Toronto Blue Jays' Ricky Romero Surging to Top of AL Cy Young Short List

"Everything feels good, right now," a Blue Jays pitcher said after picking up the win Thursday night.

He's understating it. That humble guy, starting pitcher Ricky Romero, has been as dominant as anyone in recent weeks.

Since July 27, Romero has started five games—granted they've been against the likes of Baltimore, Tampa Bay, Oakland and the LA Angels, four of the American League's eight weakest offenses—and averaged 8.0 innings per outing with a 0.89 ERA, 0.62 WHIP, winning all five.

I don't care if those numbers are against the Toledo Mud Hens—that's an impressive tear!

For the season, Romero has been exceptional. I don't want to strangle you with stats; let's just say he's in the Beckett-Sabathia-Verlander-Weaver neighborhood when it comes to earned run average (ERA), batting average against (BAA) and fielder independent pitching (FIP).

That's right, I see him as a top-five candidate for the AL Cy Young award.

Earlier would've been better for Romero's league-wide reputation. Think about: In April, Jose Bautista was playing on an inhuman level, posting numbers that were too awesome to fathom. His play was noteworthy enough to make him MLB's top vote-getter during All-Star balloting.

Still, with millions of American fans keeping tabs on the action north of the border, Romero failed to catch on.

Why? Quite simply, he had one opportunity to take off—on April 18 against the Boston Red Sox—and didn't come through.

Following three strong performances to begin the season, Romero stepped to the mound in Fenway against a struggling team. However, circumstances in Boston weren't so simple. This opponent was unanimously labeled a juggernaut in spring training, and they were shockingly under-performing despite lofty world-championship expectations.

The Red Sox were under a microscope at the time; regardless of how Romero pitched that night, it was certain that the situation was going to unfairly magnify his results.

Unfortunately, that night marked the beginning of Boston's turnaround. They scored five runs and put 13 runners on base while Romero was in the game.

The so-called "ground-ball pitcher" surrendered 10 fly balls versus just four grounders. It was completely uncharacteristic. It is still among Romero's shortest starts of the season (4.1 IP). It came at the worst possible time for him. 

OK, it's mid-August and Romero still isn't discussed among the AL's elite, but his shot is coming. In September, Toronto has series scheduled against the Red Sox and New York Yankees. Barring an injury, Romero will be challenged three times by those beasts of the East.

The quality of these teams is obviously important to voters. In their eyes, Romero must pitch effectively against patient and powerful opponents to legitimize his candidacy.

He doesn't really control his destiny, however, because two of the American League's best arms, James Shields and Justin Verlander, have dominated these contenders in 2011. The chances that he'd "leap frog" either pitcher is slim. He's on the outside looking in, so no matter how well he executes down the stretch, Romero will need those ahead of him to falter.

While his shutout of the Oakland A's barely caused a stir, a similar performance in the Bronx two weeks from now would rock the baseball world. It won't win him the award, but being the very best isn't the lone measure of success. I'm sure he sees value in development, and boy has he blossomed this season!

Romero thinks he's feeling good right now? Just wait.