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Posted By: Jay Miller

Rhys--You may have a point on the Cy Young award. I've always thought of it as being for the best pitcher, not necessarily the most valuable pitcher. However, the MVP is just that--the MOST VALUABLE player. Even saying that, if Ichiro played for the Red Sox, the Yankees or the Angels and had the season he had he still wouldn't win the MVP. Bad Vlad put the Angels on his back and single-handedly carried them to the West Championship. Ichiro had a great season but no one was more valuable than Vlad.

Getting back to the NL Cy Young award I think that it is close but Clemens should beat Johnson. First, their ERAs were both good (Johnson-2.60; Clemens-2.98). Strikeouts, in my mind, mean nothing. You get guys out the way you can. The Astros are not a great fielding team and if Clemens struck out fewer guys than Johnson then he had to have his subpar fielders get the outs for him. Just think of Jeff Kent at second base. The W-L record is the key for me. If it were close then I would give it to Johnson, but Johnson was barely over .500 and Clemens was 18-4. Clemens on the season had 10 no decisions. In two of those he allowed no runs and in four others he allowed one run. He also had three saves blown for him where he went out leading by two or more runs. Go Rocket!