My Cy Young picks are not off to a great start

There has been a lot of terrific starting pitching so far this season.

Jared Weaver, Roy Halladay, Jon Lester, Chad Billingsley, Kyle Lohse, Justin Masterson, Ryan Dempster, Stephen Strasburg, Johnny Cueto, Eric Bedard and Colby Lewis all looked terrific in their 2012 debuts.

Who didn't look good?
My picks for the Cy Young Award.

Tim Lincecum let up a pair of first inning homers and was chased out in the 6th inning.
C. C. Sabathia (sorry, I still used the periods) coughed up a first inning grand slam to Carlos Pena.

Yeah he settled down, but his line (6 innings, 8 hits, 5 runs) wasn't pretty.

The two combined for 11 1/3 innings, 15 hits, 10 earned runs, 4 walks, 14 strikeouts.

Is there enough time in the season for Linecum to lower his 8.44 ERA?

By the way, for those of you who don't understand why wins, while important, can be overrated, please consider the fact that if Mariano Rivera didn't cough up the lead in the 9th, Sabathia would have won yesterday's game with his 6 inning 5 earned run performance.

Meanwhile the other day, Pirates starter Eric Bedard went 7 innings, gave up just 1 run against the Phillies and got the loss.

Which one pitched better?

Well, right now Bedard has a better Cy Young case than Sabathia or Lincecum.

Then again, it IS early.





 

The 1990s had the best run of Cy Young winners ever

The 1990s were the peak of the steroid era. But while we all experienced gaudy offensive numbers during the decade, we may have witnessed the best Cy Young era in baseball history. Let me explain.

The current run of Cy Young winners include some great young aces and one who I think is already Hall of Fame bound.

Justin Verlander, Tim Lincecum, Clayton Kershaw and Felix Hernandez are all off to amazing starts to their careers. But as I wrote last night, Brandon Webb and Jake Peavy got off to amazing starts too.

CC Sabathia and Roy Halladay are, I think, either Hall of Fame bound or damn close to it. (Cliff Lee and Zack Greinke will need to pile up some more ace seasons to get Cooperstown talk.)

If Verlander, Lincecum, Kershaw and King Felix keep up their great careers, then we could be in the middle of one of the great stretches of Cy Young winners ever.

Or it could be like the 1980s, where pitchers like Fernando Valenzuela, Bret Saberhagen, Frank Viola, Doc Gooden and Orel Hershiser put together great starts to their career but couldn't translate them into Cooperstown.

I started thinking about when was the best era of Cy Young winners. And I don't mean best stats but rather the most straight years of future Hall of Famers.

I figured it would have been the first few years of the Cy Young (1956-1966) when they gave out only one award for both leagues. And indeed there were Warren Spahn, Early Wynn, Whitey Ford, Don Drysdale and Sandy Koufax winning awards.

But Don Newcombe, Bob Turley, Vern Law and Dean Chance also won as well.

1968 to 1973 saw 6 straight years of future Hall of Famers winning the National League Cy Young Award. (Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Fergie Jenkins and Steve Carlton.) In that same stretch the American League had Jim Lonborg, Denny McLain, Mike Cuellar and Jim Perry, none of whom are in the Hall.

Between 1972 and 1976, Hall of Famers Gaylord Perry, Catfish Hunter and Jim Palmer won the American League Cy Young Award while Randy Jones and Mike Marshall broke up the Hall of Fame streak in the National League.

The National League started a future Hall of Fame streak between 1977 and 1980 with Steve Carlton, Gaylord Perry and Bruce Sutter winning. The late Mike Flanagan won in the American League as well as non Hall of Famers Sparky Lyle, Ron Guidry and Steve Stone.

Then between 1981 and 1990 came a run where Rollie Fingers and Steve Carlton were the only future Hall of Famers to win (although steroids or not, I think Clemens will eventually get in.)

Then comes the run that should catch all of our eyes.

From 1991 to 2001 the American League Cy Young Award winners were Roger Clemens, Dennis Eckersley, Jack McDowell, David Cone, Randy Johnson, Pat Hentgen and Pedro Martinez.

The National League Cy Young Award winners in that stretch were Tom Glavine, Greg Maddux, John Smoltz, Pedro Martinez and Randy Johnson.

