Consider the fact that his ERA is even better than the National League reining Cy Young winner and repeating Cy Young winner to be Tim Lincecum, who has an ERA of 2.28 and that certainly puts his remarkable work into perspective!
He’s only got 13 wins so to date but that’s certainly not his fault. Case in point - he pitched 8 innings of shut-out ball this week and got a no decision. That type of thing has happened all too often this year.
Eight times this year Greinke has pitched at least 7 innings and given up only 2 runs; 2 times giving up only one run and 2 times not giving up no runs at all! If the sports writers do not award him the AL Cy Young because he plays in KC or because he only ends up with 15 or so wins, that would be a crime.
Whether the sports writers grant him with the award or not, there is no one that can tell me that Zack Greinke did not win the 2009 AL Cy Young Award. – Mike Cardano
Mike Cardano is the founder of the Around The Horn (Baseball Blogs) and Extra Point (Football Blogs). Mike is also the founder of the fantasy sports games Ultimate Franchise Baseball™ and Ultimate Franchise Football™.
2 comments:
If you looked at the Cy Young award from a non-biased prospective than the winner in the AL this year would be Felix Hernandez. Due to the fact that he plays for Seattle, he gets little national recognition. As of September 13 his overall numbers are just flat better than Greinke's. Hernandez has more innnins pitched, less hits allowed, more wins,and better winning percentage. He is second in ERA to Greinke at 2.52 and is fourth in strikeouts. All this and he plays for Seattle which boast one of the worst offenses in MLB. Being an Angels fan I have had the opportnity to watch Felix and his stuff is filthy. I Only can imagine how many wins he would have if he pitched in an Angels uniform.
Jack - King Felix has had a great year, BUT let's look at the stats you speak of.
Innnings - Virtual dead heat (wash)
Wins - Felix has two more (both players would have more wins if they played on a better team - that was the point of the earlier post.
Strikeout - More for Greinke
Hits - Virtual dead heat (wash)
Walks - Less for Greinke
ERA - Less for Greinke
WHIP - Less for Greinke
In summary - Hernandez has 2 more wins - not a category that either player has had complete control over. In the categories a pitcher can directly control Greinke has a more K's, less, walks, a lower WHIP and most importantly - the only real measure that counts, a lower ERA by 13%.
While Hernandez has had a great year - he clearly finishes 2nd behind Greinke. There is no way you can objectively look at it any other way.
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