News
Mariners feel Felix has Cy credentials
Skipper Wakamatsu believes young hurler deserves award
By Jim Street / MLB.com
11/16/09 3:55 PM EST
As the end of the regular season approached, Mariners manager Don Wakamatsu put his own stud pitcher, right-hander Felix Hernandez, at the top of his list of candidates for the American League Cy Young Award.And on the day before the winner is to be announced, the manager was sticking to his guns.
"I have said this over and over, mainly because of the way he finished, that if I had a vote for it, I would choose Felix," Wakamatsu said. "The impact he had, and maybe I'm prejudiced in that aspect, but I don't think anybody had as much impact on their club as Felix has had on this one."
Hernandez's impact was felt in numerous ways:
• He had an overall record of 19-5, a 2.49 ERA and the Mariners were 25-9 in games he started.
• He had 24 quality starts in his final 25 outings, compiling a 15-2 record and 1.98 ERA during that stretch.
• Hernandez was one of just two AL pitchers to finish the season ranked in the top five of the pitchers' Triple Crown -- wins, ERA, strikeouts. Blue Jays right-hander Roy Halladay was the other.
• Of Hernandez's 19 wins, 15 of them came after Mariners losses, including a club-high three-game skid in mid-June.
• He compiled a 10-4 record and 2.73 ERA in 20 starts against the top 10-scoring teams in the Major Leagues.
And those are just some of the reasons the Mariners believe Hernandez could become the second pitcher in franchise history to win a Cy Young Award. Left-hander Randy Johnson in 1995 became the only Seattle hurler to land the league's most coveted pitching award.
The Big Unit won in a landslide, garnering 26 of the 28 first-place votes from a panel of Baseball Writers' Association of America members.
The outcome is expected to be much closer this time around.
There are four or five legitimate contenders, including Hernandez and Royals right-hander Zack Greinke, who already has received several AL best-pitcher honors during the offseason.
Greinke, who led the Major Leagues in ERA (2.16) and was second in the AL in strikeouts, had a breakout season on a team that finished last in the AL Central. Left-hander CC Sabathia lived up to his billing and helped pitch the Yankees to the AL East title -- and the ensuing World Series championship for New York. Detroit's Justin Verlander, along with Blue Jays right-hander Roy Halladay, also had superb seasons.
So this figures to be anything but a one- or two-horse race and the winner will be announced at 11 a.m. PT on Tuesday.
Hernandez shrugged off any suggestion that he would emerge as the winner.
"If it happens, it happens," Hernandez said. "I feel pretty good about my season, so that's the most important thing."
Jim Street is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
