Sox’ Martinez Won’t Be Pleased If He Doesn’t Win Cy Young

Boston Red Sox right-hander Pedro Martinez may be on the brink of becoming the first pitcher in major league history to win consecutive Cy Young Awards in both the National and American Leagues.

Then again, he might not. Martinez, 18-5 with a 2.75 earned run average after a 3-2 loss to the New York Yankees at Fenway Park last Tuesday night, has stiff competition this season, his first in the AL after winning the NL Cy Young last season for Montreal.

“It will be a disappointment to be this close if I can’t get it,” Martinez said. “There’s no doubt that the Cy Young is always important to a pitcher.”

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THE CANDIDATES

Toronto’s Roger Clemens, last season’s AL Cy Young Award winner, is 18-6 with a 2.62 ERA. David Cone and David Wells, both of the Yankees, are also deep in the mix. Cone, who beat Martinez Tuesday night, is baseball’s first 19-game winner this season and is 19-5 with a 3.49 ERA. Wells, 17-3 with a 3.27 ERA, lost to the Red Sox early last week, although he is still having the best season of his career.

“He’s never had a better year than he’s having right now,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “The whole thing has been a dream season for him.”

Wells, the only pitcher of the quartet to never have won the Cy Young, blew a 3-0 lead in the seventh inning and lost to the Red Sox 4-3.

“If I was in it I just passed the baton,” said Wells, who pitched a perfect game earlier this season. “I don’t have any interest in it because it’s out of my hands. The only thing I can do is just go out and pitch and leave it up to you guys who vote. To me, if it happens, I’ll address that at the time. But I don’t think it’s going to happen. There’s a couple of other guys out there having good years. And they’re very strong.”

Cone is one of them. The AL Cy Young winner in 1994 when he went 16-5 for Kansas City, Cone is on the brink of becoming a 20-game winner for only the second time in his stellar career. Oddly, he hasn’t done it in a decade when he went 20-3 for the 1988 New York Mets and finished third in the NL Cy Young Award voting that season behind Orel Hershiser, who won for Los Angeles.

Cone has overcome aneurysms and arm injuries to get back to this place. “A lot of people probably wrote me off earlier in the year. The way I was throwing I can’t blame them,” he said. “To be able to come back and just be in the mix for a Cy Young award is a hell of a turnaround.”

Clemens, like Atlanta’s Greg Maddux, has won the Cy Young Award four times, including 1986, 1987 and 1991 when he pitched for the Red Sox. If either pitcher wins it this season, he’ll become the first in baseball history to win five Cy Youngs.

Clemens has helped the Blue Jays escape from midseason doldrums and make a run at the wild card race against the Red Sox, who have watched their double-digit lead dwindle.

“Obviously, I’m prejudice, but what Clemens has done has been remarkable,” said Torre when asked who was his favorite to win the coveted award. “You didn’t write him off, but you figured it wasn’t going to be one of those sensational years. All of a sudden you look up and he hasn’t lost a game in three months, or something.”

It makes it a tough choice for AL Cy Young Award voters. Two members of the Baseball Writers Association of America in each of the AL cities have votes that must be cast just after the end of the regular season. Playoff performances don’t count.

That’s what makes it so problematic for Martinez. Four pitchers having equally impressive seasons are going to split up the vote. Martinez has helped solidify a Red Sox staff that lost Clemens to free agency prior to the 1997 season. Without him, the Red Sox would have no chance of making it to the playoffs.

“Right now I’m really concerned about whether we can win, make it to the playoffs and in a short series we can do some damage,” Martinez said. “The Cy Young? I still have three outings. I still have plenty of time. I think I’m young. I have other years. I’ll probably learn more about the hitters and the league and I’ll have other chances to win.”

Asked, though, to handicap the race, Martinez added: “I have no idea. I’m taking each game one after one. I’m not thinking about numbers. I’ll look at them when I’m back in my house this winter or laying on the beach or something.”