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PHOENIX -- Arizona right-hander Brandon Webb made his first All-Star appearance in 2006 and ran off a 30-inning scoreless streak. Now he has capped the year off with his greatest achievement. On Tuesday, Webb was named the National League Cy Young Award winner by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Webb, 27, finished the season with a 16-8 record and 3.10 ERA in 33 starts. His 16 wins tied five other pitchers -- the Reds' Aaron Harang, the Dodgers' Derek Lowe and Brad Penny, the Braves' John Smoltz and the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano -- for the most victories in the National League, though it is the lowest win total by a Cy Young winner in any year not shortened by labor issues.
Webb's 16 wins set a new career high while his eight losses were also the fewest he has recorded in his four-year big league career.
The Kentucky native becomes the second D-backs pitcher to win the award, following in the footsteps of Randy Johnson, who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards from 1999-2002.
Webb threw a career-high 235 innings on the season while recording a career-high 178 strikeouts in addition to five complete games and three shutouts. Webb boasted the fourth-best ERA in the Majors and ranked second in innings pitched. He tied for second in complete games and tied for first in shutouts.
Webb went unbeaten in his first 13 starts, while posting an 8-0 record with a 2.14 ERA over that span.
The sinkerball specialist missed one start in the beginning of August due to soreness in his right forearm. After taking a few starts to return to his prior form, the Arizona ace gave up just five earned runs over the course of four consecutive starts from Sept. 9-26.
However, Webb struggled in his last start of the season against the Padres on Oct. 1 -- the same day that the Cy Young Award ballots were due -- when the right-hander yielded seven earned runs on eight hits over four innings, which marked his shortest outing of the year and inflated his ERA from 2.88 to 3.10.
"You know, it might be the first bad game he's pitched all year," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin following that game. "If that game happens earlier in the year, we forget all about it. To basically have one bad game all year, it is unbelievable. It's unfortunate it happened today ... For me, he's the best pitcher in the National League."
"Looking back on the year, I think I had a pretty good year," Webb said that day. "I came in and fulfilled the expectations of what hopefully everybody had for me. Hopefully, I did that for them. I feel good about the year that I had."
The year was a memorable one to say the least. Webb served as the D-backs' lone representative in his first All Star Game, where he threw a scoreless fourth inning and retired a tough trio of Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez in order.
He also posted 30 scoreless innings over three-plus starts from May 20 through the fifth inning of his June 5 start against the Phillies. The streak was halted when Philadelphia tagged him for three earned runs.
"It was a good run, fun while it lasted," said the easy-going Webb after the game. "I knew I wasn't going to go forever without giving one up."
PHOENIX -- Arizona right-hander Brandon Webb made his first All-Star appearance in 2006 and ran off a 30-inning scoreless streak. Now he has capped the year off with his greatest achievement. On Tuesday, Webb was named the National League Cy Young Award winner by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.
Webb, 27, finished the season with a 16-8 record and 3.10 ERA in 33 starts. His 16 wins tied five other pitchers -- the Reds' Aaron Harang, the Dodgers' Derek Lowe and Brad Penny, the Braves' John Smoltz and the Cubs' Carlos Zambrano -- for the most victories in the National League, though it is the lowest win total by a Cy Young winner in any year not shortened by labor issues.
Webb's 16 wins set a new career high while his eight losses were also the fewest he has recorded in his four-year big league career.
The Kentucky native becomes the second D-backs pitcher to win the award, following in the footsteps of Randy Johnson, who won four consecutive Cy Young Awards from 1999-2002.
Webb threw a career-high 235 innings on the season while recording a career-high 178 strikeouts in addition to five complete games and three shutouts. Webb boasted the fourth-best ERA in the Majors and ranked second in innings pitched. He tied for second in complete games and tied for first in shutouts.
Webb went unbeaten in his first 13 starts, while posting an 8-0 record with a 2.14 ERA over that span.
The sinkerball specialist missed one start in the beginning of August due to soreness in his right forearm. After taking a few starts to return to his prior form, the Arizona ace gave up just five earned runs over the course of four consecutive starts from Sept. 9-26.
However, Webb struggled in his last start of the season against the Padres on Oct. 1 -- the same day that the Cy Young Award ballots were due -- when the right-hander yielded seven earned runs on eight hits over four innings, which marked his shortest outing of the year and inflated his ERA from 2.88 to 3.10.
"You know, it might be the first bad game he's pitched all year," said Arizona manager Bob Melvin following that game. "If that game happens earlier in the year, we forget all about it. To basically have one bad game all year, it is unbelievable. It's unfortunate it happened today ... For me, he's the best pitcher in the National League."
"Looking back on the year, I think I had a pretty good year," Webb said that day. "I came in and fulfilled the expectations of what hopefully everybody had for me. Hopefully, I did that for them. I feel good about the year that I had."
The year was a memorable one to say the least. Webb served as the D-backs' lone representative in his first All Star Game, where he threw a scoreless fourth inning and retired a tough trio of Derek Jeter, David Ortiz and Alex Rodriguez in order.
He also posted 30 scoreless innings over three-plus starts from May 20 through the fifth inning of his June 5 start against the Phillies. The streak was halted when Philadelphia tagged him for three earned runs.
"It was a good run, fun while it lasted," said the easy-going Webb after the game. "I knew I wasn't going to go forever without giving one up."
