Johnson’s Dream Gets Even Better

Voters picking the most valuable player of the World Series couldn’t decide between Randy Johnson and Curt Schilling, awarding the honor to both Arizona Diamondback pitchers.

A panel of the Baseball Writers’ Assn. of America, given the responsibility of picking the Cy Young Award winner, had no such problem. They chose Johnson over Schilling as the National League’s best pitcher by an overwhelming margin. Johnson received 30 of 32 first-place votes to win the award Tuesday for the third consecutive time, and the fourth overall, having won the AL Cy Young in 1995 as a member of the Seattle Mariners.

Johnson got two second-place votes and 156 points. Schilling was second with two firsts, 29 seconds and one third for 98 points.

“This has been a dream season,” Johnson said, “not because of the Cy Young Award, but because another dream was fulfilled.”

That would be the dream of putting a championship ring on his finger, a dream realized when Arizona beat the New York Yankees in Game 7 of the World Series. Johnson got the victory in Game 6 as a starter and Game 7 as a reliever.

The Cy Young voters didn’t take any of that into consideration because they cast their ballots before the start of the postseason. But Johnson did more than enough to impress them in the regular season.

He was 21-6 and led the major leagues with a 2.49 earned-run average and 372 strikeouts, the third most strikeouts in a season behind Nolan Ryan’s 383 in 1973 and Sandy Koufax’s 382 in 1965. It was the eighth time Johnson has led the majors in strikeouts.

Schilling was 22-6 with a 2.98 ERA and 293 strikeouts.

The only voters who chose Schilling over Johnson were Joe Christensen of the Riverside Press-Enterprise and Toni Ginnetti of the Chicago Sun-Times.

“This should be about Randy winning it, not me losing it,” Schilling told ESPN Radio. “I feel from opening day to the finish, I was the most consistent pitcher in baseball....

“Was that good enough to win the Cy Young? Not this year.”

Whatever disappointment Schilling felt, he muffled it in congratulating his teammate.

“I know Curt’s happy for me,” Johnson told the Associated Press. “I talked to him earlier today. He was calling me to thank me for getting him to this next level where’s he at. I thought that was the most flattering comment I’ve received to this point in my career.”

But Johnson stressed that, though he is 38 and has achieved all of his goals, his career is not over.

“The one thing that keeps me going is I’m never content with anything,” Johnson said. “If I was to retire today, I’d like to think this was my best year. But I’d like to think with hard work and determination, I could get better in certain categories.... Age is just a number.”

The same could be said for Ryan, who remained overpowering into his 40s. Adding to the comparison, Johnson struck out 10 or more batters 23 times for the third consecutive season, matching the record Ryan set with the Angels in 1973.

Matt Morris of the St. Louis Cardinals was third in Cy Young balloting with 31 points, followed by Jon Lieber of the Chicago Cubs with two, and Houston Astro rookie Roy Oswalt with one.

The Johnson-Schilling finish was the third in which teammates wound up first and second in the voting. In the other cases, the top two were Dodgers: Don Newcombe and Sal Maglie in 1956 in Brooklyn, and Mike Marshall and Andy Messersmith in 1974 in Los Angeles.

With four Cy Youngs, Johnson equals the number won by Greg Maddux and Steve Carlton. The only man with more is Roger Clemens, who has five and is expected to add another Thursday when the AL winner is announced.

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The Voting

Voting for the 2001 National League Cy Young Award, with pitchers receiving five points for each first-place vote, three points for second and one point for third:

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Player 1st 2nd 3rd Total Randy Johnson, Ari. 30 2 0 156 Curt Schilling, Ari. 2 29 1 98 Matt Morris, StL 0 1 28 31 Jon Lieber, Chi. 0 0 2 2 Roy Oswalt, Hou. 0 0 1 1

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