It’s Cy Young for CC

Indians starting pitcher CC Sabathia edged out Boston’s Josh Beckett for the American League’s Cy Young Award. Congrats Sabathia!

It’s official. Sabathia has become the first Indian since 1972 to win the AL Cy Young. (Gaylord Perry was the last Cleveland hurler to take home the prize.) MLB.com did not publish the final tally, but ESPN reports that the Big Lefty won 19 of the 28 first place votes. Beckett indeed finished second, and Lackey finished third, receiving only 1 first place vote.

I speculated earlier in the season that because of Sabathia’s success this year it will be more difficult to keep him in Cleveland. I stand by that appraisal. Hitting the open market with a recent Cy Young Award will mean major bucks. Look at the money being thrown at lesser pitchers recently. There is no reason to believe that C.C. won’t be thrown Barry Zito type dollars. No way that offer is coming from Ontario St.

But instead of focusing on the negative today, let’s take a minute and celebrate a great season for Sabathia. 

AL Cy Young Announcement at 2 pm…

CC Sabathia, Josh Beckett, or John Lackey…who ya got?

Keep in mind that the ballots were cast before the playoffs began. Obviously, had the ballots been sent after the playoffs this wouldn’t even be a contest. 14 of 20 ESPN baseball contributors picked C.C. to win. The numbers for each-

C.C. Sabathia- 19 wins (2nd), 3.21 era (5th), 209 strikeouts (5th), 1.14 whip (5th), 241 Innings pitched (1st), 4 complete games (2nd).

Josh Beckett- 20 wins (1st), 3,27 era (6th), 194 strikeouts (7th), 1.14 whip (6th, percentage points behind Sabathia), 200 innings pitched, 1 complete game.

John Lackey- 19 wins (2nd), 3.01 era (1st), 179 strikeouts (11th), 1.21 whip (11th), 224 innings pitched (4th), 2 complete games (2nd).

Do I think Sabathia deserves to win? Yes, as much as either of the other two at least. The most important numbers are very close. What might push the vote toward C.C. is the number of innings he pitched. Ironically, that may have hurt the big guy in the postseason, but should win him the award for the year.

Running on empty…

6 games in 9 days caught up to the Cavs last night, who simply ran out of gas.

After a good win against the Clippers, the Cavs were spent when they arrived in Denver. Obviously the Nuggets played well. Allen Iverson was shooting the roof off the building, Carmelo got his and J.R. Smith came off the bench for 29. Those three accounted for 88 points. For the Cavs’ starters it was LeBron with 27 and (crickets chirp) nobody.

It didn’t help that Larry Hughes was ejected after arguing about fouls after 4 minutes. Daniel Gibson was abused in the post, and once again found himself in foul trouble (a disturbing trend early this season). Zydrunas was playing with lead weights around his legs, after playing 39 minutes in LA. I’m telling you, we cannot play Z this many minutes a game. The injury watch is on for Z.