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Left-hander easily outdistances Halladay, Rodriguez for honor
By Sheldon Ocker
Beacon Journal sports writer
Published on Friday, Nov 14, 2008
Cliff Lee is no fool. He is quick to say he would trade a Cy Young Award for a World Series ring, but he knows that being selected the best pitcher in the American League is no small tribute.
''I'll do everything I can to repeat,'' the Indians left-hander said Thursday. ''I want to win it again next year. It definitely is something I want to make a habit of doing.''
Habitual Cy Young Award winners are rare, of course. Lee received his first such honor Thursday, as announced by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, whose members do the voting.
Lee got 24 first-place votes and four second-place votes for 132 points, based on a 5-3-1 system. Twenty-eight writers, two from each American League city, are charged with selecting the winner each season.
Toronto Blue Jays ace Roy
Halladay (20-11, 2.78 ERA) was a distant second with the remaining four first-place votes and 71 points; Francisco Rodriguez of the Los Angeles Angels, who set the major-league record with 62 saves, was third with 32 points.
If Lee doesn't claim a Cy Young Award next year, he wants to keep it in the family and continue the streak of Tribe winners. C.C. Sabathia, traded to the Milwaukee Brewers in July, won the 2007 AL Cy Young Award.
''I picked up a lot of things from C.C., and I would hope he picked up a few things from me,'' Lee said. ''I can't pinpoint any one thing he did that helped me, and there were some things I've seen him do that I wouldn't do. I hope there were things he saw me do that he wouldn't do.
''But C.C. was someone I leaned on. Basically, I could talk to him about anything. It was a benefit for me to see a guy right in front of me win a Cy Young. Hopefully, Fausto [Carmona] wins it next year, and we keep it in the Tribe.''
It doesn't take much more than a cursory look at the statistics to see how Lee earned the backing of the Cy Young Award voters.
He led the league in wins (22), ERA (2.54) and winning percentage (.880). He lost only three games, established a career high in innings (2231/3). He struck out 170 and walked only 34. He was a starter in the All-Star Game at Yankee Stadium and selected as a Sporting News postseason AL All-Star.
Most of all, Lee was relentlessly consistent in his excellence, with each start being almost a carbon copy of the last.
Not only was his pitching uniformly exceptional, his explanation for executing a super season never varied, and that includes his words Thursday, spoken from his home in Benton, Ark.
''I took one day at a time, one outing at a time,'' Lee said. ''I kept my mind in the moment.''
Lee's outstanding accomplishments seemed all the more improbable because of a disappointing 2007 season that began with an abdominal strain in spring training.
Even when Lee regained his health and returned to the rotation in early May, he was ineffective, compiling a 3-8 record and 7.40 ERA from May 23 through July 26 to earn a demotion to Triple-A.
When Lee was summoned back to the Indians in September, following the end of the minor-league season, he was not given back his job as a starter. Instead, he was told to take a seat in the bullpen, where he pitched only four times.
The hard lessons of 2007 were not lost on Lee.
''The main thing I wanted to do was put it behind me,'' he said. ''I used 2007 as motivation; I wanted to make sure that it didn't happen again. When you have a season like that, it motivates you to work harder.''
But would 2008 have happened without the hardships of 2007?
''I would like to think so, but there's really no way to know,'' he said. ''I do know that what I went through last year made me a mentally tougher baseball player. It wasn't fun. If I could go back and change things, I'd eliminate that seven-win season of '07.''
When Lee came to spring training last February, he was thrown into a competition for the fifth spot in the rotation with Jeremy Sowers and Aaron Laffey. Almost from the beginning, it was obvious that Lee would be the winner.
''I never really looked at competing for the fifth spot as that big a deal,'' he said. ''If I pitched the way I knew I could, I figured I would get the job.''
It didn't take long for Lee to become a one-man highlight show. After his first four starts, his ERA was a minuscule 0.28. And even when he gave up three runs in his fifth outing, an 8-3 win over the Seattle Mariners, he was 5-0 with a 0.96 ERA.
''After my fourth start, when my ERA was under 1.00, I knew it was going to be a special year,'' Lee said. ''But I had to keep my mind in the moment, because I knew that's why I had success early. I also knew I couldn't cut any corners.''
Lee is not worried that this star-studded year will go to his head.
''Once spring training starts, 2008 doesn't matter anymore,'' he said. ''Thinking that I can take it easy because I won the Cy Young — no way that happens. I want to do it again, and I think I can pick up where I left off, giving our team a chance to win every time I go out there.''
Silver Slugger
Grady Sizemore became the first Indians player to receive a Silver Slugger Award in four years Thursday.
He batted .268 with 33 home runs, 101 runs scored, 90 RBI and 38 steals in 43 attempts. Sizemore is the second player in the history of the franchise to hit at least 30 homers and steal at least 30 bases in a season. Joe Carter first accomplished the feat in 1987.
Sizemore ranked among the top 10 in the American League in runs, home runs, steals, total bases (318), extra base hits (77) and walks (98).
The last Tribe hitter to earn a spot on the Silver Slugger honorary team was catcher Victor Martinez in 2004. Sizemore is the first Indians outfielder to win a place on the squad since Juan Gonzalez in 2001.
Sizemore also won a Gold Glove for the second year in a row and was named to the Sporting News 2008 postseason AL All-Star Team for the third time.
Sheldon Ocker can be reached at socker@thebeaconjournal.com.
Cliff Lee is no fool. He is quick to say he would trade a Cy Young Award for a World Series ring, but he knows that being selected the best pitcher in the American League is no small tribute.
Get the full article here.
Comments
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Tallmadge, OH
Posted 06:58 AM, 11/14/2008
Cliff Lee was the only highlite of the 2008 season. Congrats Cliff on your AL CY award !!!
Posted 08:12 AM, 11/14/2008
What a year! congratulations!
Posted 10:23 AM, 11/15/2008
No Indian wins a Cy since 1972 and now it's two straight. It was Colon (in Anaheim) just two years ahead of CC's. That is a prideful run for the organization, but titles mean more than individual awards.