Zito Snaps Streak

Barry Zito snapped the A's streak of being runners up in the AL Cy Young race. Tim Hudson was runner up in 2000 ,Mark Mulder was screwed out of the award in 2001 to Roger Clemens (please, there's not even an argument to make).

Zito had his back up against the wall as most pundits had Pedro Martinez winning the award. Many pointed to Pedro's stats and those of Derek Lowe and tried to make an argument. Win Shares had Zito ahead. Zito had the better numbers for a starting pitcher. Still, some go by the linear thinking of counting stats and get caught in the turnstiles.

Every other 'minor' pitcher award gave Zito the nod.

Who would you think was the better pitcher; the guy who performed well against the tough teams or a pitcher who performed below average or average at best against tough teams, especially when it mattered?

Zito was the best starting pitcher in the American League in 2002. It angers us to see it becasue Zito will demand at least $1 million more a year on the open market in a few years. Agents love awards.

Still, many have Zito 'edging' Martinez for the award.

HUH?


Zito got 17 1st place votes and 114 points. Martinez had 11 first place votes and 96 points.

17-11, if it's a football game it's a close game. If it's baseball, it's a slugfest. In this case Zito got 60% of the first place votes. We're leaning toward a walk. Not a cake walk. Maybe just a stroll.

114-96. If it's a basketball game it was a crushing defeat. Nearly 20 points. Well, maybe a cruising win.

When they announce the AL MVP a few dolts will talk about how the award is not for the best player on a pennant winner. Well, the award isn't for the guy with the best stats, either.

Offense counts, but stats don't always tell the tale-it's harder to hit when you need to win a game rather than when it doesn't really matter.


Defense counts, and you can't gauge defense with numbers-you need to apply the numbers to see how they matter.

Who is the better defender; the guy who gets to a lot of balls others can't and makes the plays (and several fantastic plays) or the guy who gets to the balls he's supposed to and makes all the plays he's suppsoed to with a highlighter every month or so?

Depends on who you ask and how they understand the game.

Who's the better player; the guy who needs to try and hit the ball the other way to advance a runner if he can't get an inside pitch to turn on or the guy who can swing away no matter what the score or situation?

Depends on who you ask and how they don't understand the game.

Value has it's own meaning and until you understand what value is you can't make a judgement call. The MVP ballots are vague and don't offer any hints on which way voters need to vote. MLB lists criteria and then leaves it up to the baseball writers to try and make a case without writing a word. For guys who like to shoot off their mouths a lot (why is it that writers do that, shouldn't they have picked a different profession) it becomes a hit or miss transaction.