D'Oh! The baseball writers have already crowned their NL pitcher of the year, tabbing Clayton Kershaw over Roy Halladay. It's never too late to critique it.
In a nutshell, this is a two-horse race and it's a photo finish. The two men pitched the same number of innings. Halladay relinquished two more earned runs, one run fewer overall. They had similar records, though a 12-1,1.31 second half gave Kershaw the shinier numbers. Halladay walked 54% fewer batters; Kershaw whiffed 13% more. Kerhsaw allowed one less baserunner every two games.
I can't fault anyone for giving Kershaw the trophy, though I would have selected Halladay. Chavez Ravine is a Cy Young machine, and Kershaw gets to pitch regularly against the weenie bats of San Francisco and San Diego. On the other hand, the 23-year-old southpaw went mano-a-mano with Tim Lincecum four times and beat him 2-1 in three of them -- and 1-0 once.
Halladay greetings might include a BABIP reference, with Kershaw's an unusually low .274. (Halladay's was a more typical .305.) But the .274 mark is par for the course with Kershaw, and can't be chalked up just to chance.
So take your pick. A majority of the BBWAA picked Kershaw; I'd pick Halladay; but either way, you've got a worthy winner.
b
2 comments:
Robbed again. Doc is still the best and everyone knows it.
Kershaw won the pitching triple crown. I wouldn't exactly say that Halladay got robbed. If Matt Kemp doesn't win the MVP, that's robbery.
Post a Comment