We learned yesterday that the baseball writers of America voted for Royals stud Zack Greinke the American League Cy Young award winner over Mariners young phenom Felix Hernandez.
Today it's been announced and confirmed that the product of the University of Washington baseball program and bona fied San Francisco Giants ace Tim Lincecum has won his second consecutive Cy Young award in the National League beating out the two birds Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright for the award.
Lincecum now has become the only player to win the Cy Young award in consecutive years since Randy Johnson did it four years in a row from 1999-2002.
So now the question becomes did the writers get it right with Greinke and Lincecum?
Well let's take a look at both players compared to their voting counterparts.
American League:
Zack Greinke : 16-8, 2.16 ERA, 242 SO, 1.07 WHIP, 6 CG, 229 IP, 9.5 K/9 and 2.2 B/9.
Greinke shot onto the scene in the beginning of the season winning his first six starts and averaging 7 1/2 innings through those six games. His ERA through those six games was 0.40 and it finally crossed over the one run per game mark on May 31st in a 7-4 lost to the Chicago Whitesox.
However Greinke would have another six game skid except in the lose column. From July 3rd to August 3rd he lost his six straight starts and averaged 6.1 innings per game in that stretch.
So yes Greinke had his higest high and his lowest low much like any pitcher does but he still finished the season in the top five of every major pitching stat.
Greinke averaged near seven innings per game in 2009 (6.9 to be exact).
Felix Hernandez: 19-5, 2.49 ERA, 217 SO, 1.14 WHIP, 2 CG, 238 IP, 8 K/9 and 3 B/9.
Felix Hernandez has been "on the scene" a little bit longer than Greinke has but no doubt they are the two best pitchers in the AL. Felix won his first five decisions, one short of Greinke's six. In those five games Felix averaged 6.8 IP/G.
Now the main argument for Felix outside the W-L and SO stat is that Felix had to face a lot more harder lineups than Greinke did on a consistent basis. Felix faced the Yankees, Rangers (x6), Angles (x4), Boston as well as a few other high powered offenses.
Now Felix had a five game win steak to start the season but he recorded and eight game win steak from June 10th-July22nd. Something Greinke didn't come close to.
Felix also averaged a solid seven innings per game, higher than Greinke.
Did they get it right?
Yes but there were more votes that should have gone to Felix than Greinke.
National League:
Tim Lincecum: 15-7, 2.48 ERA, 261 SO, 1.05 WHIP, 4 CG, 225 IP, 10 K/9 and 3 B/9.
The reigning NL Cy Young award winner was back at it again this season and continued his path of greatness. Lincecum didn't have a long win streak like Felix and Greinke did but he completely dominated every single hitter in the National League and earned another AS appearance.
This time he actually made it to the game without getting sick.
Lincecum averaged just over seen innings per game.
Adam Wainwright: 19-8, 2.63 ERA, 212 SO, 1.21 WHIP, 1 CG, 233 IP, 8 K/9 and 2 B/9.
Wainwright had the Felix Hernandez dilemma. A great pitcher that got the wins an ERA along with other stats but the other pitcher was just completely dominant. Wainwright also had a seven game win streak from August 8th-September 4th.
Wainwright averaged just under seven innings per game with 6.8.
Did they get it right? No doubt about it.
Thoughts?
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