Two Guys Sports
Bruce BostwickWhy Cliff Lee Should Win the AL Cy Young
August 27th 2008 12:17
As we have seen all season, the Tribe's Cliff Lee has been perhaps the most dominate pitcher in the entire Major Leagues. He is currently 19-2 with a 2.43 ERA, tops in the American League and has the best winning percentage of every single pitcher out there. He is on pace assuming he starts 5 games to go 24-2. Cliff started the American League All Star game and was very sharp during that moment.
I see he's going to have competition with Mike Mussina of the Bronx Bombers, Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays, and K-Rod of the Angels. Two of the three are starters and only K-Rod is a closer. Now, granted he has had 50 saves and that is very impressive but I've always thought the Cy Young was more for the best starting pitcher. Not a knock on him, but I don't believe he should get the award because of that holding him back.
Halladay I believe will be the strongest competition and is the AL Leader in complete games with eight. That is pretty good and that would be very good considering for a candidate. He is currently tied for 2nd in the American League in wins, 3rd in ERA, and 10th in Winning Percentage. That could rule him out but he'll have to go real strong to make his case even stronger.
Mike Mussina is really doing well. He is tied for 2nd in the AL in wins, 11th in ERA, and 8th in Winning Percentage. Now, he may be the weakest competition but he does have the backing of the media. They love the Yankees a lot so you can expect some votes there but really he's not a huge threat. You really can't take away the type of season he's had though. He emerged as the Bombers best pitcher.
While K-Rod has been very sharp in the saves department, I'm not really not so sure if a reliever should get it. Mainly because you're just going in to close games or keep them from getting out of control. That's just my reason right there.
I can't honestly find too many pitchers having as strong of a season that Lee has been having this year. I believe he's the main reason the Indians aren't really in the dumps and having a really ugly season. Had he not gone 19-2 at this moment, I don't even want to think where they would be this late in the season. He's been very consistent, doesn't give up many runs and gets the job done. That's all you can ask really.
I see he's going to have competition with Mike Mussina of the Bronx Bombers, Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays, and K-Rod of the Angels. Two of the three are starters and only K-Rod is a closer. Now, granted he has had 50 saves and that is very impressive but I've always thought the Cy Young was more for the best starting pitcher. Not a knock on him, but I don't believe he should get the award because of that holding him back.
Halladay I believe will be the strongest competition and is the AL Leader in complete games with eight. That is pretty good and that would be very good considering for a candidate. He is currently tied for 2nd in the American League in wins, 3rd in ERA, and 10th in Winning Percentage. That could rule him out but he'll have to go real strong to make his case even stronger.
Mike Mussina is really doing well. He is tied for 2nd in the AL in wins, 11th in ERA, and 8th in Winning Percentage. Now, he may be the weakest competition but he does have the backing of the media. They love the Yankees a lot so you can expect some votes there but really he's not a huge threat. You really can't take away the type of season he's had though. He emerged as the Bombers best pitcher.
While K-Rod has been very sharp in the saves department, I'm not really not so sure if a reliever should get it. Mainly because you're just going in to close games or keep them from getting out of control. That's just my reason right there.
I can't honestly find too many pitchers having as strong of a season that Lee has been having this year. I believe he's the main reason the Indians aren't really in the dumps and having a really ugly season. Had he not gone 19-2 at this moment, I don't even want to think where they would be this late in the season. He's been very consistent, doesn't give up many runs and gets the job done. That's all you can ask really.
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