Fausto Carmona defeated Josh Beckett yesterday 1-0. Both pitched eight innings and allowed four hits. Fausto walked two and struck out six (also hit a batter), while Beckett K’d seven without a free pass. But of the eight hits in the game, the only extra-base hit came off Beckett, a home run to Franklin Gutierrez.
Carmona, Beckett and Sabathia are now tied for the AL lead in wins with 13. Beckett and Carmona are both in the top ten in ERA, ranked seventh and ninth respectively. In a race between Fausto and Josh for Cy Young, no doubt Beckett is the better pitcher. He’s struck out more, walked less and given up fewer home runs.
But I wonder if a game like last night’s would change some votes? Same record, close ERA both teams in playoff contention? If the two remain close the rest of the season, it will be interesting to see if this game puts Carmona ahead of Beckett in the voting.
(Let me note that I’m assuming the sports writers will vote for someone with a lot of wins if his ERA is good, rather than for the best pitcher. Right now, I think the actual best choices for Cy Young and Haren and Escobar, but that can change.)
Except for his W-L which is partly a function of pitching for offense starved team Erik Bedard should be one of the top contenders for the Cy Young. Carmona has an average Game Score of 54 and has had game scores of 75 or more only twice – and not exceeding 80, though those have been his two most recent outings. Beckett’s got an Average Game Score of 58 and also has gotten 75 or better only twice. Bedard OTOH, has a better ERA than either. He has achieved a Game Score of 75 or better 7 times with an average of 62.
In general Bedard has been the one of the most dominating pitchers – in terms of preventing base runners – in the AL this year. Clearly more effective than Beckett or Carmona.
FWIW, I blogged about it more completely here though I have to fix the list at the top.
Beckett and Carmona are going in two different directions right now. After Beckett started 9-0, he’s gone just 4-4 with a 3.81 ERA. During the same period, Carmona has been 6-2 with a 3.54. Considering Beckett got beat by him head-to-head even on one of Beckett’s best days…well…
It’s amazing how much Carmona has bounced back from that awful idea to make him closer last year. There are a lot of pitchers who could never recover from similar experiences.
Byung Hyung Kim anyone?