Assuming Roger Clemens gets in EVENTUALLY, then only Jack McDowell, Pat Hentgen and David Cone are NOT Hall of Famers in the bunch.

That's 19 out of 22 Cy Young Awards handed out to Hall of Fame pitchers (Eckersley is already in.)

Seriously, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson should get 100% of the Hall of Fame or some writers should get their credentials revoked. Pedro Martinez, Tom Glavine and John Smoltz all deserve to get in as well.

And someday Roger Clemens (and Barry Bonds for that matter) will get in.

Did we realize it when we saw it what a great run we were watching?
Did we note how great the PITCHING was in the steroid era? Or at least what star power there was?

Let's root for Felix Hernandez, Clayton Kershaw, Justin Verlander, Zack Grienke, Tim Lincecum, CC Sabathia, Cliff Lee and Roy Halladay to continue to put up ace numbers. It would be cool to see ANOTHER great Hall of Famers winning the Cy Young era.

Brandon Webb and obscure Cy Young stretches

Let's turn the clock back to 2008.

2008 wasn't that long ago.

It was a mere 3 years ago. Most stars from the 2008 season remain with the same team now. Cliff Lee and Zack Grienke have found new homes, but the rest of the Cy Young winners and MVPs are still in place.

The players drafted in 2008 are just now creeping into the big leagues. So when I turn the clocks back to 2008, I'm not exactly saying "Let's go to the Dead Ball Era."

In 2008, Brandon Webb looked like he was putting together a potential Hall of Fame career.

At age 27, he won the 2006 Cy Young.

At age 28, he threw 42 straight shutout innings while pitching the Diamondbacks to the NL West Title and the NLCS, finishing second in the Cy Young race.

At age 29, he won 22 games and once again was the runner up for the 2008 Cy Young.

You can't have a better run that that. No doubt if he became a free agent after 2008, he would have been the highest paid pitcher in the game.

At age 30, he threw on opening day for 2009 but had to be removed after 4 innings.

He hasn't thrown a big league pitch since. If he career isn't over after basically missing the last 3 years than it is damn near over.

Going forward in time, Webb's Cy Young Award will be relatively obscure.

Some baseball fan in the future will be going through past Cy Young winners and think "Man, someone named Brandon Webb won the Cy Young!"

And chances are that fan would say "Jake Peavy won too? Who was that? And who was Eric Gagne."

The National League had some pretty obscure Cy Young winners between 2003 and 2007 (throw in Bartolo Colon's undeserved AL Cy Young in 2005 too.)

Every once in a while the Cy Young goes into an obscure stretch.

Look back at some of the winners in the 1980s.

Steve Stone won the AL in 1980.

Pete Vuvkovich won the AL award in 1982.

Lamarr Hoyt won the American League in 1983 while John Denny took home the National League prize.

Willie Hernandez took home the AL Cy Young (and MVP) in 1984.
Steve Bedrosian won the NL Cy Young in 1987 and Mark Davis got his in 1989.

Not exactly a line up of future Hall of Famers.

I am not belittling any of their seasons. Each of those pitchers had a terrific season and got a slice of immortality.

The same can be said of Brandon Webb, Jake Peavy et al.

The likes of Clayton Kershaw, Felix Hernandez, Tim Lincecum and Justin Verlander have all won Cy Young awards and could become reliable long term aces whose Cy Young trophies won't be surprising.

Then again, Brandon Webb looked like he was becoming that kind of ace as well.

Home run derby makes the Cy Young race a little clearer

Earlier this week, Jeff Passan wrote an exhaustive but terrific break down of the Cy Young race between Justin Verlander, Jered Weaver and CC Sabathia.

He broke out stats I never heard of and traditional stats and some gut feelings.

Well if their last starts are any indication, then Justin Verlander should be making room on his mantle for an award.

Verlander won a game on the road to prevent the second place Indians from sweeping the Tigers and getting into striking distance.

Meanwhile CC Sabathia let up 5 homers the other day. Granted they were all solo homers, but Cy Young winners shouldn't let up 5 taters. Call me a traditionalist.

And Jered Weaver coughing up 8 runs in less than 5 innings of work won't help his resume.

With three candidates bunched so closely together with such little time left in the season, a few games here or there could spoil a Cy Young candidacy.

Two games cost Brandon Webb a second Cy Young Award in 2008.

