AL Cy Young Award

How did Pedro not win?

He lead Zito in Wiining Percentage, ERA, Earned Runs, Opponent Avg, Strikeouts (with even less starts), Walks, Hits, and HR's..

I'm not Peter Gammons but something don't smell right.

[Mr_Cheeze]

Most baseball writers across the country are simply anti-Boston. I don't think they like it that Ramirez won the batting title. And I think that every chance they get many writers would vote against a Boston player if it was close.

And lets face facts here, Mr. NOO, it was a very close race, aside from the stats, which don't tell the whole story. I think Pedro should have won, too, but I don't begrudge Zito, who also had a great year. Wouldn't it be ironic if, when Zito's contract expires and he demands big $$, that the Sox pick him up. It'll either be Boston or New York.

[gungywump]

His votes likely got split with Lowe.

Cheese-

I don't think Zito doesn't deserve it but being a Sox fan and Pedro having the season he had even after what happened to him last season...i was pulling for him.

[Mr_Cheeze]

Me too. It might have something to do with the fact that Zito only makes $500,000 a year (ONLY?!?!?!) while Pedro makes over $13 mil. Perhaps there is a conspiracy. But Zito did pitch more games against quality opponents. I can see where this might have been the overriding factor.

And no, Pedro's voted were not split with Lowe's. He fell out of the running late in the season.

This is from Espn.com

Voting for the AL Cy Young Award, with first-, second- and third-place votes and total points on a 5-3-1 basis:
Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total
Zito, Oak. 17 9 2 114
Martinez, Bos. 11 12 5 96
Lowe, Bos. -- 7 20 41
Washburn, Ana. -- -- 1 1

[splat]

Looking at those #'s I'm amazed Lowe didn't get any 1st place votes.