He deserved the win
Pedro Martinez is right. He got robbed on the Cy Young Award. It is time that the voting be taken out of the hands of baseball writers. This should be strictly statistical, with every pitching category given a certain weight by a committee of pitching specialists. Then we would take the personalities out of the voting. We would take out the notion that some writers should vote for Barry Zito because he never won the award before, and Martinez has. Or that Zito played on a division-winning team, and Martinez did not. Or that Zito is easier for the media to deal with than Martinez is. Simply going by the numbers, Pedro should have been a slam dunk. He beat Zito in every category except starts, innings, and wins (he had three less). Pedro had a better earned run average, gave up fewer hits and fewer runs, had more strikeouts, fewer walks, less run support and better performances against the best teams. Some talk about Zito pitching in the tougher AL West, but Pedro was 5-0 vs. that division. In games in which their teams scored four or fewer runs, Martinez was 9-4, Zito 5-4.
From today's Boston Globe - Will McDonough
Pedro Martinez is right. He got robbed on the Cy Young Award. It is time that the voting be taken out of the hands of baseball writers. This should be strictly statistical, with every pitching category given a certain weight by a committee of pitching specialists. Then we would take the personalities out of the voting. We would take out the notion that some writers should vote for Barry Zito because he never won the award before, and Martinez has. Or that Zito played on a division-winning team, and Martinez did not. Or that Zito is easier for the media to deal with than Martinez is. Simply going by the numbers, Pedro should have been a slam dunk. He beat Zito in every category except starts, innings, and wins (he had three less). Pedro had a better earned run average, gave up fewer hits and fewer runs, had more strikeouts, fewer walks, less run support and better performances against the best teams. Some talk about Zito pitching in the tougher AL West, but Pedro was 5-0 vs. that division. In games in which their teams scored four or fewer runs, Martinez was 9-4, Zito 5-4.
From today's Boston Globe - Will McDonough
