On Thursday, the Seattle Mariners' Felix Hernandez won the 2010 A.L. Cy Young Award, earning 21 first-place votes for a total of 167 points, besting the Tampa Bay Rays' David Price, who finished second, with 111 points.
It is King Felix's first time winning the award, and accomplished seemingly despite his record. Hernandez finished just 13-12 while pitching for a terrible Mariners team, while CC Sabathia and Price totaled 21 and 19 wins, respectively.
Pitching for a terrible Mariners team, Hernandez won just 13 times, with 12 losses to his name. However, he also led the league in innings, ERA, and quality starts while receiving the lowest run support in baseball, which built a very convincing case. Such a convincing case, in fact, that Hernandez picked up 21 of a possible 28 first-place votes, with Price getting four, and Sabathia getting three.
A pair of Red Sox pitchers were among those considered for the award, with Jon Lester finish fourth in the voting, with one third place vote (total of 33 points) and Clay Buchholz sixth (two third-place votes, 20 points).
Lester's 19 wins were second-most in the American League, and tops on the Red Sox, while his 225 strikeouts were third-best in the A.L. (highest total for Boston). He led the league with a 9.7 K/9. Buchholz led Boston with a 2.33 ERA, second in the A.L. only to Hernandez's 2.27. Buchholz's ERA+ of 187 led all of baseball.
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