Comments on: Final NL Cy Young Thoughts

By: Jeff J. Snider

Jeff J. Snider — Sat, 12 Nov 2005 00:12:34 +0000

Is that opinion based on anything in particular?

By: Kenn Thomas

Kenn Thomas — Fri, 11 Nov 2005 23:11:04 +0000

I honestly believe Dontrelle was the best pitcher in the NL in 2005.

By: Jeff J. Snider

Jeff J. Snider — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:11:58 +0000

There is no reason to believe that Clemens’ injury was related to pitching too many innings. Clemens keeps himself in better shape than anyone since Nolan Ryan, and a hamstring injury isn’t really something that is going to build up over a season. It is a freak injury that happens sometimes.

That said, yes, it would have been interesting to see Clemens pitch those extra 30 innings, especially if he had been able to pitch them with a comfortable lead the way Carpenter pitched so many of his innings.

Just a note: if Clemens had pitched that extra 30.1 innings, he would have had to give up 32 extra earned runs (a 9.49 ERA) to get his ERA up where Carpenter’s was.

By: Jerilyn

Jerilyn — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 21:02:42 +0000

I would have liked to have seen Clemens pitch those 30 more innings as Carpenter did. He got hurt in the postseason and didn’t look too good.

By: Jeff J. Snider

Jeff J. Snider — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 18:21:47 +0000

Yes, Chris Carpenter had more run support than Clemens did, by a pretty hefty margin. I think your point is that because Clemens was always pitching in close games, he had to focus more and therefore made better pitches, etc., than Carpenter. That is probably true, but also probably irrelevant. The fact of the matter is that, for one reason or another, Roger Clemens gave up nearly an entire run less than Chris Carpenter did every nine innings. To ignore that fact by saying, “Oh, Carpenter probably could have been just as good if he had needed to be,” misses the point of the award. It should go to the pitcher who WAS that good, not to the pitcher who COULD HAVE been that good.

By: Jerilyn

Jerilyn — Thu, 10 Nov 2005 17:10:18 +0000

The object of the game is to win the game. The real question to me is if Chris Carpenter had large run production in his game. Clemens didn’t get runs all season. Therefore he had to be very careful with each batter he faced. Carpenter may of had large run production and therefore pitched differently in situations during the year than Clemens did. You’re more likely to challenge a batter when you’re up 5-0 than when it’s 0-0. I think ERA is tainted by this fact and shouldn’t go against Carpenter who still had a great ERA for the season.