought U of A back to basketball reverence in 2011 leading them to the Elite Eight, a loss against eventual national champion Connecticut 65-63. Miller is set up for years at U of A as he has the number one ranked recruiting class ranked by ESPN for 2012.

Who do you think is the 2011 Arizona Coach of the Year?

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Read More: 2011 end of year awards, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks

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MILWAUKEE – When the topic of his candidacy for the National League Manager of the Year award was broached by a reporter in September, Kirk Gibson bristled and got angry, perhaps the first time in sports history that an interview subject was upset by a positive question.

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Profile: Kirk Gibson

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Gibson might have to grudgingly accept some praise Wednesday.

The Baseball Writers Association of America will announce its Managers of the Year at noon (Arizona time) Wednesday, and it is widely expected that Gibson will take home some hardware. Already last month he was named the Sporting News Manager of the Year.

Gibson, attempting to keep the focus on the team and on winning, was reluctant to endorse any of his players for national awards and took the same approach when anyone suggested he were a candidate.

But now that the season is over – a season in which the Diamondbacks won 94 games, captured a division title and reached the playoffs for the first time in four years – perhaps Gibson will be a little more willing to reflect on what most consider a job well done.

“He was very important for us,” right-hander Ian Kennedy said. “His tenacity and fire for the game – the entire coaching staff had the same makeup. . . . I think that’s why we won so many games late in games.

“That never-give-in type of attitude. When your manager is harping on it all the time and he’s just as fiery late in games, it kind of rubs off on you as a player.”

In most years, the award goes to a manager whose club vastly exceeded expectations. The 2011 Diamondbacks fit those criteria. Almost no one picked them to win the division, and even some Diamondbacks players admitted to skepticism early in the season.

Gibson, meanwhile, remains “Steady Eddie,” in the words of Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers.

“He kind of stayed the course,” Towers said. “He kept us on line, kept us focused and when we were winning he kept us humble. When we were losing some games, he kept us from panicking. To me, your great leaders kind of emerge during difficult times. That’s when they really need to lead. I thought he was at his best when we were at our worst, at times.”

Towers thought Gibson, who was in his first full season as a manager, looked the part of someone who had been preparing for this opportunity for years and who had learned from managers he had during his playing days, naming Jim Leyland and Sparky Anderson as influences.

Gibson was rewarded by ownership with a contract extension that runs through 2014 and includes a club option for two additional years.

His veteran coaching staff, which Gibson constantly credited for helping to implement and execute his vision, also received extensions; they are under contract through 2013.

“You know how I feel about them,” Gibson said last month. “Those guys show great leadership and direction. They didn’t waver the whole year. They’re baseball rats, and I think the guys look up to them.”

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks have extended the contracts of general manager Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson through 2014.

Towers and Gibson each had their contracts extended three years. There also are mutual options for two more years that must be exercised by 2013, but also could be triggered by performance incentives.

Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall says the team offered the extensions because of how quickly Towers and Gibson turned around the middling franchise in their first full season at the helm.

Arizona won 94 games and reached the first round of the playoffs this year coming off a pair of 90-loss seasons.

The Diamondbacks announced the extensions on Friday.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

PHOENIX (AP) — The Arizona Diamondbacks have extended the contracts of general manager Kevin Towers and manager Kirk Gibson through 2014.

Towers and Gibson each had their contracts extended three years. There also are mutual options for two more years that must be exercised by 2013, but also could be triggered by performance incentives.

Diamondbacks president and CEO Derrick Hall says the team offered the extensions because of how quickly Towers and Gibson turned around the middling franchise in their first full season at the helm.

Arizona won 94 games and reached the first round of the playoffs this year coming off a pair of 90-loss seasons.

The Diamondbacks announced the extensions on Friday.

Copyright 2011 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

Phoenix, AZ (Sports Network) – The Arizona Diamondbacks have reportedly
rewarded manager Kirk Gibson and general manager Kevin Towers for leading the
franchise to an NL West title this past season.

According to the Arizona Republic, Gibson and Towers have each received new
three-year contracts with club options for two years that could keep both with
the Diamondbacks through the 2016 season.

Gibson took over as Arizona manager on July 1, 2010 when the Diamondbacks
fired both skipper A.J. Hinch and general manager Josh Byrnes. Towers was then
hired as GM in September of 2010.

After a 65-97 finish in 2010, the Diamondbacks completely turned it around in
the first full year under Towers and Gibson with a record of 94-68. Arizona
won the NL West by eight games before losing a five-game National League
Division Series matchup against Milwaukee.

Gibson and Towers were each under contract through next year, although the
club held options for both.

The Sports Network

MILWAUKEE – The door from the visitors’ clubhouse to the field kept swinging open, the roar of the Miller Park crowd still audible well after the Diamondbacks’ season had come to a stunning end Friday night.

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Photos from Game 5 | Fans | Behind the scenes | Box score

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“I think,” reliever David Hernandez said, “it was the worst way we could have lost the game.”

The Diamondbacks finally met a comeback they couldn’t finish off, falling 3-2 in 10 innings to the Milwaukee Brewers in Game 5 of their National League Division Series, but when they peeled back the layers of disappointment from a game no one will forget, they found some things to ease the sting.

