Cy of Relief

Two of today's performances may have sealed the fate of the Cy Young also-rans in each league. As I said earlier, Johnson will now almost certainly win the award in the NL with Schilling's performance today driving that home.

Derek Lowe lost tonight to the White Sox, 7-2. Lowe gave up 5 earned runs in seven innings. He also lost his bid to tie Barry Zito for a league-best 22 wins. With a very good but not great second half (when compared to Zito and Martinez), Lowe is sure to finish third in the voting. He may also take away votes from his teammate Martinez. Given Pedro's willingness to shut down for the year after winning 20 games while his team was still, in theory, in a pennant race, I would bet that Zito edges Martinez in the voting. Zito also has one scheduled start remaining. If he wins his 23rd in a well pitched game, voters will pick the higher win total for Zito over the lower ERA for Martinez.