currently:
1st in strikeouts
1st (tied) in wins
6th in era

right now i think grienke would win the cy. but since starting 8-1 with 7 er's in his first 10 starts, he's not getting support and his ear has become less out of this world.

after that, felix, haliday, and verlander all have excellent cases.

i think JV and felix are the two favorites at the moment.

Beckett, Buehrle, Weaver, and Sabathia also have a shot.

Remember that Beckett and Sabathia will get extra love for being in Boston and NY. Buerhlre has the sexy perfect game thing going for him.

Felix and Grienke both have issues with run support. They each have 5 quality starts that have gone as either a loss or a no-decision. To think they could be sitting on 15-16 wins right now based on the way they've pitched. Unfortunately, a guy like Edwin Jackson has been a victim as well, but he's sitting 3-4 wins behind the rest of these guys. Santana has made up deficits like that before, but those years he was a pre-season pick.

july 29 update:

first wins (12) tied
sixth in era (3.16)
first in strikeouts (172)

he's also 7th in innings pitched. a stat you like to see as low as possible, but at the end of the year a high one is indicative of a more valuable player.

at this point in his career, i think the kid gloves are off and we lean on him all the way to the end, unlike his rookie year when we had to protect him in the middle of a pennant race.

my prediction: if things stay the way they are, more or less, a verlander cy young will be tied to the tigers making the playoffs.

He's not even the best starter on THIS team.

Greinke, JV and Halladay all pitched tonight.
ZG - 2 ER in 6 w/ 7 K's in a ND
RH - 3 ER in 7 w/ 6 K's and took the loss (gave up 11 hits)
JV - 3 ER in 7 w/ 13 K's and got the win

JV obviously did better for himself tonight than the others.
Hernandez doesn't pitch again until Saturday at Texas.

Buehrle added to his perfect game by breaking the record for most consecutive hitters retired, going into the 7th perfect again in his last start. Sexy.

statistically didnt help his cause much tonight, but surviving the first inning and getting 8 innings and a no decision is a pretty nice recovery.

pitchers have nights like this. last year, maybe he only goes 3 and gives up more runs. tonight, he recovers. thats very cy youngish.

Meanwhile Greinke got seriously worked.

yea, i think grienke has a really tough path to the cy. he's a long shot.

its disapointing haliday didnt get traded to the NL. he's got a pretty strong case himself. his era 2.68 has a chance of leading the league by year end. but he's got far fewer strikeouts. wins will be a factor, and thus run support.

toronto isnt much better than detroit at producing runs. its a good thing for verlander seatle (felix) and kc (greinke) are so bad offensively.

this is going to be a good race down the stretch.

Halladay may have fewer strikouts, but look at his WHIP. He never walks people. Interestingly, Halladay faces the Yankees tonight, the same night Washburn makes his Det debut.

I understand that Felix and Greinke have better ERAs (and I have a slight bias), but if Verlander doesn't win the Cy Young this season it's a travesty, a sham and a mockery. The Cy Young should be given to the pitcher who steps up in clutch situations and stops slides. Verlander did that all season. Greinke should have his Cy Young taken away after Saturday (because that was the only pressure situation he pitched in all season) and Felix was never condending for the pennant. Verlander had to save the Tigers season on multiple occasions this season, and he ended up doing that.

Also, if Porcello steps in and wins tomorrow, they should just walk the rookie of the year award out to him right there. Asking a 20-year-old to do what he's doing puts him over the top. Fuck Andrus.

Greinke's gonna win, IMO, but JV deserves a ton of consideration for yesterday. When a pitcher with his credentials actually pitches his team into playoff position, or at least keeps them from being eliminated, singlehandedly, you have to take notice.

and I think that Gordon Beckham dude fromn the ChiSox is probably gonna win AL ROY, for some reason.

I figured Greinke would win, but his performance in his one clutch situation all season should DQ him. I know that sounds harsh, but his team was god-awful, and when have you seen a Cy Young go to a good pitcher on a shitty team? I thought Verlander should be third in voting until yesterday. Now I don't even think it should be a contest - he deserves it.

I'd vote for Hernadez from Seattle (if I were unbiased towards Verlander). I just hope CC doesn't get it. 19 wins with that offense is nothing.

19-5 with a 2.49 ERA is pretty damn good on a bad team too. They outperformed expectations largely due to his pitching. Grienke does have 6 complete games (3 shut outs).

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=4663979


NEW YORK -- Zack Greinke (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=5883) has won the American League Cy Young Award, beating out Felix Hernandez (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=6194) after a spectacular season short on wins but long on domination.
Greinke had a 16-8 record with a 2.16 ERA for the Kansas City Royals (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=kan). Hernandez went 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA for the Seattle Mariners (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=sea).
Greinke received 25 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points in balloting released Tuesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Hernandez drew two firsts, 23 seconds and one third for 80 points.
The Detroit Tigers (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=det)' Justin Verlander (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=6341) was third with the remaining first-place vote and nine thirds for 14 points. He was followed by the New York Yankees (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=nyy)' CC Sabathia (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=4553) with 13 points and Toronto Blue Jays (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/clubhouse?team=tor)' Roy Halladay (http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/players/profile?playerId=3973) with 11 points.
The NL winner is announced Thursday.


at least he beat CC

Porcello got 3rd in the ROY voting, too.

Porcello not getting ROY was a sham. Especially considering what he did during the Tigers "playoff" game. That should have won him the award right on the spot.

And Greinke should have lost the award for his shit performance in the one game he pitched all year that mattered.

^Just my humble and completely biased opinion.