Halladay for Cy Young?

If there were a Cy Young award for intimidating pitching faces, Roy Halladay would already have received trophy case upon trophy case of them. But unfortunately, such a prestigious award is not based on what a pitcher looks like during delivery, but actual factual statistics. Dammit.

Generally, a Cy Young award winner will be great in the categories of ERA, Strikeouts, and Win-Loss record. To date, Halladay has put up impressive numbers; but not as impressive as his biggest competition for the Cy Young award, Cleveland's Cliff Lee:

Halladay: 13-9, 182 IP, 2.72 ERA, 155 SO

Lee: 16-2, 161 IP, 2.45 ERA, 128 SO

So if we are purely basing our decision on the above numbers, give the slight edge to Cliff Lee. But here is where Roy Halladay makes a very strong case:

He has thrown 7 complete games thus far - 4 more than any other starting pitcher in the American League. Roy Halladay’s run support has been abysmal compared to Cliff Lee’s. His average run support is 4.15 runs per start, whereas Cliff Lee receives an average of 5.79 runs per start. There is no question in my mind that if Halladay received a few runs here and there, his Win-Loss record would look a lot more like Cliff Lee's.

So if Cliff Lee continues his torrent pace, I definitely think has a lock at winning the American League Cy Young award. But all it takes is one line-drive to the shin to change it all - and Roy Halladay is all too familiar with that.

Maybe we should lobby for the Jays to play the Indians again so Kevin Mench can take down his second Cy Young contender in his career.