Weaver and Sabathia had better hope their last games don't prevent them from getting some hardware.

It could be Justin Verlander's year

Sometimes during Academy Awards season, a certain actor or director is swept up to front runner status not necessarily because they gave their best work but because they were simply due for an award.

Martin Scorsese's best film was not The Departed, but he hadn't won an Oscar and he was due.

Million Dollar Baby was far from Morgan Freeman's best performance, but he had never won and probably should have won 2 or 3 times before.

Could you even SIT through The Reader? I barely did, but they made up for Kate Winslet's lack of Oscars.

I have a feeling that something similar with Justin Verlander this year and the Cy Young Award race.

He's had 4 terrific seasons in the bigs (and one lousy 2008 season.)
He has led the league in strikeouts before, in wins, in innings pitched and consistently chucks 200 innings.

He has a pair of no hitters in his career and already has a pair of top 5 finishes in the Cy Young voting.

He's never won and frankly he is due. He had another awesome performance today against a tough Arizona team. 8 innings of shutout ball. 14 strikeouts to 1 walk. His ERA is down to 2.38... 1.30 runs below his career ERA going into today's game. He leads the league in strikeouts, innings pitched and victories at this point.

And he is anchoring a Tigers staff that, as of this writing, is tied for first place in the American League central.

The Tigers are roughly 47% of the way through the season and right now Verlander looks like the man to beat in the Cy Young race. Josh Beckett and Jered Weaver have been lights out. C.C. Sabathia is great and Felix Hernandez is coming back to form. And James Shields is quietly having a terrific year.

But when push comes to shove, I think Verlander might win this.

After all, he's due.

Is there an East Coast Bias in Awards voting?

I've been supporting Felix Hernandez as the Cy Young winner even though I think voters will vote for C. C. Sabathia and his 20 wins (even though King Felix has him beat in every other category.)

But some people, including the good folks at Emerald City Diamond Gems, think that the fact that Sabathia plays in New York will tip the scales his way.

I've heard this before... the votes ALWAYS slant towards New York and Boston and to a degree Philadelphia... and stars in the west tend to get ignored come award time.

This is a terrific theory. It sounds correct.
And it is repeated each year by some writer in the west as if it is a fact.

Here's the problem with that theory:
It's not true.

Let's take a large sample of recent awards...

The Joe Torre era in New York.
1996-2007. A 12 year span where the Yankees dominated media coverage, made the playoffs all 12 seasons, won 6 pennants and 4 World Series titles and seemed to have every star in the galaxy.

How many MVPs do you think they had in those 12 years?

2. Both by Alex Rodriguez in years the Yankees did NOT even win the Division Series. (2005 and 2007.)

Do you know what team had as many MVPs as the Yankees during the Torre years?
The Mariners.

In fact what division do you think DOMINATED the AL MVP category during the Joe Torre Yankee years?

I'll give you a hint... none of the teams played in the Eastern Time Zone.

That would be the AL West, winning 9 straight MVPs from 1996 to 2004.

In those 12 Torre Yankee years, the Texas Rangers won 4 MVPs (Juan Gonzalez in 1996 and 1998, Pudge Rodriguez in 1999 and Alex Rodriguez in 2003.)

The Mariners won a pair (Ken Griffey Jr. in 1997 and Ichiro Suzuki in 2001).

The A's also won a pair (Jason Giambi in 2000 and Miguel Tejada in 2002.)

And the Angels won one (Vlad Guerrero in 2004.)

In fact it is interesting when you break those awards down how the East Coast bias did NOT work.

When the great shortstop era was played out in the late 1990s and early 2000s, it wasn't New York's Derek Jeter nor Boston's Nomar Garciaparra who won an MVP despite putting up the best numbers of their careers.

A-Rod won his with Texas and Miguel Tejada, arguably the least known of the big shortstops of that era, won his.

And there have been two instances in the past few years where players from the Minnesota Twins, not exactly a media hub for anyone except Ted Baxter, won close MVPs votes over Derek Jeter.

I am going out on a limb to say that Derek Jeter gets more media attention than Justin Morneau or Joe Mauer.

Let's take a look at the Cy Young voting since the divisions expanded from 4 to 6 (1994 to present.)

With all the great Yankee pitching over the years, how many Cy Youngs do you think have gone the Yankees way?

