Source: St.存倉 Louis Post-DispatchNov. 14--Parkway Central High and University of Missouri product Max Scherzer still is looking for his first complete game as a professional pitcher. Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright led all major league pitchers with five complete games this year.But only one of them, Detroit Tigers righthander Scherzer, won a Cy Young Award on Wednesday, with Wainwright finishing second (to Los Angeles lefthander Clayton Kershaw) in the National League for the second time in four seasons to go with a third-place finish in 2009.Scherzer, meanwhile, was rewarded for his major-league best 21-3 record as a landslide winner of the American League Cy Young Award in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He received 28 of the 30 first-place votes as he became the first St. Louis area native to win a Cy Young Award.In 1980, Los Angeles Dodgers lefthander Jerry Reuss, a Ritenour High product, finished a distant second to Philadelphia's Steve Carlton in the National League Cy Young balloting. Francis Howell North lefthander Mark Buehrle was fifth as a member of the Chicago White Sox in the 2005 AL Cy Young race.Scherzer, who said he featured a curveball against lefthanded hitters for the first time this season to go with his fastball and changeup, won his first 13 decisions on his way to the league's best winning percentage (.875) for starters. He also led in WHIP (walks and hits per inning) at 0.970 and was second in both strikeouts (240) and opponents' batting average to Texas righthander Yu Darvish, who finished second in the Cy Young voting, ahead of Seattle righthander Hisashi Iwakuma.This was the fourth season in Detroit for Scherzer, who was a first-round pick by Arizona out of college in 2006 after declining to sign with the Cardinals as a 43rd-round pick out of high school in 2003.On a conference call, Scherzer said he really never considered signing with the Cardinals then."At that point in time, I was focused on going to college," he said. "Looking back on it, no amount of money would have mattered."Having made $6.725 million this year, Scherzer is arbitration eligible and due for a huge raise for next year before becoming a free agent after the 2014 season, creating speculation that the Tigers might try to trade him now at peak value if they can't reach agreement on a long-term deal.Scherzer said, "The business side will take care of itself," but he added that he would be open to long-term discussions."I love it here in Detroit," said Scherzer, who actually was in Arizona, where he lives. "We've got a team that is capable of winning every single year right儲存now. Who wouldn't want to be a part of that?"I want to win a World Series and I realize this is a good situation."But he added, "It also takes two to dance. If something does get done, I'd be happy to do it."Scherzer has made 165 starts in the majors and 33 in the minors without a complete game."I've come close a couple of times," he said. "I had a couple of games this year when I was winning 10-1 or 12-1 after eight innings but I was already over 100 pitches. It wouldn't have been smart to push it."But I definitely want to achieve it."Scherzer was named the American League starter for this year's All-Star Game to further highlight a season in which he was the only 20-game winner in the majors. He said he hadn't stopped to enjoy some of the season's highlights yet but he said, "Once I won 20 games, I really did appreciate that moment. It's such a milestone mark because so few pitchers get to it. The ones who have gotten there are just legends within the game."Wainwright, who tied for the National League lead in victories at 19, got one first-place vote -- from Cincinnati voter Mark Schmetzer -- while Kershaw received the other 29 first-place votes, including those of Post-Dispatch columnists Bernie Miklasz and Joe Strauss.Wainwright is the only National Leaguer to have three top three finishes never to have won a Cy Young Award in the league, although Curt Schilling finished second three times, twice in the National League and once in the American League, without winning the award.The 32-year-old Wainwright led the league with 34 starts and led the major leagues in innings pitched at a career high of 241 2/3 besides finishing third in the NL in strikeouts at 219.In his 34 starts, Wainwright walked just 35 batters, two intentionally.But Kershaw, winning the Cy Young Award for the second time in three years (he was second in 2012), led in ERA at 1.83 and strikeouts at 232. His opponents' batting average of .195 ranked Kershaw second behind Miami righthander Jose Fernandez, the rookie of the year who also finished third in the Cy Young voting.Cardinals fans must be wondering, though. Adding in the the postseason, Kershaw was 0-4 against the Cardinals this season, including allowing seven runs in four innings in the Dodgers' 8-0 loss in the decisive Game 6 of the National League championship series.Scherzer, celebrating his moment Wednesday night, said, "I just got back from the grocery store with about 10 bottles of champagne, so guess what's going to happen?"Copyright: ___ (c)2013 the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Visit the St. Louis Post-Dispatch at .stltoday.com Distributed by MCT Information Services迷你倉
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