XM MLB Chat: 11/9/05, NY Times article including Sheldon Ocker and Bartolo Colon quotes

This is the original article. I copied and filed it on 4/1/08. Key portions near the end in red (or surrounded by red asterisks***) were deleted from the Appended version. I have linked to the original version numerous times since 11/9/05, once as recently as August 2009. So its contents stood for almost 4 years.

(NY Times, 11/9/05, "Award Eludes Rivera"): "Only eight relief pitchers have won a Cy Young award, and for all he has accomplished with the Yankees, Mariano Rivera is still not among them. Rivera was the runner-up this season, the highest he has ever finished in the voting. But Bartolo Colón of the Los Angeles Angels won the American League prize yesterday.

''You can't even imagine what the scenery is around here,'' said Colón, speaking through an interpreter on a conference call from his home in the Dominican Republic. ''People stopping by and honking horns -- it's been crazy, crazy, crazy. There's going to be a lot of partying around here.''

Colón led the league in victories with a 21-8 record, including a 10-2 stretch drive that helped lift the Angels to the West title. He was named on every ballot in voting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America, receiving 17 first-place votes and 11 second-place votes.

Rivera received eight first-place votes, seven second-place votes and seven third-place votes, finishing ahead of Minnesota's Johan Santana, who was named on more ballots but received just three first-place votes.

Rivera, who finished third in 1996, 1999 and 2004, was left off six ballots.

Sheldon Ocker of The Akron Beacon Journal cast one of those ballots,

putting Colón first, Cliff Lee of the Indians second and Mark Buehrle of the White Sox third.

''I kind of put relievers in the M.V.P. race rather than the Cy Young race, because they have a little more in common with everyday players, getting the opportunity to be in a lot of games,'' Ocker said.

''It's just a whole different animal from starting pitchers,'' he added. ''If the best starting pitcher in the league only won 15 games and Mariano Rivera or someone else saved 45, I'd vote for Rivera. But in a season with a 20-game winner and an 18-game winner, I felt the starters should get my vote.''

Corey Brock of The Tacoma News Tribune voted Colón first, followed by Santana and Buehrle. To Brock, the image of a Cy Young winner is of a starter, not a reliever.

''I think of the Cy Young as a workhorse, a successful pitcher on a good team,'' Brock said. ''Those are the kinds of guys I envisioned. The relief thing doesn't really enter into it. I definitely looked at Rivera and what he did, and it was very impressive. But these guys as starters are shouldering a lot of important innings for their teams.''

Colón had a 3.48 earned run average and worked a team-high 222 2/3 innings, with 157 strikeouts. But he did not rank in the top five in the league in any of those categories, and the Angels averaged six runs a game when he pitched. That bolstered the argument for Santana, who was 16-7 with a 2.87 E.R.A. As Jayson Stark of ESPN.com pointed out, Santana held opponents to a .250 on-base percentage, while opponents had a .254 batting average off Colón.

Kathleen O'Brien of The Fort Worth Star-Telegram said she gave Rivera her first-place vote partly because she did not think Colón had been exceptional enough.

''I felt Rivera's season was so dominant that he had really been the best pitcher in the American League this season,'' O'Brien said. ''He's been fairly outstanding every year of his career, but this was the best year he's had. That, combined with the fact that I didn't feel Colón was as dominant as some of the Cy Young winners of the past, made Rivera first for me.''

Only one reliever has won a Cy Young award in the last 13 years: Eric Gagne of the Dodgers in 2003, when he converted all 55 of his save opportunities.

Others to win the award include Sparky Lyle of the Yankees in 1977, Bruce Sutter of the Cubs in 1979, Rollie Fingers of the Brewers in 1981, Willie Hernandez of the Tigers in 1984, Steve Bedrosian of the Phillies in 1987, Mark Davis of the Padres in 1989 and Dennis Eckersley of the Athletics in 1992.

Rivera converted 43 of 47 save chances. His 1.38 E.R.A. was the best among A.L. closers and the best of his career, but Francisco Rodriguez of the Angels and Bob Wickman of the Indians had more saves, with 45 apiece. Of the eight relievers to win the Cy Young award, only Lyle and Hernandez did it without leading their league in saves.

''Mariano had a great year, but because there were other pitchers that

had more saves than Mariano,

that might have changed things a little bit,'' Colón said.

''But I have a lot of respect for Mariano Rivera, and I'd like to thank him for all he's taught me in the past.''

Colón said he learned his cut-fastball grip from Rivera. Rivera's success with the pitch has put him on the path to the Hall of Fame, but his plaque might have no mention of a Cy Young.

His dominance seems to have had a numbing effect on voters.

''That's probably another thing that hurts him: he's had so many good seasons that, well,

it's just another good season for Rivera,'' Ocker said.

***''For him to get anybody's attention

outside of New York now, he'd probably

have to save 65 games.'"'***

Correction: November 11, 2005, Friday A sports article yesterday about the voting for the Cy Young award in the American League misstated the number of relief pitchers who have won the prize in either league. It is nine, not eight -- including Mike Marshall of the 1974 Los Angeles Dodgers, the first reliever so honored."