Out of 16 Cy Youngs handed out, a grand total of one was given to a Yankee in that time.
Roger Clemens in 2001.

Actually Clemens Cy Young was the only Yankee Cy Young since Ron Guidry's dominating 1978 season.

Yup. The Yankees went through the 1980s, 1990s and 2000s with a grand total of ONE Cy Young Award.

Compare that to Kansas City, who has had 2 Cy Youngs since 1994...
Minnesota has 2...
Cleveland has 2...



Which team has won the most Cy Young Awards in the AL since 1994?

That would be the Toronto Blue Jays with 4...

1 for Pat Hentgen... 1 for Doc Halladay... 2 for Clemens.

And remember Hentgen beat out the Yankees ace Andy Pettitte and Clemens beat out David Wells when he was lights out for the World Champs in 1998?


Now of course there IS an East Bias in coverage.
I wrote about that earlier.

And there's a reason for that... the most popular teams are on the East Coast and there are more transplanted New Englanders, New Yorkers and Philadelphians than there are transplants from California and Arizona.

I'm a case in point. I live in California and am a rabid Red Sox fan... even though I haven't lived in Massachusetts since Ronald Reagan was President.

Oh yeah, also the teams in the Northeast have won the last 3 World Series.

But that is media coverage... not awards bias.

So yes... Sabathia could indeed win the Cy Young for an irrational reason.
But that reason is numerical (20 wins) NOT geographical.

Giants... let Lincecum do what he needs to do

Tim Lincecum is about to make arguably the biggest start of his career. After a month or so when the Giants couldn't get any decent starting pitching, suddenly things have turned around.

And a lost season is looking more and more found as the Giants remain 2 back in the loss column for the NL West lead and 1 game in the loss column for the NL Wild Card with 24 to play. (And a possible season making 4 game series in San Diego starting day after tomorrow.)

He had a grotesque August where he went 0-5 with a 7.82 ERA and pitched just over 5 innings a start.

His first start in September was a solid 8 innings 1 run win.
They need another start like that against the D'Backs. They need Cy Young Lincecum.

Which means, Giants... let him do WHATEVER he was doing in 2008 and 2009 when he won his first two Cy Young Awards.

Look away, say "Do what you've got to do" and don't ask questions. Yeah he got in a little bit of trouble in the off season... and no, I am not condoning any illegal activities.

Just wink and say "I don't want to know."

If there was a guy showing up in a Tie Dye shirt listening to Phish on days Lincecum pitched last year... FLY HIM IN!

The Giants have a shot to make the post season and possibly line up a playoff rotation that could send them right to the World Series.

And they need Lincecum to be an ace. And if it was smoke and mirrors (and smoke) that helped him win, then cue up the Marley and make it work.

And don't get all Holier than Thou about strange dudes showing up to the Giants clubhouse with substances.

Lest we forget...

Jimenez vs. Mauer ... YOU WOULDN'T WANT THAT Interleague Foes?

JUST as I finished typing my last entry about Jimenez pitching against the Twins, Joe Mauer came up to the plate.

The front runner of the 2010 National League Cy Young Award faced off against the defending American League MVP.

The crowd loved it... taking pictures of the match up.

It is PRECISELY the unorthodox head to head match ups that Interleague Play has in mind.

Mauer lined out in a bang bang play where the runner at first was doubled up.

Jimenez goes 8 strong with 1 run... ups his record to 13-1 and has a 1.15 ERA now. And Twin fans got to see on a beautiful June day a match up they wouldn't normally see.

Ohhhh. So bad for baseball!

Throw Adam Wainwright's Name into the Cy Young mix

Earlier today I wrote about what a good weekend it has been for Cy Young contenders in the National League.

And at the end I said it was Adam Wainwright's move to get his name thrown into the conversation with Roy Halladay, Tim Lincecum, Ubaldo Jimenez and my dark horse Ricky Nolasco.

Well he met the challenge big time. With the Cardinals reeling from a 20 inning loss where Tony LaRussa was about to activate Bob Gibson to throw an inning, Wainwright threw a complete game victory and even got a double to start the game winning rally in the 8th.

(When was the last time you saw a pitcher hit in the 8th inning of a tie game managed by Tony LaRussa!)

