Funny how ESPN and Sportscenter had rarely mentioned Zack Greinke or the Kansas City Royals. But when Greinke shuts down the Red Sox, Sportscenter devotes 20 minutes to Greinke. And now today, everyone is talking about Greinke and giving him the Cy Young.
Greinke shuts out the Red Sox for 6 innings, in September, and now everyone outside the Midwest is bowing down. Hello! The guy has been doing this all year. You have to give Sports Illustrated props. They put Greinke on the cover back in May. Or maybe vice versa. Greinke did not succumb to the SI cover curse.
Well, he did start the year 8-1. He's currently 15-8. So he's 7-7 since. But his ERA is 2.08! In the American League! If he pitched in the NL, it would probably be just over 1.
At the start of September, I would have given the Cy Young to Mariano Rivera. Yeah, he is one of my favorite baseball players of all time, but at age 39, he has been having one of his best years ever. Mariano's Cy Young bid ended last Friday with Ichiro's walkoff homerun. Rivera had converted 36 straight save opportunities.
But Greinke's numbers don't lie. His 2.08 ERA is best in MLB. The next in the AL is Felix Hernandez with a 2.45 ERA. Greinke is second in the AL with 229 strikeouts. In fact, he has 229 strikeouts to 47 walks!
He is second in MLB with 6 complete games. Roy Halladay leads the Majors with 7.
Greinke's last 4 starts-against the Angels, Indians, Tigers and Red Sox, 3 of them playoff teams-he has pitched 26 innings, giving up 1 ER and 27 K's.
If Greinke pitched for the Yankees, Red Sox or Angels, he would have at least 25 wins. Something tells me he'll pitching for one of these teams in the near future.
1 comment:
Greinke is locked up with the Royals through at least 2012. They won't consider letting him even look around.
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