Pitcher of the Year

The Fansided network’s NL bloggers chose the Dodgers’ Clayton Kershaw as their pitcher of the year, and you can read the breakdown here.

I personally agree with the choice of Kershaw; he had more wins, more strikeouts, and a better ERA than anyone else in the league. It doesn’t get much Cy Young-ier than that.

I still have love for the Phillies’ Roy Halladay though – well, not love exactly, but respect. He got my second-place vote for his 19 wins and 8.2 WAR, a ridiculous number that handily beats the one held by any pitcher in either league. I wish the Phils would share the wealth and give him to a team who actually might have needed those extra 8 wins.

Ian Kennedy of the Arizona Diamondbacks got my third-place vote. I will say that both he and Kershaw played in the weakest division this season (much as it pains me to say that about the NL West), but 21 wins is still nothing to shake a stick at. The D-backs don’t make the play-offs with out Kennedy.

Ugh, more Phillies … only journalistic integrity forced me to cast my fourth-place vote for Cliff Lee. 238 strikeouts. That’s all that needs to be said.

My fifth-place vote went to the Giants’ Tim Lincecum, mostly because I couldn’t bear to vote for three Phillies. Lincecum was better this year than in 2010, I thought, but his team was far worse, hence his paltry 13 wins. The Freak still struck out 220 and kept his ERA below 3.00, though, so props for that.