Rocket's Red Glare
Add another Cy Young award to Roger Clemen's trophy case. Although Randy Johnson in my view deserved the award more than Clemens did, Clemen's better won-loss record earned him his record seventh Cy Young award this season.
Some impressive facts about the Rocket's award totals: he joined Randy Johnson, Pedro Martinez, and Gaylord Perry as the only pitchers to win a Cy Young in both leagues; he's now won the award on all four teams he's pitched for; and in an amazing testament to how long he's pitched at a high level, he won his first award in 1986, 19 seasons ago.
One of the neat things about baseball is being able to share your experiences with different generations. I used to ask my parents about what it was like to see some of the all-time greats. One day I will be able to tell my kids what it was like to watch one of the greatest pitchers, maybe the greatest pitcher, of all time.
Comments
So apparently having 20 wins isn't some kind of unspoken Cy Young prerequisite. If it were, Roy Oswalt would have been a shoo-in.
In which case, I think Randy Johnson should have won. The most strikeouts in MLB (290, which is 25 more than the nearest contender) and more by far than either Clemens (218) or Oswalt (206). The third best ERA in MLB with 2.60 vs. Clemens' ERA of 2.98. Only 2 less wins than Clemens. Johnson pitched for the worst team in baseball this year and yet managed to accomplish all that. I find that much more impressive.
Posted by: Lesley | November 9, 2004 05:41 PM
BTW, Randy Johnson was responsible for 31.4% of the Diamondbacks' wins this year. Clemens was responsible for 19.6% of the Astros' wins.
Posted by: Lesley | November 9, 2004 05:46 PM