Before his scheduled start Tuesday night against the Red Sox, Zack Greinke was apparently still fighting for respect in the voters minds when it comes to the Cy Young. I was listening to ESPN’s Peter Gammons earlier that day explain that while he didn’t have a problem with Greinke not having as many wins as the other candidates, his biggest issue with Greinke was that he hadn’t faced the Yankees or the Red Sox.
Could there be any more east coast bias than this? Greinke has the best ERA in baseball. He recently threw a one hitter against Seattle, struck out 15 against Cleveland and in 16 innings against the Angels, a team who features a lineup of eight hitters batting .290 or better, he’s given up one earned run.
His ERA against teams with a .500 or better record is an astounding 1.25, a full run better than Felix Hernadez. Better than two runs per game over C.C. Sabathia and Justin Verlander.
Oh...and the Red Sox that Gammons so dearly loves? Greinke threw six innings of 2 hit shutout ball against them to pick up his 15th win. He might have gone longer but since he left his last start with a five inning shutout after being hit on the pitching arm with a wicked line drive, manager Trey Hillman was just playing it safe.
In his last six starts Greinke has given up just four runs. At the time of year when it’s very hard to lower your ERA, Greinke has brought his down in each of his last five starts to a miniscule 2.08. If he throws nine more shutout innings it’ll be at 1.99 and he’s pitching with possibly the worst defense in the league behind him, not to mention he didn’t even get to pitch against his own weak hitting club this year.
At age 25, Greinke is having one of the best year’s by someone not named Pedro Martinez in a quarter century. He deserves the Cy Young.
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