Josh Beckett Will Win Cy Young
Red Sox Starter Was American League's Best Pitcher Among Many Greats
Beckett led the Red Sox to the 2007 A.L. East Division crown. He will win the Cy Young Award, but he wasn't the only Junior Circuit pitcher who had a great season.
The 2007 Major League Baseball season is already being called "the Year of the Milestone" because three players passed the 500 home run mark, one more surpassed 600, Barry Bonds broke Hank Aaron's home run record, and Craig Biggio joined the 3,000 hit club. But the season could just as easily be remembered as the year that pitching made a big comeback in baseball, especially in the American League.
Beckett, Wang, and Sabathia Were The Best in a Great Class of Starting Pitchers
This season, eight American League starting pitchers won between 17 and 20 games. Six hurlers topped 200 strikeouts. Six logged ERAs lower than 3.30.
Fausto Carmona, who was a miserable 1-10 in 2006, became one of the best starters in the league, posting a 19-8 record and a 3.06 ERA for the playoff-bound Cleveland Indians. John Lackey and Kelvim Escobar won a combined 37 games for the A.L. West champion Los Angeles Angels. Erik Bedard was the one bright light on an otherwise pathetic Baltimore Orioles team.
So many had fine years, but the next three pitchers outclassed the rest.
Chien-Ming Wang of the New York Yankees was the one constant on a struggling and often injured pitching staff. After a slow start, Wang was just 4-4 with an ERA of 4.19 on June 1st. But over the final four months of the season, a time when the Yankees desperately needed someone to step up, Wang was perhaps the best starter in the game. Over that time, Wang won more games than any pitcher in baseball, went 15-3, and had an ERA of 3.26.
C.C. Sabathia of the Cleveland Indians was 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and 209 strikeouts. Those numbers are good enough to make him one of the two best starters in the American League. But the big guy actually pitched much better than his record showed. Over the course of the season, the 300-pound left hander had nine quality starts that ended with either a loss or a no decision. A few more good hitting performances from the Tribe, and Sabathia may have won 24 or 25 games.
Moreover, down the stretch he was at his best. In his final six starts, Sabathia went 5-0 with an earned run average of 2.45 and 39 strikeouts with only seven walks in 44 innings. Those kinds of numbers are worthy of a Cy Young award. However, C.C. is probably going to lose out to a certain starter from Boston.
Josh Beckett of the Boston Red Sox had a tough inaugural season in Boston in 2006. He did win 15 games, but his ERA ballooned to over 5.00 by the end of the season as the Red Sox missed the playoffs for the first time since 2002.
This season, Beckett started the season on fire, winning his first nine decisions and putting up an ERA of 2.88 by June 8th. While Beckett slumped a bit in the middle of the year, he rebounded nicely in August and September to finish the year as the only 20 game winner in the Major Leagues. He also ended up sixth in ERA (3.27), seventh in strikeouts (194) and fourth in WHIP (1.14).
Those impressive numbers, combined with the Red Sox winning the American League East title for the first time in 13 years, make Beckett the favorite to win the 2007 American League Cy Young award.
Relief Pitching Brilliance
But the first-class hurling wasn't limited to the starters. Five relievers also put together remarkable years.
J.J. Putz of the Seattle Mariners had perhaps the best season for an American League closer since Dennis Eckersley in 1992. Putz went 6-1 and recorded 40 saves in 42 opportunities, and he posted an absurdly low earned run average of 1.38, and a WHIP of 0.70.
White Sox stopper Bobby Jenks set a Major League record by retiring 41 consecutive hitters -- that's the equivalent of pitching one and a half straight perfect games.
Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels struck out 90 batters in just 67 innings on his way to a 5-2 record with 40 saves and an earned run average of 2.81.
Minnesota's Joe Nathan continued to show why he is one of the best relievers in the game: he went 4-1 with a 1.85 ERA and 77 Ks in 71 innings.
Finally, the Red Sox Jonathan Papelbon, who originally was slotted to be a starter this year, put together his second consecutive brilliant season as a ninth-inning stopper. Pap saved 37 games, struck out 84 batters in just 57 innings, had an ERA of 1.88 and a miniscule WHIP of just 0.77.
Maybe steroid testing has slowed down the hitters. Maybe pitchers are just working harder. Or maybe the alleged "juice" has been taken out of the baseball as well as the batters. No matter what is was, there is no doubt that this year, pitching made a strong comeback in the American League in 2007.
