MLB Babble

Arizona Diamondbacks pitcher Dan Haren received one third-place vote for the National League Cy Young Award. And that’s it. He finished fifth, behind Javier Vazquez, Adam Wainwright, Chris Carpenter and Tim Lincecum.

Haren was 14-10 with a 3.14 ERA over 229.1 innings. He had a 1.003 WHIP (led the League) and a 5.87 SO/BB (led the League). It is not his fault that he pitched for the third worst team in the National League.

Haren was the Cy Young favorite at mid-season: on July 10, he led the majors with 130 IP, 2.01 ERA, .81 WHIP, .189 OBA and a 8.1. SO/BB. A poor second half clearly destroyed those numbers.

But Haren had no support. His offense was terrible, his defense was sub-par and he did not have usually dependable Brandon Webb to take some of the load. He did it all himself (what helped Zack Greinke, as well). Carpenter and Wainwright had each other. Lincecum had Matt Cain. Vazquez had Derek Lowe and Tim Hudson, among others.

I’m not saying Haren deserved to win the Award; Lincecum clearly did. Moreover, Carpenter deserved it over Haren, too. I just cannot believe this guy got one lousy third place vote for his spectacular season.