Well Walter,

I guess you were right in your prediction that Sabathia would win the Cy Young. I can't imagine how Sabathia would get even one first place vote when you consider how inferior the bats are in the the AL Central to those in the AL East. The divisional teams Becket faced four or five times each--the Yankees, Blue Jays, and even the Devil Rays--had much better hitting than those in the Central (other than the Tigers). If this were the 80s, when every team faced every other team the same number of times, Becket would have had four or five more wins than anyone else in the AL. I know these awards don't really matter, but it bugs me that strength of schedule doesn't factor into these kinds of votes. It seems to me that it is just a matter of common sense.

Bill

Well everything I've read factors in heavily the significant number of innings that Sabathia pitched over Beckett's innings. Of course Beckett was temporarily sidelined with the "Evulsion" (SP?) mid-season, which was part of the reason. You just knew it was going to happen though. I really think Beckett cost himself the award during his last outing, when he had a chance at the 21st win, but got rocked. That happened just before the voting. Oh well...at least Pedroia got the Rookie of the Year and Youkilis got a gold glove. I have a suspicion that Wedge will end up giving Cleveland another award soon.

Well, it's easy to throw more innings when you are throwing against the Royals, White Sox, and Twins so much. He wouldn't have had that many innings in a stronger division.

No argument here!

I know it sounds like sour grapes, and I'm sorry about that. But the unbalanced schedule really hurts teams in the AL East--and not just the Sox. Even the Devil Rays may have finished 10 games better playing the west and central teams more often. I suspect that the Sox and Yankees would both have finished with over 100 wins.

No doubt Beckett was hurt by this. His numbers would have dwarfed Sabatthia's. Of course, on the flip sided, A-Hole would have hit more homers, so I guess I can't complain too much.