Since David Price debuted for the Tampa Bay Rays in 2008, there has always been talks of the great pitcher he would one day be for the team. On Wednesday afternoon, Major League Baseball awarded Price with the Cy Young Award, given to the best pitcher in the league as voted on by the Baseball Writers Association.
Price beat out Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who won the 2011 award along with the Most Valuable Player Award, by a mere four points. The Rays ace won 20 games for his team, which also tied for the Major League lead of the year. It was about time that the voters recognized the importance of Price's wins after he lost the award in 2010 to Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners, who had a record of 13-12.
Tampa Bay Times columnist Tom Jones recognized Price's honor by ranking the best awards in Tampa's past 70 seasons across all sports. He was ranked third behind hockey and football award winners. Before the award winners were announced, columnist Gary Shelton voiced his support for Price as the best fit for the award.
I was pleased to see the incorporation of a video where Price talks about winning the award, yet there could have been more on the site. I will admit that the poster of Price in .pdf version is nice to have linked. The pullout was in the print version of the newspaper. (Confession: I have a Mariano Rivera newspaper poster over my bed, so that the Sandman watches over me while I slumber.)
Being from New York, I am used to reading about MVP and Cy Young candidates every year. Having just two columns, the breaking news, and a video for the winner just does not suffice for me. This is the highest honor for a pitcher in baseball. They should be glorified for a few days. The sports writers should be out there getting analysis from writers that voted, teammates, opponents, etc. It is a big deal.
Price beat out Detroit Tigers ace Justin Verlander, who won the 2011 award along with the Most Valuable Player Award, by a mere four points. The Rays ace won 20 games for his team, which also tied for the Major League lead of the year. It was about time that the voters recognized the importance of Price's wins after he lost the award in 2010 to Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners, who had a record of 13-12.
Tampa Bay Times columnist Tom Jones recognized Price's honor by ranking the best awards in Tampa's past 70 seasons across all sports. He was ranked third behind hockey and football award winners. Before the award winners were announced, columnist Gary Shelton voiced his support for Price as the best fit for the award.
I was pleased to see the incorporation of a video where Price talks about winning the award, yet there could have been more on the site. I will admit that the poster of Price in .pdf version is nice to have linked. The pullout was in the print version of the newspaper. (Confession: I have a Mariano Rivera newspaper poster over my bed, so that the Sandman watches over me while I slumber.)
Being from New York, I am used to reading about MVP and Cy Young candidates every year. Having just two columns, the breaking news, and a video for the winner just does not suffice for me. This is the highest honor for a pitcher in baseball. They should be glorified for a few days. The sports writers should be out there getting analysis from writers that voted, teammates, opponents, etc. It is a big deal.