NL Cy Young

OK, so the two Miami writers actually thought Gaby Sanchez deserved NL Rookie of the Year over Posey and Heyward, and Feliz and Jackson both got a third-place vote somehow, but the rookie honors went as expected.  Tomorrow's award is another easy one, the NL Cy Young.  For the sake of argument, we'll go through some of the primary "candidates," but this (along with NL MVP) is the easiest award to predict.  If it isn't unanimous, it'll be close.  But it certainly should be unanimous.

At the All-Star break, it looked like Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez would be the lock, but four months later, he's just another also-ran.  Jimenez was 15-1 with a 2.20 ERA at the break.  And that first half included a no-no against the Braves, the first of six in the Year of the Pitcher.  However, he seriously slowed down after the break, going just 4-7 down the stretch.  Jimenez won't win, but it's very possible he could finish second.  If he doesn't, Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals probably will.  Wainwright was second in the National League in wins (20) and ERA (2.42) while also finishing fourth in strikeouts (213), but like Jimenez, he faded down the stretch.  And the Cardinals getting caught by the Reds in the NL Central will really hurt his chances.  The only guy who actually pitched well down the stretch is a dude in serious need of a haircut--two-time defending Cy Young winner Tim Lincecum of the World Series Champion Giants.  As usual, he led the National League with 231 strikeouts, and he went 5-1 in September to help the Giants win the NL West over the Padres.  But he only won 16 games, had a 3.43 ERA and only threw 212.1 innings.  He'd be the first pitcher since Randy Johnson, who won for in a row from 2001-04, to win three straight Cy Young awards, but Lincecum will have to settle for his World Series ring, which isn't a bad consolation prize.

With all that being said, if Roy Halladay doesn't win the NL Cy Young, they should revoke the BBWAA membership cards of the 32 guys who voted on this thing.  Since voting is done at the end of the regular seaosn, his no-hitter against the Reds in Game 1 of the Division Series (his second of the year, in his first career postseason start) doesn't count, but he had this award clinched long before then.  For starters, Halladay led the league with 21 wins, finished second with 219 strikeouts, and was third with a 2.44 ERA.  Then there's the matter of those 250.2 innings and nine complete games, which included four shutouts.  Oh yeah, and there was that perfect game against the Marlins in May, too.  Do I need to go on?  He was everything the Phillies expected when they traded for him, completely dominating National League hitters after finally getting liberated from the AL East.  This is a no-brainer.  Halladay wins handily.

If I were voting, I'd probably put Wainwright second and Jimenez third, but does that actually matter?  Really?  Up next, the managers.  And unlike the first three MLB awards of the year, there'll actually be competiton for both Manager of the Year awards.