Your Turn: Try These On for
Cys
Posted: Wed September 9, 1998
According to this week's issue of Sports Illustrated, Roger
Clemens and Pedro Martinez are neck and neck in the
American League Cy Young race, with David Wells not far
behind. We want your opinion: Who should win the award and
why?
Here's what SI's Michael Farber had to say about the
intriguing three-horse
race:
"We can think of compelling reasons that favor each of
the front-runners: Pedro Martinez (sent Rolex watches last
week to his former manager and coaches in Montreal as a
token of appreciation) and Roger Clemens (hit balls to his
sons on the field after
the game last Thursday').
"The serious, break-out-your-calculator stuff? ... If
you took a snapshot last Saturday night, Clemens had a
minuscule edge, though New Yorkers might argue
that Yankees lefthander David Wells, who was 17-2 with a perfect
game, might make this whole
thing an exercise in rock-paper-scissors. Martinez left after
giving up three runs in seven innings last Thursday in a
game Boston would lose to the Blue Jays 4-3 in 11 innings,
but Clemens trumped him with his 18th victory on Saturday,
also 4-3. Clemens
allowed two runs on three hits and struck out 11 in eight
innings, tying Martinez and three otherts for the major
league lead in wins; moving eight strikeouts ahead of
Martinez, with a league-high 227; lowering his ERA to 2.62,
also a league best and 0.09
better than his rival; and whittling his opponents' batting
average to a puny .192, a comfortable .026 ahead of
Martinez's. Martinez, who at 18-4 has two fewer losses, is
a close second in almost all these categories, nothing a
shutout can't rearrange.
Wells, meanwhile, is fifth in the league in ERA at 3.22, but
he has more complete games (seven) and shutouts (five) than
the other two contenders. With four or five starts left for
each, the only thing certain is that 28 voting baseball
writers can't take
Pedro and the
points."
Support your pitcher in 50 words or less, and don't forget
to say why he should win. A selection of responses will be
posted, based on creativity and general
clarity.
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