Royals’ Greinke wins AL Cy Young Award
Published 2:41 am Wednesday, November 18, 2009
NEW YORK — Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young Award on Tuesday, beating out Felix Hernandez after a spectacular season short on wins but long on domination.
Greinke went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA for the Kansas City Royals. Hernandez went 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA for the Seattle Mariners.
Greinke received 25 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Hernandez drew two firsts, 23 seconds and one third for 80 points.
Detroit’s Justin Verlander was third with the remaining first-place vote and nine thirds for 14 points. He was followed by the Yankees’ CC Sabathia with 13 points and Toronto’s Roy Halladay with 11 points.
The NL winner will be announced Thursday.
Greinke’s ERA was the lowest in the AL since Pedro Martinez’s 1.74 ERA in 2000 and his 242 strikeouts were second in the league behind Verlander.
It was quite a turnaround for the 26-year-old right-hander, who was the sixth overall pick in the 2002 amateur draft but led the AL in losses in 2005 when he went 5-17.