3 Dodgers, 3 Red Sox earn Gold Glove honors

[November 02, 2011]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Clayton Kershaw, Matt Kemp and Andre Ethier became the first trio of Los Angeles Dodgers to win NL Gold Gloves in the same year, and Adrian Gonzalez, Dustin Pedroia and Jacoby Ellsbury became the first three Red Sox in 32 seasons to win the AL honor together.

Kershaw became a first-time winner at pitcher when the awards were announced Tuesday. Ethier earned his first Gold Glove in the outfield and Kemp regained the NL award he also earned in 2009.

Gonzalez earned his first AL Gold Glove to go along with two he won in the NL while with San Diego, Pedroia won at second base for the first time since 2008 and Ellsbury picked up his first Gold Glove.

"I try to be a complete player. You can always go into offense slumps," Gonzalez said during the awards show on ESPN2.

The previous three Red Sox to win in the same year were shortstop Rick Burleson along with outfielders Dwight Evans and Fred Lynn in 1979.

Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle was the lone AL holdover, winning for the third straight year. Baltimore's Matt Wieters won at catcher, the Angels' Erick Aybar at shortstop, Texas' Adrian Beltre at third, and Kansas City's Alex Gordon and Baltimore's Nick Markakis in the outfield.

Beltre won for the third time, after gaining the award in 2007 and 2008.

The St. Louis Cardinals' Yadier Molina became the first NL catcher to win in four straight years since Charles Johnson from 1995-98.

Cincinnati first baseman Joey Votto and second baseman Brandon Phillips also won along with Colorado shortstop Troy Tulowitzki, Philadelphia third baseman Placido Polanco and Arizona outfielder Gerardo Parra. Phillips and Tulowitzki joined Molina as the NL holdovers, with Phillips winning for the third time in four years.

"It just shows my hard work really played off," Phillips said on the show.

Polanco also won AL Gold Gloves in 2007 and 2009.

This year's AL group displaced Minnesota catcher Joe Mauer; Yankees first baseman Mark Teixeira, second baseman Robinson Cano and shortstop Derek Jeter; Tampa Bay third baseman Evan Longoria; former Rays outfielder Carl Crawford; and Seattle outfielders Ichiro Suzuki and Franklin Gutierrez.

Suzuki's streak of Gold Gloves ended at 10. The right fielder, who had won in every one of his big league seasons, had tied the AL record for Gold Gloves by an outfielder shared by Ken Griffey Jr. and Al Kaline.

Last year's NL winners included Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, Reds third baseman Scott Rolen and Colorado's Carlos Gonzalez and Philadelphia's Shane Victorino joined in the outfield by Michael Bourn, then of Houston.

Rawlings announced the winners Tuesday. Managers and coaches vote for players in their leagues and can't pick players on their own teams.

Breaking with the recent format, outfielders were picked for specific spots. The AL had Gordon in left, Ellsbury in center and Markakis in right, and the NL had Parra in left, Kemp in center and Ethier in right.

Beltre and Gonzalez each earned $100,000 bonuses, while Aybar and Markakis get $75,000 apiece. Molina, Pedroia, Polanco and Votto each receive $50,000, and Tulowitzki and Buehrle both get $25,000.

Phillips gets an automatic $250,000 raise next season to $12.25 million under the option the Reds exercised Monday.

[Associated Press; By RONALD BLUM]

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