MLB: Is San Francisco Giants' Ryan Vogelsong a Dark-Horse Cy Young Candidate?

For all those reading the title and thinking, "What? You're out of your mind", read me out.

Ryan Vogelsong, the journeyman right-hander whose professional baseball career was in doubt following his release by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2006, has done something this season that neither Tim Lincecum nor Matt Cain, nor anyone else on the Giants' elite staff has done: he has pitched at least five innings in nine straight games in which he has allowed two earned runs or fewer.

Vogelsong is proving that he's for real, and there are two primary reasons that he could have a legitimate shot at winning a National League Cy Young award.

First, his outstanding performance does not seem to be a fluke.  Vogelsong has now started 11 games for San Francisco and is 5-1 with a 1.86 ERA.  He has 57 strikeouts, 19 walks, and a 1.09 WHIP over 72.2 innings.

If Vogelsong continues to put up numbers like this in the second half, he could be force in Cy Young voting.  His projected finish, according to ESPN: 11-2, 1.86 ERA, 125 strikeouts to just 42 walks, and a .221 opponents' batting average.

Tough to argue against that.

The second reason Vogelsong could have a shot is that Cy Young voting in recent years has placed less emphasis on traditional factors such as win-loss records, instead favoring a holistic approach to gauging the effectiveness and value of a pitcher.

So far, Vogelsong stacks up well in comparison with more conventional potential choices for the award despite not entering the Giants' rotation as the fifth starter until May.

Roy Halladay has pitched extremely well, and is 9-3 with a 2.51 ERA.  Vogelsong, while admittedly doing so in five fewer starts than Halladay, has a lower ERA (1.86) and lower opponents' batting average (.221 to Halladay's .240).

With Josh Johnson of the Marlins on the disabled list, Halladay's compatriots Cliff Lee and Cole Hamels are two other potential Cy Young candidates.  Both have outstanding numbers so far this season, but they also have higher ERA's thus far than Vogelsong (Lee at 2.87, Hamels at 2.51).

Atlanta's Jair Jurrjens and Tommy Hanson have also been fantastic in the first half of the season.  Jurrjens has a 2.11 ERA in 13 starts thus far, and Hansen a 2.48 ERA with a .189 opponents' batting average.

But Vogelsong, albeit in fewer starts, fits right in with this class of pitchers in the season's first half, still sporting a lower ERA than both of the Braves' stellar starters.  Vogelsong has even recorded more strikeouts than Jurrjens in two fewer starts (57 punch-outs for Vogelsong compared with Jurrjens' 53).

Given the open-mindedness of the Cy Young voters, Vogelsong could be the dark-horse candidate if he continues to impress the way he has thus far in 2011.

The Ryan Vogelsong comeback story just keeps getting better, and right now there's seemingly no limit to what No. 32 can do.