And just to provoke a little reaction, from Tom Weir of USA Today (not quite sure how tongue-in-cheek he's trying to be):
Felix Hernandez's 13 wins shouldn't equal a Cy Young
The AL's Cy Young winner will be announced tomorrow and it probably is going to land in the hands of Felix Hernandez, the proud possessor of a 13-12 record.
And that will drive me a little nuts.
Make no mistake, Hernandez had a heckuva season for a Mariners team that often looked like it was recruited from a Seattle animal shelter. He ranked first in most of the key statistical categories: ERA (2.27), innings pitched (249.2), strikeouts (232), opponents batting average (.212). He tied for the league lead in starts (34) and was third for complete games (6).
But his win-loss record was one game above .500, and 13 victories is a total that most past Cy Young winners would consider an off year.
I detest the Yankees and their checkbook championships, but if I had a Cy Young vote this year it would go to CC Sabathia, who was 21-7 with a 3.18 ERA. The trend has been to judge pitchers by everything except their won-loss record, and I think that takes the game down a naive path. Any pitcher whose team loses should not leave the clubhouse feeling good because he had a "quality start."
The first Cy Young winners I spent any time around were Catfish Hunter and Vida Blue, who won their awards with respective 25 and 24-wins seasons. They took losses hard, and if anyone had ever tried to cheer them up with compliments about a good WHIP stat on the day of a defeat they would have been met with a cold, hard stare.
Hunter was especially adept at winning by whatever score was necessary. He'd work with the run support he had and take a 6-5 victory, or lock it down when a pitcher's duel ensued and hang in for a 2-1 win.
If you're rooting for Hernandez, you can lift some debating material from this fine column by Mark Whicker of the Orange County Register.
But for me, 13 wins by a starter just doesn't compute to a Cy Young award.
It lowers the bar on the most important stat in sports. And while we're at it, let's ban 9-7 teams from the NFL playoffs, not let anyone make the cut at the Masters unless they're under par and deport the next person who promotes a 128-team NCAA tournament.
