Why Johan Santana Should Win The Cy Young Over Tim Lincecum
Johan and Tim both had the same amount of no decisions this season with 11.
However one important difference, Johan had 4 no decisions where the Mets actually came back to win after he pitched at least 6 innings and gave up two runs or less. Tim Lincecum had two similar games.
Tim Lincecum had one shutout this season. Johan Santana had two. The last of which was on a key deciding game for the Mets to make the wild-card (second to last game) on three days of rest for Santana. Essentially he had to risk injuring his arm to try to will the Mets into the playoffs. I think we know how that ended.
The overall record for Johan Santana for this season was:
W-L: 16-7
ERA: 2.53
K: 206
WHIP: 1.15
IP: 243
The overall record for Tim Lincecum for this season was:
W-L: 18-5
ERA: 2.62
K: 265
WHIP: 1.17
IP: 227
The one statistic I think places my CY Young vote (If I had one to give) to Santana is this; Licecum had five games where he pitched six or more innings, giving up three runs or less and not getting a win, but rather a no decision or a loss.
Johan Santana pitched 11 games like this.
So if we split (really) these games giving Lincecum two and half and Santana 5 and a half additional wins their overall records would be;
Lincecum 20.5-5 (21-5)
Santana 21.5-7 (22-7)
Imagine if these guys got the run support that Brandon Webb got this season. Imagine if they only had five no decisions on the year. Either one of these guys pitching on a team that can hit the ball and not blow games could come the closest to winning 30 games.
I think Lincecum is the most dominant pitcher in baseball when his stuff is on.
There’s no doubt based on his performances to date Lincecum will win a few Cy Young awards of his own. Hopefully he’ll either end up on a better team or the San Francisco Giants (their winning percentage is under .400 when he isn’t pitching) will get a heck of a lot better and soon. That being said for overall best pitching performance this season my vote goes to Johan Santana.
We’re big sports fans here at CreativePayment.com – This is a little off topic, but I’m really passionate about two things; money and baseball.