"I really think looking at the final start of the season for both, in which C.C. won, Josh lost, might have sealed the voting. Had it been 21 wins vs. 18, you have a greater gap in terms of overall wins. But you can't take away from the year C.C. had."
And then, not long after Farrell had hung up, he called back. He had a point he wanted to emphasize.
"In my mind," he said, "[Beckett] is the Cy Young."
But not in the minds of enough voters. Sabathia, not Beckett, got the call telling him he had won the award. It was a race that was expected to be close but, in the end, wasn't. Sabathia took 19 first-place votes to Beckett's eight, leaving him the winner with 119 points to 86. Anaheim's John Lackey finished third with 36.
"Initial reaction was I was excited," said Sabathia on a conference call. "My family and everybody were around. My mom. It was just a lot of excitement. That's all I can say.
"I was surprised, Beckett had a great year and an even better postseason, so going in I didn't know what to expect. I was just pleased to know I won."
But more surprising than Sabathia's win, or Beckett's second-place finish, was the decision by three members of the Baseball Writers Association of America to leave either Sabathia or Beckett off their ballots.
Mark Feinsand of the New York Daily News and Jorge Ortiz of USA Today each listed Sabathia, Lackey (the AL ERA leader at 3.01), and the Indians' Fausto Carmona on their ballots, while Kevin Sherrington of the Dallas Morning News omitted Sabathia, listing Beckett, Carmona, and the Twins' Johan Santana.
In all, eight pitchers received votes, with Sabathia, Beckett, and Lackey the only ones to get first-place votes. Sabathia earned eight second-place votes, with Beckett taking 14 second-place nods and four for third place.
Sabathia had a 19-7 record, a 3.21 ERA, and 241 innings pitched, which led the AL. He also recorded 209 strikeouts. Beckett was the first pitcher in two years to record 20 wins, with a record of 20-7 and a 3.27 ERA.