So like Halladay, Lincecum and Jimenez, Wainwright is 3-0 with a low ERA.

This could be shaping up to be a very interesting year for ace pitchers.

Hey Johan Santana! Do you want to get in on this discussion? Then stop losing to the Nationals!

Sully Basebal Says... BASEBALL NEEDS TO IMPROVE THEIR OFF SEASON SHOWMAN SHIP

Major League Baseball needs to find ways to make the off season more of a show!

Football has it down.

They are a year long event as a sport, even though each team only plays 16 regular season games.

Baseball plays 10 times as many games and yet sometimes has trouble staying on the national radar.

Football has made the draft a must watch TV event… they draw huge crowds to workouts and practices… their pre season games draw better ratings than some MLB playoff games…

Baseball needs to get some of the football showmanship that keeps it on the front page all year.

They are some small things they can do, like don't hold the Winter Meetings until AFTER the Non Tendered Free Agents are announced. Or don't announce you are thinking about contraction hours after a great World Series has been played.

Of course that would mean having an actual Commissioner, but I digress.

The staff at Sully Baseball has been compiling ideas of ways MLB can put on a few shows and stay in the public eye, even when games AREN'T being played.

THE BASEBALL AWARD SHOW

Why they don’t do this now completely baffles me.

Think of it… one night, we learn the Rookie of the Year, the Manager of the Year, the Comeback Player of the Year, the Gold Gloves, the Cy Young and the MVP are all awarded on the same night.

We get to see A-Rod, Pujols, Lincecum and Ryan Howard in a tux.
We get to see former baseball greats paired up with entertainers to present awards.

“Ladies and Gentlemen…
Bob Feller and Lady Gaga!”




It would be worth it to cut to Jim Leyland squirming in his seat uncomfortably during the song and dance number that starts the show.

You get a comic who loves baseball to host it… Jerry Seinfeld? Chris Rock? ME!!!!

You show clips, have reunions on stage. “Ladies and Gentlemen… welcome all the closers Bobby Cox used from 1991-2005.”

Wouldn’t that be a more fun way of learning about the awards than a press release?

THE HALL OF FAME ANNOUNCEMENT

The way the Hall of Fame is announced now is so anti climactic. A phone call is made, a press release is faxed or put on a website and it gets leaked.

Not neatly dramatic enough.

I say they channel their inner Publishers Clearing House notifiers.

Each of the Hall of Famers on the ballot… from Bert Blyleven to Jay Bell… need to be home between 12 AM and 3 PM EST. We see a van drive but we’re not sure where we are…

Then they pull up to a house, ring the door bell. Who could it be?

JIM RICE ANSWERS THE DOOR!!!!
JIM RICE IS A HALL OF FAMER!!!!

He hugs his wife and kids. We see the actual moment it happens!

But wait, we’re going back to the next van driving up…

I’m telling you it is a wonderful new baseball tradition we can unleash!

REVENUE SHARING SPENDING SPREE

The Yankees, Red Sox, Mets and other big market teams need to cough up money to revenue sharing and teams like the Marlins, Reds and Pirates collect… but what do the teams DO with the money.

Forget this vague “putting it back into the team” promise. Let’s see it!

They have 24 hours to spend all of the revenue sharing money.

And have it be just as the free agents are announced.

Each team has to spend EVERY SINGLE DIME in 24 hours. It will be like Supermarket Sweep, except with baseball players!!!

If it is going into scouting, then they have to show which scouts are getting paid.
If it is going into draft picks, they have to produce one of those big ass Ed McMahon checks that they present on draft day.

And if it going into free agents, they have the 24 hours to spend it.

After 24 hours, they money goes back to the original team.

Wouldn’t it be funny to see GMs turn into the equivalent of Richard Pryor in Brewster’s Millions? And those lose revenue teams would get a chance to have money put into their teams… and there is the chance for some REALLY strange signings!

THE SALARY FLOOR

While some people yap about baseball needing to limit spending, I say some teams need to step up! Each team should have a minimum payroll… let’s say $50 million.

$50 million isn’t outrageous. I’m not asking teams to crack nine digits. But teams like the Marlins taking the field with a $36 million are asking for trouble. (Granted they put a winning product on the field while the Mets flopped with a payroll 4 times that… but again I digress.)

