MLB

• Greinke captures AL Cy Young

  
  

  New York, NY (Sports Network) - Kansas City Royals right-hander Zack Greinke has been named the American League Cy Young Award winner by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

  Greinke placed first on 25 of 28 ballots cast by two writers from each AL city and second on three others for a total of 134 points, based on the 5-3-1 tabulation system, as he became the first AL pitcher to win the award while pitching for a last-place team since Roger Clemens won it with Toronto in 1997.

  Seattle righty Felix Hernandez finished second with 80 points, placing first on two ballots, second on 23 and third on another. Detroit's Justin Verlander received the other first place vote and finished a distant third with 14 points.

  Greinke was the silver lining in another disappointing season for the Royals, going 16-8 with a 2.16 earned run average and 1.07 WHIP, while striking out 242 batters for a Kansas City team that lost 97 games. His league-leading ERA was the AL's lowest since Pedro Martinez posted a 1.74 mark in 2000.

  Ironically, the only other starter to win an AL Cy Young with less than 18 victories was another Kansas City hurler, David Cone, who was 16-5 in the strike-shortened 1994 campaign.

  The 26-year-old Greinke is the third Royal to win the award, joining Cone and Bret Saberhagen, who won it in 1985 and 1989.

  Greinke's six complete games and three shutouts were second in the majors behind Toronto righty Roy Halladay.

  Greinke allowed three runs or fewer in eight of his nine no-decisions, giving up one or less in four of those outings, and surrendered just one run in two of his losses.

  In fact, in his eight losses, the Royals mustered just 15 runs.

  Heralded as the Royals' best pitching prospect since Saberhagen when he came upon the scene in 2004, Greinke struggled not only on the field, losing a league-high 17 games in 2005, but also off it, as he missed most of the 2006 campaign with a social anxiety disorder.

  Armed with all the potential in the world, the Royals treated Greinke with kid gloves -- and rightfully so -- from that point on, slowly bringing him along, even letting him pitch out of the bullpen in 2007 to get him right, both mentally and physically.

  However, he made 32 starts in 2008 and his finish last season served as a sign of things to come. After picking up wins in four of his final five starts, the Royals showed even more faith in their ace, locking him up with a four-year, $38 million extension.

  Hernandez, meanwhile, enjoyed the best season of his young career, as he tied for the league lead in wins with Verlander and New York's CC Sabathia, going 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA, while striking out 217 in 238 2/3 innings -- all personal bests.

  He and Toronto's Roy Halladay, were the only pitchers in the top five in all three pitching Triple Crown categories (W-ERA-K).

  The 23-year-old allowed two runs or less in 23 of his 34 starts and recorded a quality start in 24 of his last 25 starts, going 15-2 with a 1.98 ERA after May 24, and he went 15-4, 2.46 following a Mariners loss.

  Rounding out the voting were a pair of former winners in Sabathia and Halladay, who finished with 13 and 11 points, respectively. Sabathia won the award in 2007 with Cleveland, while Halladay took home the honor in 2003.

  11/17 14:19:40 ET