Beckett next in line for Cy Young Award.

Byline: Bill Ballou

COLUMN: BASEBALL NOTES

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - For a franchise whose reputation has been built on home runs, doubles, RBIs and batting championships, the Red Sox have had more than their proportional share of Cy Young Award winners.

Jim Lonborg won one in 1967, Rogers Clemens won Cy Youngs in 1986, '87 and '91; and Pedro Martinez won the award in 1999 and 2000.

Next up, Josh Beckett?

Beckett's victory here on Friday night gave him a huge boost in this year's Cy Young voting, which must be finished by the first game of the playoffs. There's something about 20 wins that separates good pitchers from great ones, and Beckett crossed that threshold. The difference between 19 wins and 18 wins is one game. The difference between 20 and 19 is more like five, or at least seems that way.

The Cy Young Award is one of the least complicated ones baseball writers vote on. Unlike Most Valuable Player, which is open to interpretation - how valuable can a guy on a last place team be, etc? - the Cy Young simply is for the best pitcher in the league. It does not matter if his team finishes first or last, or if he is a starter or reliever, although the award rarely goes to relief pitchers.

For most voters, the key numbers in making a decision are games won, earned run average and innings pitched, although strikeouts can figure into the equation as well. Given those boundaries, Beckett and Cleveland's C.C. Sabathia jump out as this year's top candidates, with a pool of contenders like Fausto Carmona (Indians), John Lackey (Angels), Chien-Ming Wang (Yankees) and Justin Verlander (Tigers) right below.

With one week left in the season, Beckett seems to have the edge. He has two more wins than Sabathia, 20 to 18; a slightly better earned run average, 3.14 to 3.19; and a better winning percentage at 20-6 vs. 18-7. Sabathia has pitched more innings, 234 to 194-2/3, and that's a significant edge for the Cleveland pitcher, given how protective teams are of their bullpens these days.

If Beckett does capture the Cy Young, it could give the Red Sox two wins in the four major categories baseball writers vote on. The hasn't happened since 1999 when Martinez won the Cy Young and Jimy Williams was Manager of the Year.

Dustin Pedroia looks like the favorite to win Rookie of the Year, although the Devil Rays have been talking up Delmon Young, and Young has had an excellent year and deserves serious consideration. Reggie Willits of the Angels is also a solid candidate, as is pitcher Brian Bannister of the Royals.

This contest will probably go down to next weekend, and the difference may be whether Pedroia's defense, batting average and runs scored are enough to offset Young's edge in power and production.

Terry Francona also has an outside shot at Manager of the Year, although Eric Wedge of the Indians is probably the odds-on leader right now. Like New York's Joe Torre, Francona is expected to win with the payroll the Sox have.

A payroll that includes Beckett and Pedroia, both possible award winners, making at least some of it money very well spent.

Nice second effort by Buchholz ...

While Clay Buchholz didn't even come close to pitching a consecutive no-hitter in Toronto, and good thing for Terry Francona, who would have had to take him out in the sixth no matter what the situation, he did get closer to it than any other Boston pitcher has in the last 50 years.

None of Buchholz's predecessors with no-hit games - Derek Lowe, Hideo Nomo, Matt Young (unofficial), Dave Morehead, Bill Monbouquette or Earl Wilson - since 1957 even got as far as the third inning without giving up hits in their first start after a no-hitter. ... Frank Thomas' three-home run game in Toronto brought to mind the game in 1996 in which Thomas hit three at Fenway, all off Wakefield, while playing for the White Sox. For a pitcher to give up three homers in a game to the same batter is unusual - usually anyone who gets hit that hard is relieved - and Wakefield is one of just four Boston pitchers to do that. Zane Smith gave up three to Oakland's Mark McGwire - all of them leaving Fenway Park with jet trails in their wakes - in 1995; Joe Dobson served up three to Sam Chapman of the Philadelphia A's in 1946; and in 1939, Emerson Dickman gave up three to Ken Keltner of the Indians.

Baseball Jeopardy

Answers:

1. In the last 50 years, the only Red Sox pitcher to win 20 games in a season with not all of the wins coming as a starter.

2. The last major league team to finish a season with more triples than home runs.

3. Since records began being kept in 1920, the Red Sox player who has the worst single-season percentage for being caught trying to steal bases.

Questions, right.

Ellsbury still rookie in '08 ...

