Verlander Unanimous Choice For AL Cy Young Award
DETROIT (97.1 The Ticket/AP) - Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander has won the AL Cy Young Award by a unanimous vote. Verlander got all 28 first-place votes from members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America in results announced Tuesday.
Verlander won the pitching Triple Crown in the American League by going 24-5 with a 2.40 ERA and 250 strikeouts.
The 28-year-old righty also pitched a no-hitter, won 12 straight starts and helped the Tigers win their first division title since 1987.
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Fox Sports Detroit play-by-play man Mario Impemba said everything came together this year for the big righty.
"The one thing to me that has really stood out about Justin is is people would ask is Verlander pitching next. To me that's the hallmark of a star -- of a superstar," Impemba said.
"I think that when people start to rearrange their schedules to see if they can come down to the ballpark when Justin Verlander is pitching, that's pretty impressive," he said.
The Tigers haven't won the Cy Young or the MVP Award since 1984 -- when reliever Willie Hernandez won both.
The voice of the Tiger's Dan Dickerson said the award is well-deserved.
"You think back to the middle of the summer when he and he and Jared Weaver matched up ... Justin Verlander had the edge, but they really were neck and neck in terms of what they had done in the season at that point," said Dickerson.
"Then it was Justin Verlander putting the hammer down, and the way he finished, there just was no doubt."
The only question now is whether Verlander will win the American League MVP award next Monday. No starting pitcher has won the MVP since Roger Clemens in 1986.
Verlander said he'd like to win, but he's not even thinking about that right now.
"I'm not gonna let the MVP influence my decisions or let me think any less of this accomplishment, because it's something that I've worked for and I've always dreamed of," he said.
Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels was second in the Cy Young voting and James Shields of Tampa Bay was third.
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