No relief when it comes to Cy voting
Latin Americans clean up top spots
That Bartolo Colon of the Angels was named as this year’s AL Cy Young Award winner was not a huge surprise. The fact that Latin Americans took the top three spots was the most interesting aspect of AL Cy voting, in results announced yesterday. Of course, that might have changed if the Jays’ Roy Halladay had stayed healthy. Halladay already had 12 wins in early July when his shin was broken by a line drive in Texas.
Colon received the good news on a call from Jack O’Connell and the BBWAA at home in Altamira, Dominican Republic, a village of about 3,000 people. He described the town’s reaction as, “ Loco, loco, loco.” Second place went to Yankee closer Mariano Rivera, a native of Panama, while finishing third was Twins starter Johan Santana, a product of Venezuela. Dating back to ’ 99, Latin pitchers have taken four of seven Cy Youngs, including wins by Pedro Martinez in 2000- 01, Santana in ’ 04 and Colon this year.
Colon was the AL’s only 20game winner, posting a 21- 8 record with a 3.48 ERA, leading the Angels to the AL West title. In the first round of playoffs vs. the Yankees, having battled a sore back all season, Colon was forced to leave Game 1 early with a shoulder problem.
“ The Cy Young is a great honour, but it doesn’t take away the sour taste in my mouth about the way our season ended,” Colon said. “ We all felt we could go further.”
Rivera, baseball’s top closer, had a 7- 4 record, with a 1.38 ERA and 43 saves, to finish second, 50 points behind Colon, in a 53- 1 voting system. Colon gave special thanks to the vanquished Rivera, crediting him with helping make him the pitcher he has become.
“ I have a lot of respect for Mariano Rivera,” Colon said. “I learned a lot of things from him. More than anything, I learned how to hold a cut fastball. Mariano has taught me how to be a complete pitcher. That respect goes a long way. I have the same thing to say about Pedro Martinez. I love them a lot.”
Rivera’s pitching lessons for Colon, four years his junior, date back to 1996, when he was setting the table for John Wetteland at the start of the Yankees’ tremendous run. Colon remembers approaching Rivera on a warning track and asking him for a few tips on the cutter. Since then, they have conversed on warning tracks around baseball in the pregame, becoming good friends.
This, in fact, may have been Rivera’s best chance to capture Cy, but once again he fell victim to voter bias towards starting pitchers. I will admit that I am among those who will never vote a reliever for Cy Young, stemming back to a late- night conversation in September of 1996 with Pat Hentgen, who at the time was on his way to capturing his own Cy. Hentgen was adamantly opposed to a reliever being considered best pitcher. There are compelling arguments against closers. They only require two effective pitches. They only pitch 65- 90 innings per year. They are awarded saves for recording the final three outs with a three- run lead. Many of them are head cases.
Besides, if Miguel Batista can be one, then how good do you have to be? Most closers are failed starters. Consider young Dustin McGowan of the Jays. GM J.P. Ricciardi didn’t like what he saw of the rookie in his starts in September, but coming out of the ’ pen he seemed more relaxed, throwing his 98- m. p. h. fastball for strikes. They hope he can develop into a closer. Over the years, there have been four closers capture Cy in each league since 1956. In the AL it was Sparky Lyle (’ 77 Yankees), Rollie Fingers (’81 Brewers), Willie Hernandez (’ 84 Tigers) and Dennis Eckersley (’ 92 A’s). The NL closers to win are Mike Marshall (’ 74 Dodgers), Bruce Sutter (’ 79 Cubs), Steve Bedrosian (’ 87 Phillies) and Eric Gagne (’ 03 Dodgers). Of those, Eckersley and Fingers are the only ones in the hall of fame. Rivera will eventually join them, but likely without ever winning a Cy Young. That’s the way it should be.