The newsmen don't know, but the little geeks understand

Johan Santana's 2.87 ERA came within .01 runs of tying Kevin Millwood for tops in his league, and his 153 ERA+ was the best in the AL. He also led the league with a 0.971 WHIP and 238 strikeouts, while his 231.2 innings pitched was 2nd only to Mark Buehrle. The only AL pitcher who topped his 5.29 K/BB ratio was teammate Carlos Silva, whose walk rate of .43 per 9 IP shattered the modern record of .616 set by Babe Adams in 1920 and had not been topped by anyone since 1880--when a pitcher delivered from 50 feet and had to throw 8 balls to issue a walk. Carlos Silva deserves his own award just for that singular feat, but Santana just as clearly deserves the hardware recognizing the best pitcher in the AL. His 73 VORP score bears that out, as well: Mark Buehrle's 54.2 VORP is the next best in the American League.

But, Bartolo Colon racked up 21 Wins, so he gets the Cy Young Award with 17 of 28 first place votes. Santana finishes third in the voting, behind Mariano Rivera, with just 3 writers recognizing his superior excellence. But of course. Whaddya gonna do?

At least I had a voice in the Internet Baseball Awards balloting at Baseball Prospectus, where Santana was recognized as the top pitcher in the AL by 61% of the voters. He finished 8th in the MVP vote there, too. It won't go on his Hall of Fame plaque, but just the same it's nice to see him recognized by the fans who really know the game. Someday a change is gonna come in the corporate media, and it can't happen too soon.