Royals’ Greinke claims league’s pitching honor
Those who work closest with Felix Hernandez insist his runner-up finish for the 2009 American League Cy Young Award is only the beginning.
Seattle pitching coach Rick Adair said Hernandez, who finished a distant second to Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke in Cy Young voting announced Tuesday, took a major step forward in learning to harness his pitches. Once Hernandez becomes even more economical in the number of pitches he throws, Adair said, he can post numbers even better than his 19-5 record and 2.49 earned-run average from this past season.
“Felix is going to get better,” Adair said. “We’re excited about it.”
A closer examination of Hernandez’s numbers from the 2009 campaign appears to bear that out.
After a loss to the Angels on May 19 left him 4-3 with a 4.19 ERA, Hernandez had been averaging 15.75 pitches an inning. From that point onward, he averaged 15.0 pitches a frame and his season took off from there.
“He showed a willingness to make some adjustments and just take things a little more serious,” Adair said.
In the end, it wasn’t enough to overtake Greinke, who garnered 25 of a possible 28 first-place votes cast by members of the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Hernandez had two first-place votes, and Justin Verlander of the Detroit Tigers received the other.
Greinke’s vote total was worth 130 points, with Hernandez next at 80 in what was essentially a two-horse race. Verlander was third at 14 points, followed by CC Sabathia of the Yankees at 13 and Roy Halladay of the Blue Jays at 11.
“Greinke deserved it,” Hernandez told The Associated Press from his home in Venezuela. “Before the season was over, I said my vote was for him.”
Hernandez added: “This has taught me that I need to be perfect. I will prepare myself to be stronger next season. I will need a superb year because just a good one, it’s not enough.”
Hernandez’s season was better than merely “good” — his ERA was lower than that registered by any of the previous eight AL Cy Young winners.
But Greinke’s 2.16 ERA was a third of a run better, the best by an AL starter since Pedro Martinez in 2000 and helped overcome a win total of only 16 that tied for the lowest ever by a Cy Young starter.
Greinke’s candidacy was likely helped by a 6-0 start and winning eight of his first nine decisions with an ERA of 0.84.
Short hops
n Indians — Sandy Alomar Jr. is back with the Cleveland Indians. The popular former All-Star catcher has been hired by new Indians manager Manny Acta as a first-base coach. Alomar spent the past two years as a catching instructor for the New York Mets. He will mentor Cleveland’s catchers. Alomar played 20 seasons in the majors — 11 in Cleveland — before retiring in 2007.
n yankees — The New York Yankees declined a $1.25 million option on pitcher Sergio Mitre. The right-hander was not on the postseason roster. Mitre now becomes eligible for salary arbitration. The 28-year-old had elbow ligament replacement surgery in July 2008 and agreed to a minor league contract with the Yankees last offseason. He sat out the first 50 games while serving a suspension for testing positive for a banned substance.
