Under other circumstances, Felipe Alou might have been trying this week to lead the Montreal Expos to their first World Series.
He wound up a winner Monday, although not in the way he wanted.Alou, whose young Expos had the best record in the majors when the players went on strike, was a near-unanimous choice as NL manager of the year.
"This is very gratifying," he said from his home in the Dominican Republic. "But I would trade this for a playoff spot. The one regret I have is that we didn't complete the regular season."
Alou received 27 of 28 first-place votes. Dallas Green of the New York Mets, a team that bounced back from the worst record in baseball in 1993, got the other first-place vote.
"I'm glad that our players produced the manager of the year," Alou said.
Alou, 59, was hired as manager on May 22, 1992, after Tom Runnells was fired, and the Expos have shown steady improvement since then. They went 70-55 under Alou in 1992, 94-68 in 1993 and were 74-40 this season when the strike began Aug. 12.
The Expos, who trailed Atlanta by 81/2 games in mid-April, led the Braves by six games when the season stopped. Had the season continued, the second round of the NL playoffs would've been held this week.
Alou, whose even-handed style made him a favorite of his players, said watching prospects progress into big league talents was his favorite part of the job. Along the way, he's gotten to see his son, Moises, become an All-Star outfielder for Montreal and his nephew, Mel Rojas, become a top reliever for the Expos.
Alou received one second-place vote and finished with 138 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America.
Cincinnati's Davey Johnson, who interviewed recently for the Baltimore Orioles' managing job, got 15 second-place votes and finished a distant 2nd with 51 points. Houston's Terry Collins was 3rd with 31 and Green was 4th with
12. Montreal is facing the possible loss of Walker to free agency this offseason, and may have trouble signing high-salaried reliever John Wetteland and Grissom.
Alou, a three-time All-Star outfielder, played briefly for the Expos in 1973.