News
Email
Print
Sports Briefs: Royals' Greinke winner of AL's Cy Young Award
ADVERTISEMENT
Published: November 18, 2009
Updated: 11/18/2009 12:25 am
NEW YORK -- Zack Greinke of the Kansas City Royals won the American League Cy Young Award yesterday, beating out Felix Hernandez of the Seattle Mariners after a season short on wins but long on domination.
Greinke went 16-8 with a 2.16 ERA. Hernandez went 19-5 with a 2.49 ERA.
Greinke received 25 first-place votes and three seconds for 134 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Hernandez drew two firsts, 23 seconds and one third for 80 points.
Detroit's Justin Verlander was third with the remaining first-place vote and nine thirds for 14 points. He was followed by the New York's CC Sabathia with 13 points, and Toronto's Roy Halladay with 11.
Greinke's ERA was the lowest in the AL since Pedro Martinez's 1.74 ERA in 2000, and his 242 strikeouts were second in the league behind Verlander.
It was quite a turnaround Greinke, a 26-year-old right-hander who was the sixth pick in the 2002 amateur draft but led the AL in losses in 2005 when he went 5-17. Greinke's victory total matched that of Arizona's Brandon Webb three years ago for the fewest by a starting pitcher to win a Cy Young Award in a non-shortened season.
Naturally shy, Greinke quit baseball for six weeks in 2006 because of what was diagnosed as a social-anxiety disorder. He welcomed the award, mostly. "There's a lot of positive to it and a lot of negative to it -- not a lot but some," he said during a telephone conference call. "I really don't like having a bunch of attention."
Even before winning, this was sure to be a big week for Greinke. He is getting married Saturday to high-school girlfriend Emily Kuchar, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader.
More baseball
■ Sandy Alomar Jr., a popular All-Star catcher with Cleveland during his playing days, is back with the Indians as the first-base coach for new manager Manny Acta. Alomar spent the past two years as a catching instructor for the New York Mets. He also will work with Cleveland's catchers.
Alomar played 20 seasons in the majors -- 11 in Cleveland -- before retiring in 2007. He was a six-time All-Star with the Indians and was enshrined in their Hall of Fame last season.
■ Wally Backman, hoping for another chance to manage in the major leagues, was introduced yesterday as manager of the Brooklyn Cyclones, the New York Mets Class-A farm team in the New York-Penn League.
It's his first position with a major-league organization since the Diamondbacks hired him as manager five years ago. The team let him go after four days after reports about off-the-field issues: an arrest for drunken driving and another for assault, along with financial problems. Backman said yesterday that his DUI arrest from 1999 and "domestic issue" in 2001 were "all taken care of."
Basketball
■ Jamie Dixon of Pitt has been chosen as USA Basketball's national coach of the year for guiding the United States' first FIBA under-19 world championship team since 1991. Coach Mike Krzyzewski of Duke won or shared the award the previous three years, with Anne Donovan in 2007 and 2008.
Dixon's team went 9-0 during the July tournament in Auckland, New Zealand.
The United States averaged 88.2 points and had an average winning margin of 22.2 points, yet no player averaged more than 10.8 points.
■ The Memphis Grizzlies officially ended their relationship with Allen Iverson when they waived him late yesterday afternoon. The Grizzlies had announced Monday that they had mutually agreed to end a one-year contract Iverson, a former league MVP and 10-time All-Star.
■ Forward Shaun Livingston of the Oklahoma City Thunder had surgery yesterday to remove staples from an earlier procedure on his left knee, and Coach Scott Brooks said that "everything went well."
■ Point guard Jameer Nelson of the Orlando Magic will have arthroscopic surgery today on torn cartilage in his left knee, the team said, and is expected to miss four to six weeks.
High schools
■ Fayetteville Sanford, which gained a berth in the NCHSAA football playoffs after a judge's decision, has lost its chance to continue playing after another round in court.
The Fayetteville Observer reported that a judge ruled yesterday to drop Sanford from the postseason for using an ineligible player. Judge Jack Thompson said he was surprised by testimony that the Sanford principal was authorized to give a player a passing grade in a class which he had failed.
The team was ruled ineligible by the NCHSAA after problems with the player's credits and attendance were discovered. The team was restored to the playoffs last week and defeated Pine Forest 48-29 on Saturday.
■ Nine players from two high-school girls' soccer teams in Rhode Island have been suspended for their roles in a fight that sparked a brawl in the bleachers. The suspensions, announced yesterday by the Rhode Island Interscholastic League, range from two games to one year. Coaches from both schools, Woonsocket and Tolman, also were issued unspecified sanctions.
Miscellaneous
■ Wake Forest will play its opener in the NCAA men's soccer tournament at 5 p.m. Sunday at Spry Stadium, against the winner of Thursday's first-round match between UNC Charlotte and UNC Wilmington. The Deacons (14-3-3) have been to the College Cup, soccer's final four, the past three years and won the national championship in 2007.
■ American tennis player Sam Querrey is back practicing for his return to the ATP Tour after cutting two muscles in his right forearm when he sat on a glass table that broke in Thailand.
Querrey, ranked No. 25 in the world, said yesterday that he narrowly avoided damaging the nerve in his serving arm. He was injured Sept. 28 after practicing at the Thailand Open. The accident cut short his fall season, and Querrey says it probably cost him a chance to move into the world's top 20. Querrey began hitting for the first time last week and says that the arm feels good but that his serve isn't quite where it was before the accident.
■ Brendan Shanahan is retiring from the NHL after 21 seasons and an almost certain Hall-of-Fame career.
Shanahan, a 40-year-old forward, announced yesterday that he won't play again. After going through training camp with the New Jersey Devils, the team he spent his final season with, he and the club mutually parted unexpectedly shortly before opening night. Shanahan decided to leave the Devils in October one day after he was told there was no spot for him on any of the top three lines. He has not played this season.
Shanahan ranks 11th on the league's career goals list with 656 and is the only player with 600 goals and 2,000 penalty minutes. He was an eight-time All-Star.
■ Andy Roddick is withdrawing from the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals because of a left-knee injury. Roddick, ranked No. 6, hurt the knee at last month's Shanghai Masters.
The ATP said Tuesday that No. 9 Robin Soderling, the French Open runner-up, will take Roddick's spot in the eight-man field.
The draw for the tournament will be today, with play starting Sunday. Also playing will be: Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco.
Email
Print
