He's done it again! Damn, the man has more trophys than most
entertainers! I'm really missing baseball right now...

Lynne

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BOSTON -- David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez are widely regarded as the
most feared and productive No. 3 and 4 hitters in the game. They
certainly are earning enough hardware to prove it.

Ramirez collected his eighth consecutive Silver Slugger Award, and
ninth overall, while Ortiz won his third straight Friday as voted by
Major League coaches and managers.

Ortiz set a Red Sox record by clouting 54 home runs last season,
smashing the old record of 50 set by Jimmie Foxx set in 1938. Big Papi
also drove in 137 runs while hitting .287. His slugging percentage was
a remarkable .636, with an on-base percentage of .413, giving him an
eye-popping 1.049 OPS.

He did all of this despite missing eight consecutive games in late
August and early September with heart palpitations.

"David means so much to all of us, and I think the best thing I can
say, probably the most honest thing I can say, is that as good a
hitter as he is, he's probably a better person. That's saying
something," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said after Ortiz eclipsed
the club's single-season home run record in late September.

Ramirez added another Silver Slugger to his treasure chest by pounding
35 homers and driving in 102 runs while hitting .321. Likewise, his
expanded offensive statistics were impressive, slugging at a .619 clip
while compiling an on-base of .439 for an OPS of 1.058.

With 470 career homers, he currently ranks seventh among active Major
League leaders, and his 234 homers in a Red Sox uniform place him
fifth on the club's all-time list.

Like Ortiz, Ramirez could have had even better numbers had his season
not been shortened by medical issues. He played just once in the
club's last 20 games due to a sore right knee and hamstring.

2006 SILVER SLUGGER WINNERS

AMERICAN LEAGUE

DH/P David Ortiz
C Joe Mauer
1B Justin Morneau
2B Robinson Cano
SS Derek Jeter
3B Joe Crede
OF Jermaine Dye
OF Vladimir Guerrero
OF Manny Ramirez

NATIONAL LEAGUE

DH/P Carlos Zambrano
C Brian McCann
1B Ryan Howard
2B Jose Reyes
3B Miguel Cabrera
OF Carlos Beltran
OF Alfonso Soriano
OF Matt Holliday

Louisville Slugger's Silver Slugger Award winners were determined by a
vote of Major League Baseball coaches and managers. The voters
selected the players they felt were the best offensive producers at
each position in both the American and National League in 2006.

Selections were based on a combination of offensive statistics,
including batting average, on-base percentage and slugging percentage,
as well as the coaches' and managers' general impressions of a
player's overall offensive value. Managers and coaches were not
allowed to vote for players on their own team.

The Silver Slugger Award will be presented to each player by a
representative of the Hillerich & Bradsby Co., makers of Louisville
Slugger, the official bat of Major League Baseball, in a ceremony
early in the 2007 season.

The trophy is three feet tall and bears the engraved name of the
winner and his Silver Slugger teammates in his respective league. The
Silver Slugger Award was instituted by H&B in 1980 as a natural
extension of the Silver Bat Award which is, as its name indicates, a
silver-plated bat presented by Louisville Slugger to the batting
champions in the AL and NL.

Source: Mike Petraglia / Special to MLB.com