C.C. Sabathia Wins AL Cy Young Award
Posted November 13, 2007 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Cleveland left-hander C.C. Sabathia beat out several rivals to become the first Indians pitcher in 35 years to win the AL Cy Young Award Tuesday.
Sabathia received 19 of 28 first-place votes, finishing with 119 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America.
It was a fairly comfortable margin of victory for Sabathia, with Boston’s Josh Beckett garnering the second most first place votes with eight. Los Angeles Angels pitcher John Lackey came third with one first place nod. The Indians’ Fausto Carmona was fourth, Baltimore Orioles lefty Erik Bedard of Navan, Ont., and Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy Halladay each received a single third-place vote.
Sabathia 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 over 224 innings.
Voting took place before the post-season, which worked in the big lefty’s favour since Sabathia struggled while Beckett pitched the Red Sox to a World Series championship. Beckett beat Sabathia twice in the AL championship series and went 4-0 with a 1.20 ERA in four post-season starts, striking out 35 and walking two. Sabathia was 1-2 with an 8.80 ERA in three playoff outings.
The only other Cleveland pitcher to win the award was Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in 1972 and the 6’7″, 290-pounder is the first black pitcher to win a Cy Young Award since Dwight Gooden of the New York Mets in 1985 and the first in the AL since Oakland’s Vida Blue in 1971.
