Old news by now, but in case anyone missed it: Tim Lincecum is the 2009 National League Cy Young Award winner. Cardinals Nation can currently be found crying in their personal corners over the notion that Adam Wainwright or Chris Carpenter didn’t receive the award. Lincecum came in first, for the second consecutive year, with a total of 100 votes, followed by Carpenter with 94 votes and Wainwright with 90. Just about everyone I’ve talked to about the situation has said something including the words, “hoax,” “robbed” or “injustice.” Interestingly followed by, “But Lincecum is a good pitcher…”

The winner of the Cy Young award is determined by votes cast from members of the Baseball Writers Association of America. I am not a member, so I did not get a vote. However, Lincecum edged out Carpenter and Wainwright by coming in second place in first place votes, second place votes and third place votes. First place votes were worth five points, second place votes worth three and third place votes worth one point. Lincecum ended his 2009 season with a 15 win record (7 losses), a 2.48 ERA (earned runs average), 261 strike outs (most in the NL) and tied the league with four complete games and two shutouts. For a comparison, Carpenter ended his 2009 season with a 17 and 4 record, 2.24 ERA and 144 strike outs. Wainwright, who did come home with a Gold Glove for 2009, ended his season with a 19 and 8 record, 2.63 ERA and 212 strike outs. While Lincecum had considerably less wins than Carp and Waino, he bested them in strike outs and WHIP (walks and hits allowed per innings pitched) and landed in the middle with his ERA. The numbers go to show voters have gone in a new direction this year when considering who should take home the award. The AL Cy Young winner, Zack Greinke, also had a “low” number of wins, with 16.

What people of Cardinal Nation need to understand about this voting is that if you’re not a member of Cardinal Nation it’s likely you’re not paying attention to the Cardinals. If you cover one team, say, the Baltimore Oriels, you’re not likely to also be following the St. Louis Cardinals at the end of the day. The Cardinals, inevitably, will suffer for attention due to being located in the midwest. If the Cardinals were based on either coast they would be on the better half of the east/west coast bias. That is, east and west coast sports teams generally get more attention, country-wide, than those teams in the midwest. If a midwest team does get recognized it is usually for offense: i.e. Albert Pujols. Since the Cardinals did not put up much of a fight in the post season it may have left an unmemorable impression on voters.

However, if we want to get all utopian society on the subject, let’s talk about who votes. Why would writers vote about the quality of players? Why not the players who have played against those pitchers? Or coaches? Seems to me they may give the voting system a more holistic approach. Rather than putting the decision just in the hands of those who write about the sport, why not spread that decision to those who coach and play the sport on the same level? I’d be interested to see who that kind of voting trifecta would turn out as the 2009 NL Cy Young Award winner.

This isn’t to take away from Tim Lincecum. By all means, I can understand how he took home the award for the second year in a row. Nicknamed “the Freak” due to his exaggerated stride, Lincecum is a force to be reckoned with on the mound. He’s a little more unorthodox than Carpenter and Wainwright and that could also be an explanation for how he gathered more attention to his fine tuned pitching skills. Also, the guy is a year younger than me and is making batters in the mid 300′s leave the wood on their shoulders. That’s an accomplishment.

It’s not to say that both Carpenter and Wainwright weren’t worthy of the award. Carpenter coming back from his surgery and Wainwright being an anchor for the Cardinals throughout 2009 are undeniable accomplishments, too. With statistics to prove it. It’s hard to say who deserves the one award. But really, just think “American Idol.”  How many times as a runner up been more highly received than the actual winner?

Annie is the Sports and Fitness Editor for Girls Guide. She writes about all kinds of sports related topics and then really goes out and plays sports almost every evening. You can contact Annie by emailing her at annie [at] girlsguidetothegalaxy [dot] com, and we are still trying to talk her into getting a Twitter account – no success yet.