Break out the Ent-draught and Lembas—everyone's favorite Tolkien enthusiast and Mets pitcher R.A. Dickey just become the first knuckleballer to win the Cy Young award ever! Dickey joins Tom Seaver (1969, 1973, 1975) and Dwight Gooden (1984) as the only Mets pitchers to win the award.
Dickey at the age of 37 turned into a bonafide ace this season, going 20-6 for the Mets and finishing in the top three in ERA (2.73), WHIP and strikeout-walk ratio; as ESPN points out, the Mets were 25 games under .500 when anyone else pitched this year.
Mets fans better savor this one, because who knows if Dickey will even be around next year. Dickey beat out Clayton Kershaw, the 2011 Cy Young winner, from the LA Dodgers and Gio Gonzalez of Washington. Dickey easily won, with with 209 points (27 first place votes) to Kershaw's 96 points and Gonzalez' 93 points. Here's video of him explaining his technique to David Letterman:
David Price, the lefty from the Tampa Bay Rays won the Cy Young Award in the American League. With a 20-5 record and a 2.56 ERA, Price beat out Detroit's Justin Verlander, who finished second (by four points), and the LA Angel's Jered Weaver, who finished third. Seattle's Felix Hernandez and Fernando Rodney, also from Tampa Bay, rounded out the top five.
