Just Give Greinke the Cy Young Now

On the heels of last night's stellar 15 strikeout performance (which wasn't even his best performance of the season), it's time for the newspaper-writin' voters to collude and ensure that Zack Greinke wins the AL Cy Young Award. Even if he spends September losing to the middling Twins and brooding and being all emo, this small market employee has shown mastery in 2009. He deserves the award based not just on merit but also on sympathies. Plus it would help Joe Posnanski sell books. Zack's closest rivals have faded of late despite their presence on contending teams. Detroit's Justin Verlander went 2-2 with a 4.29 ERA in August. Boston's Josh Beckett has given up a whopping 10 home runs in his last three starts and seen his ERA increase by half a run. Seattle's Felix Hernandez lost to the Indians. Also fading despite his presence on a fourth place team: Roy Halladay, who faced only AL East rivals in August and posted a mediocre 4.50 ERA. Greinke himself...