FanHouse Gaylord Perry

Last year CC Sabathia became the first Cleveland Indians pitcher to win the Cy Young Award since Gaylord Perry did it in 1972. Now Cliff Lee -- who coincidentally is the first Indians pitcher to win 20 games since Perry did it in 1974 -- has been named the first Indians pitcher to win the Cy Young since Sabathia did it last season, as he easily won the award over anybody else in the American League.

There wasn't much doubt as to who was going to win the award in the American League, though some thought Lee could get a challenge from Roy Halladay or Daisuke Matsuzaka, but neither of them deserved the award more than Lee did. After being sent down to the minors last season, Cliff returned to the bigs with a vengeance this past season going 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA.

Keep in mind that Lee won 22 games on a team that only won 81 games last season.

Roy Halladay did pick up four first place votes but finished in second place a mere 61 points behind Lee, with Francisco Rodriguez finishing in third. In other news, I would like anybody who voted for K-Rod to win the award to be prohibited for ever voting for anything ever again.

Had the voting for the Cy Young Award been taken after the playoffs, I think it's safe to say that Josh Beckett would have been a runaway winner. Unfortunately for Josh, that's just not the way things work, though I'm sure the World Series ring is a fantastic consolation prize.

The voting is based on the regular season, and the votes say that Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia is the Cy Young Award winner in the American League.

In voting conducted by members of the Baseball Writers Association of America, Sabathia beat Boston's Josh Beckett for his first American League Cy Young Award. He is only the second pitcher in Indians history to win the award -- the first being Gaylord Perry, who won it in 1972.

Sabathia went 19-7 for the Indians this season as he was the ace of a starting staff that led the Indians to an AL Central title, and a trip to the ALCS. Sabathia set all sorts of career highs this season, in wins, ERA (3.21), innings pitched (241, led the Majors), strikouts (209), and perhaps most importantly, games started (34).

Sabathia has always been a dominant pitcher, but he had always had trouble staying healthy. I don't think it's a coincidence that the first year he stayed healthy for a whole season he ends up winning the Cy Young Award.

All of which is probably going to lead to quite a hefty contract extension from the Indians before too long.