Now in 2009, only 3 teams would have been affected by the salary floor… the Pirates, the Padres and the Marlins.

But they’d each have to pony up some cash on the day before Spring Training… and they’d have to do it at a live workout at the Walt Disney Complex in Orlando.

Imagine it… all of the unsigned free agents working out and showing what they got.

Basically every year you'd have the opening of Major League.

You'd get some cut superstars... and Jose Canseco would inevitably show up.

Who knows? Maybe Billy Crystal can try out again!

Make it a reality show... "SO YOU THINK YOU MAKE THE BIG LEAGUES!"

And then at the end of the day, live on TV, the teams that need to work up to the salary floor start handing out contracts to get the payroll to $50 million.

A Marlins team with $14 million more talent on the roster last year could maybe have won 90 games.

And hey… how could a show that gets baseball chatter going on in small markets be a bad thing?



The strange thing is, even though my tongue is firmly in cheek as I write this, I am also being serious! I would watch every single one of these programs.

They would be TV events and internet events for baseball during the off season… and get some markets that aren’t thinking about baseball at least chatting for a day or two.

And before you dismiss all of this as just Sully being crazy, remember… when ESPN approached the NFL with their idea of broadcasting the Draft, it was dismissed as just another piece of cable filler.

Now it is an event on the sports calendar.

Time to have a few more for baseball!

How Zack and Tim can help Bert

Bert Blyleven must be positively giddy about how the Cy Young Awards panned out this year. Let me explain.

The Cy Young used to be kind of simple to figure out… a bunch of old writers would look at which pitchers won the most games and handed him the award.

Never mind that Bob Welch wasn’t even the #1 starter on his own team in 1990 (any sane person on the Planet Earth knew that Dave Stewart was the ace of the A’s). Never mind that Roger Clemens’ stats dwarfed Bob Welch’s without his lineup nor bullpen. Welch won more games… and that is that.

Never mind that in 1987 Nolan Ryan led the league in strikeouts and ERA. He had the best strikeout to walk ratio and gave up the fewest hits per 9 innings and was among the league leaders in WHIP and innings pitched that year. He finished 5th in the Cy Young voting because he had a losing record… all the while pitching for an Astros team that had a horrifically bad offense.

Wins were king.

Now I am not of the belief that wins are meaningless. If you pitch well enough to let your team win the game, then in essence you’ve done your job.

But a win could go to an undeserving pitcher. When Curt Schilling dominated the Braves in the 1993 NLCS he didn’t record a win. Instead Mitch Williams blew the lead in Games 1 and 5… and when the Phillies took the lead afterwards, it was Williams who got the win.

Anyone casually looking over the stats would see Mitch Williams went 2-0 and Curt Schilling went 0-0.

Now who had a better series?

The guy with the 1.69 ERA and 19 strikeouts over 16 innings?

Or the guy who blew two saves and let up 6 hits and 2 walks over 5 1/3 innings pitched?

And losses aren’t always the best barometer of a bad outing. Remember Harvey Haddix threw 12 perfect innings before letting up a pair of hits and a run during his masterpiece in 1959. He got the loss.

But finally writers are looking beyond just the win total to see who had the best year. Wins are important to be sure… but so is determining how a pitcher actually pitched! Did he let up few runs? Did batters have trouble getting on base against him? Did he strikeout more than he walked?

It requires looking at more than one column but it also means that a pitcher’s whole performance will be taken into account… not just the games where the team’s lineup scored him enough runs or the bullpen closed out enough games.

There is absolutely no way Zack Greinke nor Tim Linecum would have won the Cy Young 5 or 10 years ago.

Their win total would have been considered to be too low and probably CC Sabathia or Felix Hernandez would have some hardware in the AL and Adam Wainwright would be the Cy Young winner in the NL.

So what the hell does this have to do with Bert Blyleven?

Well Bert is once again up for the Hall of Fame… and hopefully the support for his candidacy is growing.

And the only thing keeping this no brainer Hall of Famer out of Cooperstown is the fact that he has 287 wins instead of 300.

5th in Strikeouts all time… 9th in shutouts all time… Cy Young Candidate over a 16 year span… clinched a pennant for the Pirates in 1979 with a complete game and saved the World Series with a gutsy 4 inning relief appearance… then helped pitch the Twins to the 1987 World Series title…

But 13 wins short of 300, and sits on the outside of Cooperstown looking in.

