THE ELEVENTH ANNUAL KERRY'S PIŅATA AWARD
An Internet Tradition for more than 1/10 of a Century!

The History of Kerry's Piņata Award
Following the 1996 season, when I was still writing for the Orioles Hangout, I helped put together the Orioles postseason yearbook for that Web site.  The yearbook was essentially an evaluation of every player who appeared in a significant number of Orioles games.  By lot, the task of evaluating Jimmy Haynes fell to me and, in a rare--some might say singular--moment of inspiration, I stated that Jimmy Haynes had done a wonderful "imitation of a piņata--people holding sticks were beating the hell out of him."  And thus, Kerry's Piņata Award was born.

Criteria for Consideration
Kerry's Piņata Award, presented annually on the World Wide Web since 1996 (they grow up so quickly...) and for the sixth time this year on Birds in the Belfry, is given to the Orioles pitcher who best resembled the aforementioned fiesta implement during the preceding baseball season.  To qualify for consideration, a pitcher must have appeared in at least 25 games and/or worked at least 40 innings.  The worse a pitcher performs, the better candidate he makes.

Past Winners of Kerry's Piņata Award
The inaugural winner of the award was, as stated above, Jimmy Haynes in 1996:

JIMMY HAYNES, 1996

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L ERA
26 11 89.0 435 122 84 82 14 2 58 1 65 5 0 3 6 8.29

The 1997 winner was Shawn Boskie:

SHAWN BOSKIE, 1997

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L ERA
28 9 77.0 349 95 57 55 14 2 26 1 50 1 0 6 6 6.43

The 1998 winner was Doug Drabek:

DOUG DRABEK, 1998

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L ERA
23 21 108.2 484 138 90 88 20 5 29 2 55 1 0 6 11 7.29

The 1999 winner was Ricky Bones:

RICKY BONES, 1999

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L ERA
30 2 43.2 207 59 29 29 7 2 19 0 26 3 0 0 3 5.98

The 2000 winner was Scott Erickson:

SCOTT ERICKSON, 2000

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L ERA
16 16 92.2 446 127 81 81 14 5 48 0 41 3 0 5 8 7.87

The 2001 award was shared--an historical first, I am compelled to point out--by Jose Mercedes and Ryan Kohlemier:

JOSE MERCEDES, 2001

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L SV ERA
33 31 184.0 828 219 125 119 20 10 63 3 123 5 2 8 17 0 5.82

RYAN KOHLMEIER, 2001

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L SV ERA
34 1 40.2 188 48 33 33 13 2 19 2 29 2 0 1 2 6 7.30

2002 saw the first repeat winner in Piņata Award history as Scott Erickson took home the prize for the second time:

SCOTT ERICKSON, 2002

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L SV ERA
29 28 160.2 719 192 109 99 20 8 68 2 74 5 0 5 12 0 5.55

In 2003 left-hander Omar Daal took home the hardware:

OMAR DAAL, 2003

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L SV ERA
19 17 93.2 434 134 69 66 11 2 30 1 53 2 0 4 11 0 6.34

In 2004 right-handed reliever Mike DeJean was so bad that he was dumped mid-season, was signed by the New York Mets and went to actually perform pretty well, simply adding insult to injury.

MIKE DeJEAN, 2004

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L SV ERA
33 0 39.2 197 49 29 27 2 2 28 6 36 2 0 0 5 0 6.13

Sidney Ponson finally lived up to his potential in 2005 by winning the hardware.

SIDNEY PONSON, 2005

G GS IP TBF H R ER HR HB TBB IBB SO WP BK W L SV ERA
23 23 130.1 596 177 97 90 16 3 48 1 68 10 0 7 11 0 6.21

And that takes us to the winner of the 2006 award.

What lucky someone will join Haynes, Boskie, Drabek, Bones, Erickson, Mercedes, Kohlmeier, Daal, DeJean and Ponson in this elite pantheon of distinguished award winners?  Oooh, I can hardly stand the suspense!  (Clean up in Aisle 5!)

Click Here for the 2006 Pinata Award Winner  

no flash photography please; we respectfully ask you to hold your applause until all the nominees have been announced