Josh Beckett was robbed.Ok, ok, it was close if you didn't take the postseason into account, and the voting takes place before the postseason. If they had, Beckett was a lock for this year's Cy Young award. As it is, the AL Cy Young goes to C.C. Sabathia. The Indians ace received 19 of 28 first-place votes and finished with 119 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Boston's Beckett was second with eight first-place votes and 86 points, while John Lackey of the Los Angeles Angels got the other first-place vote and came in third. Cleveland's Fausto Carmona was fourth.
It's hard to feel too badly about Sabathia's award. He went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and 209 strikeouts, pitching a major league-high 241 innings. Beckett (20-7) became the only big league pitcher to win 20 games since 2005, compiling a 3.27 ERA in 200 2-3 innings. Lackey led the AL in ERA at 3.01, going 19-9 and tossing 224 innings. Carmona was 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA. After being sidelined by injuries the previous two seasons, the 6-foot-7, 290-pound left-hander stayed healthy all year and made 34 starts to Beckett's 30. That helped account for their wide gap in innings pitched. The 27-year-old Sabathia also walked only 37 batters, giving him a remarkable strikeout-to-walk ratio that took pressure off his defense all season. Beckett had 194 strikeouts and 40 walks.
Things changed in the postseason. Beckett beat Sabathia twice in the AL championship series and went 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA in four postseason starts, striking out 35 and walking two. Sabathia was 1-2 with an 8.80 ERA and 13 walks in three playoff outings.
AL and NL Manager of the Year will be announced Wednesday and then the NL Cy Young Award on Thursday, with San Diego ace Jake Peavy considered the favorite.
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As expected, the National League Cy Young Award fell right into Jake Peavy's lap, as the 26-year-old became the unanimous winner of the honor, as he was named first on all 32 of the ballots that were distributed to voting members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
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