As I wrote in my Bert Blyeven post last winter, he had scores of games where he was a hard luck loser for some subpar teams over 22 seasons that maybe those 13 games could be forgiven.

Well Hall of Fame voters can be swayed.

I believe Jim Rice made the Hall of Fame because of the steroid issue. His home run total looked more impressive since his body never changed shape dramatically from 1975 to 1989.

Suddenly the same people who kept harping on about his walks and not reaching 400 homers realized that being an MVP candidate for more than a decade should amount to something.

And for Jim Ed Rice it amounted to a plaque in Cooperstown.

Now the same writers need to look at Blyleven’s career the way that Cy Young voters looked at Greinke and Lincecum.

All that is at stake is a little immortality.

Some strange World Series facts are still true

The World Series has been over for a few days now...

And yes, Johnny Damon and Eric Hinske have indeed joined Ramiro Mendoza as the only living players with World Series rings with the Red Sox and Yankees.

But there are some other odd World Series facts that came true as well.

Assuming the NL Cy Young winner will be either Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter or Tim Linecum and also assuming the AL Cy Young winner will not be a Yankees... then once again we have another World Series without a Cy Young winner.

The last World Series to feature a Cy Young winner was 2001... which actually featured both Cy Young Winners (Randy Johnson of Arizona and Roger Clemens of the Yankees.) That was one of only 4 World Series in history to feature both Cy Young winners.

Also Albert Pujols is a lock for the NL MVP, so the World Series still hasn't featured the MVP of the AL and the MVP of the NL since 1988 when Kirk Gibson's Dodgers beat Jose Canseco's A's.

Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter have outside chances at the AL MVP. But if it goes to Joe Mauer, then the AL MVP will once again not be featured in the World Series. Rickey Henderson was the last AL MVP to play for a pennant winners (although Albert Belle got robbed in 1995 by Mo Vaughn.)

And when the Rockies were eliminated, any hope for the first "All Expansion Team World Series" was squashed.

Oh I am sure I can come up with some more facts... but I've got to get some sleep.

The NL Cy Young Award is still up for grabs

Last week I said the Cy Young Award was a toss up between Tim Lincecum and Chris Carpenter.

And basically if either one of them wanted a second Cy Young, they had to step up and have a great post Labor Day run.

Well Lincecum was scratched from his scheduled start with a back issue. My dad thought they were just pushing him to the Dodgers series but it looks like he might actually be hurt.

Which opens it to Carpenter... except that he let up a big fat 6 spot in the third inning and got smacked around in the 9-2 loss to Atlanta today.

One of these guys have better start or else Adam Wainwright might be looking to find room on his mantle.

Did I speak too soon about that whole NL Cy Young Award?

10 days ago I declared the NL Cy Young Award race over.

Tim Lincecum locked it up and put it into his back pocket.

Well a reader named Dano basically said "NOT SO FAST!" and pointed out another former NL Cy Young Award Winner who might be picking Tim Lincecum's pocket for the Cy.

Chris Carpenter threw a 1 hit complete game shutout yesterday against the Brewers and has made this September very interesting for who should add a second Cy Young Award to their mantle.

In Carpenter's defense...

Carpenter has won 3 more games than Lincecum in 4 fewer starts.

His ERA lower than Lincecum.

Carpenter has a lower WHIP.

Carptenter has the best strikeout to walk ratio.

Carpenter is the ace of a team that is surprising many by running away with the Division.

In Lincecum's defense...

If Lincecum had Pujols, Holliday and Yadier Molina in his line up, he'd have those 3 more wins. Keep in mind two of his recent losses include a 7 inning, 2 run, 11 strikeout performance against Philadelphia and a 7 inning 3 run 7 strikeout performance in Colorado.

Not to mention no decisions like an 8 2/3 inning, 2 run, 4 hit performance against the Dodgers and a 7 inning, 1 run, 10 strikeout performance against Pittsburgh.

He's had some bad bad luck.

For people who value innings, there is no comparison. Lincecum is the only NL pitcher with 200+ innings while Carpenter has yet to reach the 170 inning level.

He also has nearly 100 more strikeouts than Carpenter.

In the categories that Carpenter leads, Lincecum finishes second in ERA, WHIP and K/BB ratio.

