I had the privilege of voting for the National League Cy Young Award, one of 30 baseball writers from across the country given that honor.

It’s a trust I’ve had before, hope to have again, and don’t for a minute take lightly.

Jacob deGrom of the New York Mets won the award Wednesday, garnering 29 of 30 first-place votes. The lone dissenting vote, the lone vote for Max Scherzer of the Washington Nationals, was mine. (I placed deGrom second.)

And I’m comfortable with my vote.


What is stunning to me is the blowback from the fans, especially in New York.

Dozens of emails — some venomous — ranging from “hey dumbass,” “incompetent,” “idiot,” “moron” and “clown.”

Several called for my head, my job.

I was asked to join Steve Somers of WFAN in New York on Wednesday evening. He opened by asking if I could look at myself in the mirror.


The answer was yes, but I still don’t look like Brad Pitt.

The next question was actually a statement, saying I voted for Scherzer to get my 15 minutes of fame.

Honestly, are you kidding? End of interview.

A couple of emailers, however, were actually civil, asking me to explain myself.


I’m happy to do exactly that.

I have the MLB Extra Innings package, and down the stretch I made sure to watch the last five starts for deGrom and Scherzer. Both were tremendously impressive.

DeGrom had a fantastic season and the Mets did a great job sending out his facts and figures. Obviously, a 1.70 ERA over 217 innings is a fabulous accomplishment. But he had 10 wins and nine losses.

Yes, the Mets were a bad club, offensively and defensively. He didn’t get run support. One emailer pointed out that if the Mets had scored two runs in DeGrom’s starts, he would have been 20-6; three runs would have been 25-1; four runs 30-0.


But you know what they say about ifs and buts. The numbers are what they are and — after hours of consideration — I was swayed by Scherzer’s 18-7 mark in 220 2/3 innings on an under-achieving Nationals club.

I spoke with Randy Jones, a man I greatly respect. He was 22-14 with a bad Padres team in 1976 and won the Cy Young Award.

In that conversation, Randy said, “Wins are the most important thing in the game. You need to pitch to the run support you get, whether that’s one, two, three or 12.”

After speaking with other baseball experts, looking at Scherzer’s 2.53 ERA and his historic 300-strikeout season — making him one of only 17 pitchers to do that since 1900 — my vote was swayed.


I was surprised Scherzer got only my first-place vote. I figured deGrom would win the award, but that Scherzer would get at least five, maybe six or seven first-place votes.

But do I second guess my vote?

Absolutely not.

Would I vote for Scherzer again?


Yes.


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john.maffei@sduniontribune.com