They lost the only way that felt right; they went down swinging. And they see it as much as a beginning as it is an end.

But they weren’t quite ready to move on, not with Nyjer Morgan’s walk-off single off Diamondbacks closer J.J. Putz still ringing in their ears.

It brought an end to what Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson called a “good, classic baseball game,” one that featured good pitching and great defense, clutch moments and comebacks.

“We can’t ask for much more,” right fielder Justin Upton said. “They just beat us (Friday).”

The Diamondbacks rallied against a closer who hadn’t blown a save since April 18 but couldn’t complete yet another comeback. They became the first National League team since 1984 to take a five-game series to the end after losing the first two games, but they couldn’t find a way to finish it off.

“I’m not happy to be on this end of it,” Gibson said. “Yet I’m proud of my team, and they played true to the way they played all year.”

Both Diamondbacks right-hander Ian Kennedy and Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo threw well, working themselves into jams but finding ways out, and it was the Brewers who had a 2-1 lead when the game was turned over to the bullpens.

That was the score when the Diamondbacks’ Gerardo Parra led off the top of the ninth. Hitless in 17 at-bats in the series, he got encouragement from Gibson and teammates.

“I told Parra, ‘This is the beautiful thing about the game,’ ” Gibson recalled. ” ‘You’re going to get your first hit right now.’ “

That’s just what he did, hammering the first pitch from Brewers closer John Axford into right-center field for a double. Sean Burroughs followed by fighting off a full-count fastball into left field for a bloop single, putting runners on the corners with nobody out.

What came next was classic Kirk Gibson baseball. Willie Bloomquist dropped down a perfect safety-squeeze bunt toward first base, where neither Prince Fielder nor Axford was able to keep Parra from racing home with the tying run.

Game tied, first and second, nobody out.

“I thought we were going to score a couple of more runs to there, to be honest,” Diamondbacks catcher Miguel Montero said. “It didn’t happen, and now we’re packing to go home.”

Instead, Axford, who was 46 of 48 in saves chances during the season, recovered, striking out Aaron Hill and getting Justin Upton and Henry Blanco to bounce into forceouts to keep the score tied.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the 10th. With one out, Brewers speedster Carlos Gomez shot a single to left, and two pitches later he took off toward second, a stolen-base attempt everyone saw coming.

Blanco, who entered the game after Montero was lifted for a pinch-runner in the eighth, and Putz both were anticipating it, but Blanco missed the 1-0 fastball, allowing Gomez to score without a throw.

Three pitches later, it was over, Morgan grounding a 2-2 fastball through the box to send the Brewers to their first league championship series since 1982.

“I was trying to throw him a fastball in, and I guess it just kind of leaked back over the plate,” Putz said. “That’s pretty much where he likes the ball.”

Putz kicked his right foot out behind him, trying in vain to keep Morgan’s ground ball from getting through to center field.

“If I could have put my head in front of it,” he said, “I would have.”

Instead, the Diamondbacks, who lost 92 and 97 games the previous two seasons, ended their season with 96 wins, 94 of which came in a regular season almost no one thought possible.

Instead, the opposite-field home run Upton hit off Gallardo to give the Diamondbacks an early lead was all but forgotten.

Instead, the Willie Mays-like catch Chris Young made in the sixth – a running, back-to-the-infield grab on a Jerry Hairston Jr. drive to deep center field – will be remembered as a great play in a losing effort.

Still, the Diamondbacks were able to keep in perspective what they had accomplished during the season – and what they hope to accomplish in the coming years.

“Hopefully we can keep this group together and keep moving forward,” Bloomquist said. “We got a taste of what winning is all about. You get a taste of it, and that’s all you want to do is win.”

Diamondbacks rewind

Great game: Though they lost, the Diamondbacks were able to appreciate just how good of a game it was.

“It was real clean, well-pitched,” Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson said. “Both starting pitchers threw the ball well. There were some great plays.

“It was a great game for the fans, for baseball. Unfortunately, we lost. So I’m always looking at doing it right.”

Game saver: Catcher Jonathan Lucroy might have been the unsung hero of the game for the Milwaukee Brewers.

He blocked what seemed like a half-dozen balls in the dirt, including one in the sixth inning that kept a runner at third from scoring.

Gibson called it “the huge play of the game.”

“He stopped the ball with his throat,” Gibson said. “He took about four or five in his chops. That’s a run for us right there.”

Calling for the bunt: Shortstop Willie Bloomquist said he wasn’t bunting on his own when he dropped down a successful safety squeeze to tie the score in the top of the ninth.

“That was the manager’s call,” Bloomquist said. “He probably figured I’d hit another ground ball to short if he let me swing away.”

Bloomquist hit three of those – one going for a double play – Friday.

View from the press box

The most disappointing aspect of Friday’s game was that it was J.J. Putz who wound up taking the loss. He was a big reason the Diamondbacks went from 97 losses to 94 wins and seemed to be a big part of the change in clubhouse culture. Somebody had to lose; it’s just doesn’t seem right that the season ended with him on the mound.