Joe Girardi winning National League Manager of the Year honors accomplished a couple of firsts in the history of the annual awards for major league managers. The first-year skipper of the Marlins was the first award recipient to manage his team to a losing record. Still, he kept the Marlins in the playoff hunt well into September, despite playing 22 rookies during the season after the front office gutted the roster last winter. Florida finished 78-84, respectable considering this team looked like it might compete for the modern-day record for losses in a season, the 120 posted by the expansion New York Mets in 1962. The other first is that Girardi lost his job two days after the season ended. No manager has been canned after winning Manager of the Year honors, but that was the end result after Girardi butted heads with owner Jeffrey Loria in August and reportedly alienated others in the front office. It looks as though Girardi will sit out the upcoming season, choosing to work as a broadcaster, but he'll be back. That's a certainty, and he'll have that Manager of the Year Award on his resume when he pursues his next turn in the dugout.