It's a tough call... and in the end the Cardinals easy run to the division title will probably work against Carpenter. If the Giants make the playoffs on the strength of Lincecum's pitching, that will probably be the deciding factor.

But if Carpenter shoots past the shiny 20 win number and leads the league in ERA... he might win it based on traditional numbers.

Either way, like Florida in 2000... this was called too soon.

I guess Zack Grienke DOES want to win the AL Cy Young Award

Not long after my wondering if anyone actually wants to win this award, Grienke is doing his best to say "Cool it! It's mine!"

1-0 complete game shutouts in late August tend to help seal the deal.

And with Roy Halladay and Josh Beckett stinking it up recently, it is looking more and more like Grienke will put a tremendous line on his resume for when he goes to free agency and signs with either the Red Sox or the Yankees.

However with Justin Verlander's win today and CC Sabathia lurking, it's not his yet.

But man it is close.

The NL Cy Young Award has been clinched... thanks for playing

At this point, Chris Carpenter would have to throw three straight no hitters to wrestle the Cy Young away from Tim Lincecum... and even then, I'm not sure he'd earn it.

You want stats?

Lincecum won his 13th game, 4th in the league.

He lowered his ERA to 2.33, 2nd in the league.

He leads the league in innings pitched.

He has the third lowest WHIP.

He has the second lowest batting average against.

He leads the league in strikeouts.

He leads the league in complete games.

He is tied for the league lead in shutouts.

And now you want your ace showing up for the big game?

How's about tonight's game in San Francisco? Colorado coming into town... Giants need to win... and he throws 8 shutout innings and brings the Giants to within 2 games of a playoff spot in late August.

It's his.

He's won it.

He will be a two time Cy Young winner before his 26th birthday.

Nope, I don't think it is too early to be wondering where his place will be among the all time San Francisco legends.

Stay healthy pal... you are getting the hard part of your Hall of Fame resume out of the way early!!!

Doesn't anyone want to win the AL Cy Young Award?

I mean it looks good on your mantle!

It looks good on your Hall of Fame resume!

And it is great to bring to the bargaining table!

But nobody seems like they are in any rush to win it.

And each of the main contenders have dropped games recently when they should be trying to pad their win totals.

For example...

Zack Greinke is the front runner of course leading the league in ERA and is second in the league in strikeouts while having 11 wins on a miserable Kansas City team...

But he lost his last start. Granted he didn't get ROCKED but he did let up 3 homers and allowed the White Sox to jump ahead to an early 3-0 lead that the Royals just couldn't overcome.

Cy Young winners shouldn't allow teams to jump out to early leads like that.

ESPECIALLY when one of the teams is a playoff contender.

Roy Halladay stuck around the AL after the deal to Philadelphia fell through and is putting up numbers that make a second career Cy Young Award plausible.

But he not only lost last night against the Red Sox... he got ROCKED.

He was gone after 5 innings and lost a game that I had already put in the loss column.

Justin Verlander leads the league in strikeouts and is the ace of the surprising Tigers.

And HE lost last night, allowing the defending division champion White Sox to sneak even closer.

Now granted I am being tough on Verlander. He only had one bad inning and the Tigers lost 3-1.

But hey! He's the ace of a pennant contender. The Tigers need to put a W next to ALL of his starts if they want to hold off Chicago.

That's one bad inning too many.

Josh Beckett had the chance to lead the big leagues with 15 wins the other day and the Red Sox scored 7 runs for him early. 

Instead he got hammered, letting up 7 runs and leaving the game tied 7-7.

The offense picked him up, but with so many question marks in the Red Sox rotation, they can't afford to have Beckett starts reduced to slugfests.

Now keep in mind this is the time of the year that a bad start here or there could cost you the Cy Young Award.

Look at Brandon Webb last year! He was a lock to win his second Cy Young Award last year... but he was rocked by the Dodgers in late August and early September and the Diamondbacks slipped out of contention... and Lincecum won the Cy Young Award.

People remember how you finish, and one of the 4 pitchers mentioned above will win the Cy Young with a dynamic late August and September... which means they have to start winning.

Either that or you might even see a Felix Hernandez or a CC Sabathia come in and grab the prize.

So come on! You've all put up big numbers. Now earn the hard ware!