Mariano CY votes vs MVP votes-Lehigh Valley Fan Club

Six voters of the 28 (21%) did not even list Mariano on their ballot. That I find inexcusable. Isn’t it funny that Mariano finished higher than Colon in MVP voting but lost the Cy Young to Colon? I am sure the Cy voters do not also have MVP votes, because how can you reconcile leaving Mo off the ballot for the Cy Young award but then put him in the top 10 for MVP? One voter voted Mo THIRD for MVP, so the absence of Mo from those six Cy Young ballots really seems incomprehensible. Nevertheless, it is Mariano’s fourth top 3 finish in Cy Young voting in his career, to go along with two top-ten MVP finishes (9th in 2004 and 2005). That is remarkable considering he is a reliever. His Cy Young finishes were 3rd in 1996 (when he was a setup man to John Wetteland!), 1999 and 2004, to go along with this year’s runnerup finish. However it should also be noted that 1996, 1999, 2004 and 2005 are the ONLY years where Mariano got a Cy Young vote. The pitcher many consider the “greatest reliever ever” had some great seasons where he did not receive any votes. Amazing. Do I think Mariano should have won this year? Yes, but then I still think Ron Guidry should have won the 1978 MVP over Jim Rice and that the 1964 MVP should have gone to Mickey Mantle over Brooks Robinson. You could go on and on…..not only with the Yanks, but with others as well. For example, when Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski won the 1967 Triple Crown, one voter actually voted for Cesar Tovar of the Twins for MVP! This kept Yaz from being a unanimous selection. The postseason awards make for great controversy and long arguments, that ’s for sure, and sometimes there seems like no rhyme or reason to the vote.

Here are some great stats from recent Jayson Stark columns on ESPN.com. Rivera gave up one run all season on the road. And he gave up one extra-base hit all year to any of the hitters he faced with runners on base. Yep, one. Rivera has been the closer for the last nine years. In six of those nine years, his ERA was under TWO. His ERA this year was 2.10 LOWER than Bartolo Colon’s. (1.38 vs. 3.48). I know closers are going to have a lower ERA because they pitch less innings, but by a margin of 2.10? This from Lehigh Valley Fan Club blog 11/05