Roy Halladay effectively killed whatever drama might have been attached to the announcement of the 2010 National League Cy Young Award winner.
It’s no secret that the Philadelphia Phillies’ ace ran away with the thing once Josh Johnson got shelved while Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright blinked in the second half of the season.
The Florida Marlin didn’t miss too many games and neither the Colorado Rockie, nor the better of the two St. Louis Cardinal untouchables struggled badly or for very long, but Halladay simply gave the other horses no margin for error:
33 GS, 250.2 IP, 21-10, 2.44 ERA, 1.04 WHIP, 7.9 K/9, 7.30 K/BB, .245/.271/.373
Further sweetening the pot were Doc’s league-leading nine complete games, league-leading four shutouts, the perfect game and the no-hitter in his playoff debut (though that one didn’t happen in time for the voting).
How’s that for your first year with a new club?
The second “Year of the Pitcher” gave us brilliance from those mentioned along with Tim Hudson, Roy Oswalt and Mat Latos, but none was as blinding as Roy Halladay.
However, as good as the burly right-hander’s campaign was, it still wasn’t quite dandy enough to crack this petrified nut. Without further ado, here are the top 15 NL Cy Youngs in the history of the award.
Enjoy.