http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1919168 Clemens only 4th to win Cy Young in each league ESPN.com news services If it's possible, Houston Astros pitcher Roger Clemens' stature shot up another notch Tuesday when he was named NL Cy Young Award winner. The 42-year-old future Hall of Fame right-hander won his record seventh award. It was his first in the National League, becoming only the fourth pitcher in major league history to win a Cy Young in each league. Clemens was the only pitcher named on all 32 ballots cast by two writers from each NL city and received 23 of a possible 35 first-place votes. Houston's only other Cy Young winner was Mike Scott in 1986. Clemens won the AL Cy Young in 1986, '87 and '91 with the Boston Red Sox, in '97 and '98 with the Toronto Blue Jays, and in 2001 with the New York Yankees. "He is amazing," St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said during the NL Championship Series. "As I say, I enjoyed it when he wasn't in our league." In his first season in the NL, Clemens was 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 218 strikeouts and practically willed the Astros to the postseason. He won his first nine decisions this year and his final six as Houston reached the playoffs and beat Atlanta for its first postseason series victory. Clemens led the league in winning percentage and was ranked among the leaders in wins, ERA, strikeouts and innings pitched (214 1/3). The future Hall of Famer ran his career victory total to 328. Randy Johnson fell short in his bid to win the award for a sixth time. He finished second in balloting with 97 points, receiving eight first-place votes, 18 seconds and three thirds. Johnson led the NL in strikeouts (290), was second in ERA (2.60) and pitched a perfect game while posting a 16-14 record for last-place Arizona. The other first-place vote went to Astros right-hander Roy Oswalt, the league's leading winner (20-10, 3.49 ERA), who finished third.
Congrats to Roger! This is big.. I believe Roger was already alone at 6 cy youngs? .. or did someone else have 6 So Randy winning would have tied them.... but getting the 7th.. should assure that Randy doesn't tie him... unless somehow randy gets another 2 cy youngs.... gotta make sure people known roger is the best pitcher in last 20 years or so.. not randy! Does Roger now have the credentials to be considred top 3 of all time?
Congrats Rocket.... truly amazing what he did last year. If he does come back, I will be ever-so-thankful... and would temper my expectations because it was just so damn surreal what he did in 2004: 1.) made every single start possible on a team where he was expected to be the 3rd or 4th best starter. 2.) continued to work his ass off, despite the fact that everyone felt this team was going nowhere in July-August. 3.) he never went into a "slump"... in fact, he never had back-to-back bad outings. 4.) Put this team on its back during the playoffs, getting the 1st game, coming back on 3 days rest, getting the 1st win in the NLCS, and almost pulling out that game 7 on the road. If the rest of the rotation is healthy next year, I'd reccomend letting him get as many home starts as possible, and giving him as much extra rest as needed. He shouldn't have to be the ace at age 43, with the rest of the pitchers we have... the fact that he did it this year, and never was ineffective, was just something that I'll always remember.
If Clemens retires, who is going to challenge Randy tho, maybe Oswalt and maybe Prior. So Randy could go on and get some more.
You're assuming Randy Johnson will stay in the NL. If Johnson heads to the AL in a trade, he'll face stiff competition every year. Congrats to the Rocket! I still have the NY Post's "What an Asstro!" cover hanging up in my cubicle.
Clemens wins record seventh Cy Young Award By RONALD BLUM, AP Sports Writer November 9, 2004 NEW YORK (AP) -- Roger Clemens easily won his record seventh Cy Young Award after putting off retirement and being about as dominant as ever -- even at age 42. The Rocket received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 140 points in balloting released Tuesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America to win the NL Cy Young for the first time after capturing six Cy Youngs in the American League. He's the oldest Cy Young winner. Gaylord Perry was 40 when he won the NL honor in 1978. Clemens retired after pitching for the New York Yankees in the 2003 World Series, then changed his mind and signed with his hometown Houston Astros and went 18-4 with a 2.98 ERA and 218 strikeouts. Currently in Japan with a touring major league all-star team, he said last week he hasn't decided whether he will pitch in 2005. Arizona's 41-year-old Randy Johnson, second to Clemens with five Cy Youngs, finished second in the voting with eight first-place votes and 97 points. The Big Unit went 16-14 with a 2.60 ERA and a major league-leading 290 strikeouts -- Arizona scored two runs or fewer in 17 of his 35 starts. Houston's Roy Oswalt, who went 20-10 to lead the NL in wins, was third with 19 points, followed by San Francisco's Jason Schmidt with 13. Clemens won three Cy Youngs with Boston (1986-87, 1991), two with Toronto (1997-98) and one with the New York Yankees (2001). He is the first player to win BBWAA awards with four teams, and the first to win eight awards -- he was the AL MVP in 1986. With a 328-164 record, Clemens is 10th on the career wins list, and his 4,317 strikeouts are second to Nolan Ryan's 5,714. He signed with the expressed intent of helping the Astros reach the World Series for the first time, but Houston fell one win short. Clemens couldn't hold a 2-0 lead against St. Louis in Game 7 of the NL championship series, when Albert Pujols hit a tying double in the sixth inning, and Scott Rolen followed with a two-run homer. Clemens earned a $100,000 bonus for winning the award, while Johnson got $150,000 for finishing second. Oswalt and Schmidt earned bonuses of $25,000 each. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news;_y...lYwN0bQ--?slug=ap-nlcyyoung&prov=ap&type=lgns ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Congratz to the Rocket & we hope to see you here next year fighting for your 8th one!
This is good news for Roger, bad news for the Astros. We were counting on his sense of leaving something unfinished (losing in the NLCS) to be enough to bring him back for one more year. But now, after winning his 7th Cy Young Award, taking the Astros further into the playoffs than most ever dreamed in the months since April, and doing it all playing for his hometown team, what does he have to come back for? I hope he doesn't feel that anything he does after this point will pale in comparison to his performance last year, and decide to decline our offer.
Eh, Roger gave the "99% retired" line. We all know from Michael Jordan what that means. I'm guessing Roger takes some time off, maybe even skips part of next season, but come the stretch drive I don't see any way he's not pitching in an Astros uni (assuming that we re-sign enough parts to remain competitive). Maybe he's just waiting for another burnt orange hummer to coax him out.
c'mon, there was never any doubt...great award for a great guy...Too bad I don't think he'll be here next years...
