SEATTLE -- Felix Hernandez didn't get much help from his Seattle Mariners teammates last season on an offensively-challenged team, but the young right-hander found plenty enough support among the Baseball Writers' Association of America to win his first American League Cy Young Award. Despite posting just a 13-12 win-loss record, Hernandez finished well ahead of the Rays' David Price and Yankees 21-game winner CC Sabathia in the voting results released Thursday by the BBWAA. But Hernandez impressed voters who looked deeper into his dominant season for a 61-101 Mariners club that scored the fewest runs per game of any Major League team since the designated hitter was introduced to the AL in 1973. Hernandez led the AL in ERA (2.25) and innings pitched (249 2/3) and struck out 232 batters, one behind the Angels' Jered Weaver for most in the league. Since the advent of the Cy Young Award in 1956, only 10 pitchers have led their league in those three categories. All 10 won Cy Youngs. By virtually every statistical category, whether traditional or sabermatic, Hernandez had an incredible season. Yet his 13-12 record created an interesting debate for the 28 Cy Young voters, two writers from each AL city. No starting pitcher had ever won an AL Cy Young Award with fewer than 16 wins. Fernando Valenzuela captured the NL Cy Young Award in 1981 with a 13-7 record, but that was a strike-shortened season in which teams played about 110 games. Tim Lincecum's 15-7 record last year represented the lowest victory total by a starting pitcher who won the National League Cy Young Award in a full 162-game season. It was a reversal of fortunes for Hernandez, who finished second to Kansas City's Zack Greinke in the '09 AL Cy Young voting, outscored 134-80 in that balloting as Greinke garnered 25 first-place votes to two for Hernandez. In that case, it was Greinke who won despite a 16-8 record (compared to Hernandez's 19-5 mark) in large part because he posted league-leading ERA and WHIP numbers and a higher strikeout total than Hernandez. Hernandez, 24, was fighting more than just the low win totals and lack of run production from his team. The young Venezuelan wasn't even among the 18 pitchers named to the AL All-Star team in July. Since 1998, only one pitcher -- Minnesota's Johan Santana in 2004 -- won a Cy Young after being left out of that year's Midsummer Classic. Hernandez was 6-5 with a 3.03 ERA heading into July, then dominated in the second half, posting a 1.53 ERA in his final 15 starts, tying for the third-lowest post-All-Star ERA in the AL in the past 25 years. Sabathia, meanwhile, put up an AL-leading 21 victories for the Yankees and was second to Hernandez in innings pitched at 237 2/3, but was sixth in strikeouts (197), seventh in ERA (3.18) and 10th in WHIP (1.19). Hernandez finished first in innings, first in ERA (2.27), second in strikeouts and second in WHIP (1.06). He was 18th in wins. Price was second to Sabathia in wins with his 19-6 record for the Rays. He ranked third in ERA (2.72), eighth in strikeouts (188), 11th in WHIP (1.19) and 15th in innings pitched (208 2/3). His 30 quality starts (in 34 appearances) were the most by an AL pitcher since Bret Saberhagen posted the same total in 1989 while winning his second Cy Young for Kansas City. How little help did Hernandez receive from his club? The Mariners scored more than four runs in just seven of his 34 starts. The Yankees scored more than four runs in 23 of Sabathia's 34 starts. The only previous Mariners pitcher to win a Cy Young Award was Randy Johnson in 1995, and Seattle hadn't captured any of the BBWAA honors since 2001 when Ichiro Suzuki took the AL MVP and AL Rookie of the Year awards and Lou Piniella was AL Manager of the Year. http://tinyurl.com/2g3bknz 官網也發新聞了 --

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