Yes, Jacoby Ellsbury will be eligible for the Rookie of the Year Award in 2008. For a position player, the cutoff is 130 at-bats, which he won't reach, or more than 45 days on the active roster between opening day and Sept. 1, which he also won't reach. Ellsbury is in a similar situation to Jonathan Papelbon, who came up a couple of times in 2005 and made an impact, but was still eligible for Rookie of the Year in 2006. He finished a distant second to Justin Verlander in the balloting. ... In case anyone was wondering where backup catcher Kevin Cash ranks in terms of the worst hitters in recent Red Sox history - Cash's .080 average is better than Craig Grebeck's, who was 2 for 41 (.049) and equal to Tuffy Rhodes, who was the same 2 for 25 (.080) in 1995 as Cash is in '07. Rhodes, who went on to have a great career in Japan, made his Red Sox debut on May 27, 1995, the same day as Tim Wakefield. ... Red Sox management has announced some measures to make Fenway Park a little more energy efficient, which is an admirable course of action. One more suggestion - don't turn the lights on for day games on sunny summer afternoons. ... Jon Lester's career record is an impressive 11-2, and in the parts of two seasons he has spent with Boston, Sox relievers have blown six saves in games where he could have had wins. Julio Lugo finally hit the 70 mark in runners stranded in scoring position with two out, becoming the third Boston batter to reach that dubious plateau after Trot Nixon and Edgar Renteria. Lugo has 72 strands. Renteria, who doesn't look so bad compared to Lugo, has the unofficial team record with 73.

Changing of the guard

Four teams changed managers in mid-season this year - Baltimore, Houston, Cincinnati and Seattle.

The Reds were 31-51 under Jerry Narron and have gone 40-32 for Pete Mackanin; the Astros were 58-73 for Phil Garner and are 10-13 for Cecil Cooper; the Orioles were 29-40 for Sam Perlozzo and are 36-48 for Dave Trembley; and in Seattle, where Mike Hargrove abruptly quit with the Mariners at 45-33, the team is 37-38 for John McLaren.

Three of the four managerial changes had Red Sox connections. Both McLaren and Narron coached for Boston. Cooper played for the Red Sox.

Jeopardy questions

1. Who is Pedro Martinez? When Martinez won 23 in 1999, he got a win in relief on Aug. 14 when manager Jimy Williams gave a start to Bryce Florie because Martinez had gotten into the habit of showing up late for his starts.

2. Who are the 1979 Houston Astros? The Astros, in '79, hit 52 triples and 49 homers. Jose Cruz led in homers with 9; Craig Reynolds led in triples, also with 9.

3. Who is Jose Offerman? Offerman was 0 for 8 in 2000, just beating Bobby Doerr, who was 1 for 11 in 1939.

Pitching in

Keeping track of pitch counts, at least for starting pitchers, is emphasized more with each passing season. Unless there is some dramatic change, the Sox won't have any of their starters throwing the more than 4,000 pitches that Roger Clemens did in 1996.

How much damage did that do to Clemens' arm? He went 21-7 with a 2.05 ERA and won the Cy Young award the next year while playing for the Blue Jays.

Boston's leaders in pitches thrown in a season:

Year Pitcher Games Pitches Innings Pitches/Inn.

1992 Roger Clemens 32 3,802 246.2 15.4

1993 Roger Clemens 29 3,181 191.2 16.6

1994 Roger Clemens 24 2,877 170.67 16.9

1995 Erik Hanson 29 3,100 186.2 16.6

1996 Roger Clemens 34 4,236 242.2 17.5

1997 Tim Wakefield 35 3,269 201.1 16.2

1998 Pedro Martinez 33 3,639 233.2 15.6

1999 Pedro Martinez 31 3,321 213.1 15.6

2000 Pedro Martinez 29 3,160 217 14.6

2001 Hideo Nomo 33 3,227 198 16.3

2002 Pedro Martinez 30 3,099 199.1 15.5

2003 Derek Lowe 33 3,131 203.1 15.4

2004 Pedro Martinez 33 3,489 217 16.1

2005 Tim Wakefield 33 3,391 225.1 15.0

2006 Curt Schilling 31 3,244 204 15.9

2007 Daisuke Matsuzaka 31 3,360 196.2 17.1

NAME: BOSTON RED SOX 

ART: PHOTOS

CUTLINE: (1) Pedro Martinez ... 3,639 pitches in 1998 (2) Roger Clemens ... 4,236 pitches in 1996 (3) Derek Lowe ... 3,131 pitches in 2003 (4) Hideo Nomo ... 3,227 pitches in 2001. (5) Jacoby Ellsbury (6) Red Sox rookie Clay Buchholz is 3-1 with 1.59 ERA. (7) Daisuke Matsuzaka ... 3,360 pitches in 2007

PHOTOG: ASSOCIATED PRESS PHOTOS