Hoya Paranoia | The Hoya's Sports Blog

Guide Editor Victoria Edel on Why Her Team’s Ace Deserves the Cy Young

R.A. Dickey should win the NL Cy Young Award. I’m not saying he will, but it would be a shame — an injustice even — if he didn’t.

Statistically, he’s dominated all season. And, as any baseball fan already knows, he did it with a knuckleball. I remember watching a game sometime in June, back when Met games were still interesting, in which one of the announcers pondered why more people didn’t try to learn the knuckleball, since it’s so hard for batters to consistently hit. Then he realized the answer was obvious: The pitch is too difficult for most people to throw with any sort of success, let alone the extreme success Dickey has had this year.

Let’s glance at the numbers: he’s got 20 wins, 3 shutouts, 5 complete games, and a beautiful 2.73 ERA. He’s also first in the NL in strikeouts. He’s close to untouchable, and, like I said, he does it with the most difficult pitch in baseball. Oh, and last night it was revealed that he’s had a torn right abdominal all season that needs surgery. But it’s not just the numbers that would make me vote for him.

I could go into his uplifting back-story — which I do think will help him come voting time. Dickey was a first round draft pick and was expected to be a star for the Rangers but for the wonky ligament they found in his elbow. His pitching struggled for years after that, until he learned the knuckle ball. Then his pitching struggled more, just in a different way.

And then, suddenly, he had it. At the age of 37 — quite old for his sport, it must be said — he found himself as one of the premier pitchers in the majors. Overcoming adversity that left him trapped in the minors, he became the most dominant pitcher in baseball.

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The last time our nation’s capital hosted playoff baseball, the Golden Gate Bridge was under construction, Mount Rushmore had just been dedicated, the only thing we had to fear was fear itself, and Prohibition was in the process of being repealed. That year was 1933, which means D.C. has been waiting 79 years to witness what the Washington Nationals are about to do this season.

Back on September 7^th, Stephen Strasburg (15-6, 3.16) had his worst outing of the season, as he lasted only three innings after giving up five runs on six hits; only 37 of his 67 pitches were strikes. The next morning, veteran manager Davey Johnson informed Strasburg that he would not be pitching again this season, ending the ace’s first full season since undergoing Tommy John surgery after 159 1/3 innings.

At the time of the Strasburg shutdown, the Nationals had a 6 ½ game lead on the Atlanta Braves with 24 games remaining. As of today, despite being swept over the weekend by Atlanta, the Nationals hold a five-game division lead with 16 left to play, as well as the best record in baseball. Barring a catastrophic meltdown, then, the Nationals are going to win the National League East for the first time in their short history.

Still, the majority of baseball writers and fans are angry and dumbfounded by the Nationals’ decision regarding Strasburg. Why, they’re asking, would a franchise that has not finished above .500 in their previous seven years of existence bench arguably the best pitcher in baseball in the midst of a pennant race?

Well, I will give you two reasons why the Nationals are unequivocally right in their decision to cut Stephen Strasburg’s season short.

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