Brad Lidge Gets No Love from BBWAA

The National League Cy Young Award was announced yesterday and it will go to the San Francisco Giants young ace Tim Lincecum. Lincecum is worthy of the award and deserves it the most, however I was surprised to see how few votes Phillies shut down closer Brad Lidge received.

Lidge received one second place vote and seven third place votes for a total of ten points, good enough for fourth place in the voting. Lincecum received 23 first place votes and received 137 points. Brandon Webb of the Diamondbacks and Johann Santana of the Mets finished second and third respectively. Lidge may have gone 41-for-41 in save opportunities and picked up a pair of wins during the regular season but Lincecum was a legit ace with a 2.62 ERA (2nd only to Santana), 227 innings pitched (3rd to Santana and Cole Hamels), an astounding 265 strikeouts (lead MLB), and picked up 18 wins on a Giants team that went 72-90.

Truthfully Lidge may be more likely to gain some respect in the National League MVP ballot, although Albert Pujols seems to be the favorite by many media outlets. Ryan Howard had an MVP type season but if anybody was paying attention to the NL East race, you know that Lidge was the reason the Phillies were NL East champs instead of the Mets. Ask the Mets if they feel Lidge is an MVP. I would be interested to see what they say.

Lidge will not win the NL MVP award for the same reason Utah and Ball State won't play for a BCS Championship if they go undefeated; he plays at a position that doesn't get the respect it should. Dennis Eckersley was the last pitcher to win an MVP award, winning the 1992 American League MVP. The last pitcher to win an NL MVP was Sandy Koufax in 1963.

Lidge may get some votes though, which would likely take some votes away from Ryan Howard. That is why Albert Pujols will win the NL MVP.