This is Getting Too Predictable

On Monday, as expected Red Sox 2B Dustin Pedroia was named the 2007 AL Rookie of the Year. Yesterday, C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians was named the AL Cy Young. The surprising part was that Sox ace Josh Beckett was such a distant second (Sabathia got 18 first-place votes while Beckett had 9). C.C had 119 total points, Beckett had 86 points. Two writers even left Beckett out of the top-three which is a joke but thankfully, that didn't decide the vote for Sabathia. Much like David Ortiz in 2005 (who should have won the AL MVP), Beckett was the best. Regardless, the Red Sox won the World Series (for the second time in four years, thanks in large part to a lights out Beckett) so crying about losing out on these regular season individual awards is pointless.

Beckett's 2007 numbers: 20-7, 3.27 ERA, 30 starts, 194 strikeouts, 200.2 innings, opponents hit .245, 1.14 WHIP, 8.7 K's per 9 innings. He was the majors only 20-game winner and the first since 2005. Sabathia's 2007 numbers: 19-7, 3.21 ERA, 34 starts, 209 strikeouts, 241 innings, opponents hit .259, 1.14 WHIP, 7.8 K's per 9 innings.

As you can see from the numbers, it was very tight between those two guys. It seems like the thing that really swayed voters was the innings pitched. Sabathia went 40.1 more innings than Beckett. The ironic thing is that Beckett most likely would have had slightly better numbers if he had made as many starts. He missed two starts in May with an avulsion on his pitching hand. This award is solely based on the regular season therefore making it rather useless if said pitcher also makes the postseason. If the playoffs had been taken into account, Sabathia probably would have finished third behind Beckett and his teammate Fausto Carmona. The sheer amount of innings seemed to catch up with Sabathia in the playoffs as he was completely worn out and as a result served as batting practice against the Yankees and Sox. Beckett on the other hand was the best starting pitcher in the playoffs. It wasn't even close. Beckett has two World Series rings and he is at the top of his game while also banging a neverending line of hot chicks. I don't think he's too worried about losing out to Sabathia, his life is just fine.