Cy Young Awards and No Hitters: Winners and Losers
Written by Kerri Senno, Friday August 14 2009
Over the last twenty years, there have been some outstanding pitching arms to grace the mound. Names like Pedro Martinez, Greg Maddux, Dwight Gooden and Roger Clemens come to mind; they are pitchers who have wowed crowds, stunned hitters and earned their fair share of Cy Young awards. The Cy Young award rewards the greatest pitching performance of an entire season. While there have been great pitchers who have never earned this award, there are also several subpar pitchers with a temporarily warranted Cy Young award as the only thing to show from their careers.
Great Careers, No Cy Young
There were not many teams beating the Atlanta Braves pitchers in the 90s, and after all Kevin Brown was only one man (Brown lost to Smoltz in Cy Young voting in 96)
- Brown had one of the most dominant pitching seasons in the last twenty years in 1996 going 17-11 with a 1.89 ERA over 233IP. He had 5 Complete games and posed a 159/33 Strikeout to Walk Ratio. 33 walks! That is one walk every 7 innings.
- Brown finished in the top 10 in Cy Young voting 5 times in his career
- He boasts a .594 winning percentage with 211 career wins and 3.28career ERA
- In Oswalt’s early career, he has finished top five in Cy Young voting over seven seasons.
- Oswalt has a stellar .665 career winning percentage playing for a team that only has a .526 winning percentage over his tenure
- Oswalt has won 20 games twice in his career, and held the career best ERA in 2006 with 2.98
- Oswalt consistently puts up over 200 innings striking out more than 160 guys per year.
- The poor guy lost rookie of the year to none other than Albert Pujols in 2001
Similarly in 2003, Eric Gagne won the Cy Young with 55 saves and a 1.20 ERA. Yes, these are fantastic seasons, but what about Rivera and Hoffman?
Rivera
- Rivera has finished in the top 5 of Cy Young voting 5 times in his career. He has also gotten MVP Votes. He has 515 career saves, good for second all time.
- In 2003, Rivera had 53 Saves with a 1.94 ERA and finished 3rd in voting
- In 2004, Rivera had a 1.38 ERA and 43 saves, and finished 2nd in voting.
- Rivera is a career 69-51 pitcher with a 2.27 ERA, and 989 strikeouts over 1,072 innings. As he approaches 40, he is still one of the most feared closers in baseball
Hoffman
- Hoffman is the all time saves leader with 580. He has finished top five in Cy Young voting four times in his career, placing runner up twice.
- In 1998, Hoffman saved 53 games for the Padres with a 1.48 ERA striking out 86 in 72 IP.
- Eight years later, Hoffman finished second again with a 2.14 ERA for the same San Diego Padres with a league high 46 saves
- Schilling finished top 5 in Cy Young voting four times in his career, placing runner up twice in his late thirties.
- In 2004, Schilling was 21-6 with a 3.26 ERA and 203 strikeouts, not bad for a 37 year old
- Most importantly for Schilling he has three World Series Rings. Although post season performances are not accounted for in Cy Young voting, Schilling is one of the best post season pitchers of his generation
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- Over his 18 year career, Musina finished top six in Cy Young voting nine times
- He boasted his best ERA in 1992 when he went 18-5 with a 2.54 ERA with 8 complete games
- Mussina retired just thirty wins shy of the elusive 300, and 187 strikeouts shy of 3,000
- He also has six gold gloves, no World Series Rings and no Cy Young
He Won a Cy Young!?
- Mark Davis has a .378 winning percentage with 51 wins and 84 losses
- Davis has a career 4.17 ERA and 96 career saves, 44 of which came in 1989
- In 1992, he had more walks than strikeouts
- In 1996, 27 year old Pat Hentgen won the Cy Yougn winning 20 games for the Toronto Blue Jays with a 3.22 ERA. He struck out 177 that year
- Over his 14 year career, Hentgen’s ERA fell below 4.09 only four times
- He ended his career with 131 wins to 112 losses with a 4.32 ERA
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- Colon has a career 153 wins vs. 103 losses; he has a 4.10 career ERA averaging 167ks/season
Eric Gagne had a fantastic three year career; it is the seven years surrounding those three years that were not so hot
- Over the 2002, 2003 and 2004 seasons Gagne saved 152 games for the Dodgers with an ERA under 2. He struck out a whopping 365 batters over 246.3 innings
- Gagne saved sixty-three consecutive games
- Flash forward, 2007, Red Sox trade for Eric Gagne, radio announcers everywhere foaming at the mouth of the idea of Gagne and Papelbon in the same bullpen. The result? A comedy of errors.
- Outside of those three seasons, Gagne has recorded thirty-five saves, and 353 strikeouts over seven seasons
- Gagne has a career 3.47 ERA. He has over a 4.50 ERA over the past three seasons, and needless to say, he was not a God sent for the Boston Red Sox
5. Barry Zito
- Early in his career, Zito looked to have the potential to be great. He could have been a 300 game winner, eh could have been a multiple Cy Young award winner; instead, he was granted a huge contract and rewarded the San Francisco Giants with a league worst 17 losses in 2008
- Zito earned his Cy Young in 2003 with a 23-5 Record and a 2.75 ERA
- Since 03’, Zito has 84 wins to 86 losses with a 4+ ERA
- His 162 game average has him as a 14-11 pitcher with a 3.86 ERA. Those are not Cy Young numbers
Top Five Guys without No Hitters
1. Pedro Martinez
Pedro Martinez possesses some of the most dominant pitching seasons of his generation with sub 2 ERAs twice in a steroid plagued era. He has 215 career wins to 99 career losses with a 2.92 ERA. He won 20 games twice in his career and averaged 244 strikeouts a year over 218 innings.
He was robbed of a no hitter after he gave up a hit in the 10th inning while pitching for the Montreal Expos. He has 17 Career shutouts and 46 complete games, yet no no-no.
Pedro Martinez’ brother, Ramon, has one no hitter
2. Roger Clemens
3. Greg Maddux
Maddux has four Cy Young Awards, 355 Wins, a 3.16 ERA, over 3,300 strikeouts. Maddux has 109 Career Complete games and No No-Nos
4. Johan Santana
Santana has been one of the best pitchers in the game over the past few seasons; however he has no run support, and will probably never have a no hitter now that he is on the Mets.
5. Tom Glavine
Glavine has won 20 games five times in his career. He has two Cy Youngs, 305 Career wins 25 career shutouts, and no no-no.
He Has a No Hitter!?
- Hideo Nomo with his 4.24 Career ERA has 2 No Hitters
- Eric Milton has a career 4.99 ERA a .511 Winning % and one no hitter
- Kevin Gross has one all star appearance over 15 seasons, a .473 winning percentage and one no hitter
- Scott Erickson went 8-19 in 1993, and pitched a no hitter in 1994
- Jose Jiminez was a starter one year of his 7 year career. He went 5-14 with a 5.85 ERA, and one no hitter
FYI Jim Abbott has one arm and one no hitter more than the New York Mets
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2 comments
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Yeah, it was 9 perfect innings too. That's brutal!
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I think the ruling about Pedro's no-no is ridiculous. If you throw 9 innings of no hit baseball you should be credited with a no hitter. Your pitching has nothing to do with your team's offensive struggles.