Congratulations to NL Cy Young Winner Brandon Webb!!

A lot of people, including me, thought Brandon Webb may have seen the National League Cy Young award slip away after he allowed seven earned runs over four innings in the Diamondbacks' 7-6 loss to the Padres in the season finale.

O, we of little faith.

Webb became the 40th NL Cy Young award winner which is voted annually by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. He becomes the second Diamondback pitcher to win the title. Randy Johnson won four consecutive NL Cy Young Awards from 1999-2002.

Webb, 27, finished the season with a 16-8 record and 3.10 ERA in 33 starts. He tied five other pitchers for most wins in the NL. It is the lowest win total by a Cy Young winner in any year not shortened by labor issues. Webb went unbeaten in his first 13 starts, while posting an 8-0 record with a 2.14 ERA. He allowed just 3.5 pitches per batter faced and ran off a string of 30 consecutive scoreless innings.

THE VOTING:

Webb-AZ (103)
Trevor Hoffman-SD  (77)
Chris Carpenter-STL (63)
Roy Oswalt-HOU (31)
Carlos Zambrano-CHIC (6)
Billy Wagner-NYM (4)
John Smoltz-ATL (3)
Takashi Saito-LAD (1)

2006 WEBB FACTS:

• 16 wins*
• 3.10 ERA
• 235 innings*
• 33 Starts
• 178 strikeouts*
• 5 complete games
• 3 shutouts*
• 1st All-Star appearance

*denotes career high