NEW YORK -- Two championships and eight successful seasons in Boston brought Terry Francona exactly zero first-place votes in Manager of the Year balloting. Air Max 270 Outlet Italia . It took him one year with the surprising Cleveland Indians to bag the prize. Francona and Clint Hurdle of the Pittsburgh Pirates won the Manager of the Year awards Tuesday after guiding their small-budget teams to charming turnarounds. In a close vote by the Baseball Writers Association of America panel, Francona edged old friend John Farrell of the World Series champion Red Sox 112 points to 96 for the American League honour. "I have a feeling he wouldnt trade what they did for this any day of the week," Francona said on a conference call from Tucson, Ariz. Hurdle was a runaway winner in the NL, selected first on 25 of 30 ballots after taking the Pirates to the playoffs in their first winning season since 1992. "It is so rewarding for me to see whats happened, the synergy in the city," Hurdle said in Pittsburgh. "To be a small part of a group thats able to bring joy at so many different levels -- thats whats rewarding to me in life." It was the first Manager of the Year award for Francona even though -- in an interesting twist -- he steered the Red Sox to World Series titles in 2004 and 2007. During his initial season with the Indians, he directed them to a 24-win improvement and a late surge that produced their first playoff berth in six years. Cleveland lost the AL wild-card game to Tampa Bay, but voting is conducted before the post-season. Francona said he called Farrell, a longtime colleague and his former pitching coach in Boston, on Tuesday morning because he thought it was funny they were up against each other as finalists. If they heard such news years ago, Francona said, "both of us would have laughed each other out of the room." Hurdle also was quick with a self-deprecating joke after he won. "Theres guys laughing all over the place," he said in an interview on MLB Network. "The players know so many times this season wed have a big series, getting together just trying to break the ice Id tell them, Hey, look guys, youve got to step it up, play big this week because Im going to get outmanaged. I can tell you one thing thats going to happen: Ill get outmanaged. So really step it up. And they did. They believed me every series." Just like Francona, the 56-year-old Hurdle won Manager of the Year for the first time. His highest finish had been third in 2007, when he led Colorado to the World Series. Don Mattingly of the NL West champion Los Angeles Dodgers came in second and Fredi Gonzalez of the NL East champion Atlanta Braves was third. "Im grateful," Hurdle said. "But its kind of weird." The only other Pittsburgh manager to win was Jim Leyland in 1990 and 1992, the bookends to three consecutive division titles for the Pirates. After that, they endured a record 20 straight losing seasons -- the longest drought in any of the four major professional sports -- before going 94-68 this year to capture an NL wild card. Riding a wave of excitement from a rejuvenated fan base in a city finally enthralled by baseball again, Pittsburgh beat Cincinnati in the wild-card game before losing to league champion St. Louis in a division series that went the full five games. "I know were scratching the surface of something thats dynamic," said Hurdle, who has managed the Pirates for three seasons. Hurdle was chosen second on the other five ballots and was the only manager picked on every one. He had 140 points in the 5-3-1 scoring system to 68 for Mattingly, who received two first-place votes. Gonzalez got three firsts and 43 points. Mike Matheny of the Cardinals was the only other skipper to appear on an NL ballot. He was tabbed second by four voters and third by seven. The 54-year-old Francona garnered 16 first-place votes to 12 for Farrell, who lifted the Red Sox from last place to first in the AL East in his debut season as their manager. Boston won 97 games, tied for most in the majors, one year after going 69-93 under Bobby Valentine. Bob Melvin, last years winner, received the other two first-place votes and came in third after his low-payroll Oakland Athletics won their second consecutive AL West crown. Francona never received a first-place vote during eight seasons as manager of the Red Sox. He had never finished higher than fourth for this award in 12 years as a big league skipper, including his stint with Philadelphia. After a messy split from the Red Sox following their 2011 collapse, Francona spent a year in broadcasting that he said helped him become more patient and less stubborn. This season with the Indians was among his most fun in baseball, he said, and he loves the people he works for because when challenges arise "we tackle them together." "Boston is, youre not really supposed to ever lose a game, and thats difficult to do," Francona said, adding the job there is "to manage all the noise thats around the team so the guys can play." "You cant have all that passion and not have some of the headaches that come with it," he explained. "Its a little different in Cleveland because its more just baseball, which I enjoy." Cy Young Award winners will be announced Wednesday evening, and MVPs on Thursday. Air Force 1 Outlet Italia . Hes even holding a bat on one of his 2014 baseball cards. So far, hes playing like his picture. Balenciaga Offerte . Huntelaar also had a penalty saved by Wolfsburg goalkeeper Diego Benaglio. The two goals brought Huntelaars total for the season to 18, level with Bayern Munichs Mario Gomez for most in the league.Nashville, TN (SportsNetwork.com) - James Neal registered his fifth career hat trick and the Nashville Predators beat the visiting Chicago Blackhawks 3-2 on Thursday night. Pekka Rinne turned away 30 shots for the Predators, who have picked up at least a point in each of their first seven games (5-0-2). Its the longest the team has gone without a regulation loss to open a season since starting the 2010-11 campaign with a 5-0-3 record. Ben Smith and Andrew Shaw supplied the goals in Chicagos (4-1-1) first regulation loss of the season. Antti Raanta, making his second consecutive start in place of Corey Crawford (upper-body injury), stopped 24 shots. Neal buried a rebound into an open net to complete the hat trick and give Nashville a 3-1 lead at 1:52 of the thirrd period. Vapormax False. Shaw made a strong move to the net and knocked in his own rebound out of the air with 7:24 left, but he was robbed by the glove of Rinne with just over a minute remaining and Raanta pulled for an extra attacker. Smith beat Rinne from the crease at 12:21 of the first period, and Chicago was poised to take the lead into the intermission. However, Neal beat Raanta on a wrist shot from the right circle with 48 seconds remaining. Neal put the Predators ahead with 3:48 to play in the second period, scoring on a slap shot off a Brandon Saad turnover in the Chicago zone. Game Notes Filip Forsberg had two assists for Nashville ... The Blackhawks defeated the Predators 2-1 in overtime at Chicago last Saturday. ' ' '