Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Carpenter 19 12 1 132
Willis 11 18 3 112
Clemens 2 2 24 40
Oswalt - - 2 2
Cordero - - 1 1
Pettitte - - 1 11. I hate Roger Clemens.1a. However ...2. He posted a 1.87 ERA this season. The NL average was 4.14. That means his ERA+ was 221 -- the second-best season of his career (he was slightly better (226) in 1997 (when he received 25 of 28 first-place votes).
3. Four BBWAA writers left him off their NL Cy Young ballots this year. Four!
4. Who the hell are these idiots? (Seriously, are these guys defending themselves out there someplace?)
I hate Clemens too, but yeah he absolutely deserved the Cy Young this year. That makes at least 2 that he should/could have won and got stiffed on. But he did win it in 2001 when he really shouldn't have.
ReplyDeleteThe thing is, I don't know why we're surprised every year when the writers screw this up. The 'right' guy getting the award is the exception, not the rule. Stupid baseball writers.
I've mellowed considerably in my Rocket-hatred, because he still was a god-like fixture from my childhood, but he got robbed. On the other hand, last year Randy Johnson was much better but got no run support, meanwhile Clemens was very good but got a ton of runs. So, I guess it's poetic justice.
ReplyDeleteI wonder if any other pitcher in history has been so plagued by bad run support as he.
D-train is still the best pitcher in the game because of his hitting ability, which adds a ton of value over Carpenter and Clemens.
While it's clear the Rocket was the best NL pitcher this year, giving the Cy to Chris Carpenter is not the same kind of travesty as the AL Cy going to Bartolo Colon. Carpenter (and Willis too) was still very, very good this year. I can't object to him getting it the same way I object to Colon getting it.
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