Audio Twins' Johan Santana wins AL Cy Young Award (story audio) Listen to excerpts of Santana's news conference Listen to reaction from former Twins pitcher Frank Viola (All Things Considered, 11/11/04) Photos Best pitcher in the league Twins manager Resources Major League Baseball Minnesota Twins Your Voice Join the conversation with other MPR listeners in the News Forum.

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Twins' Johan Santana wins AL Cy Young Award
November 11, 2004

Johan Santana of the Minnesota Twins has won the American League's Cy Young Award. In a unanimous vote, Santana was deemed the best pitcher in the league during the 2004 season. (Photo by Doug Pensinger/Getty Images)

Minnesota Twins pitcher Johan Santana has been named the 2004 American League Cy Young Award winner. The honor is given each year by the Baseball Writers Association of America to the most statistically dominant pitchers in both Major League Baseball divisions. Santana, a 25-year-old left hander, recorded the most strikeouts of any pitcher in the American League, the lowest earned run average and the second highest number of victories.

New York, N.Y. — Santana was the unanimous choice as the best pitcher in the American League in 2004. Only six other American League pitchers have earned that distinction.

Here's how he did it. In his last 15 starts, Santana had a 13-0 record. His earned run average was 1.21 -- meaning he gave up an average of about one earned run per nine innings. At one point he had a streak of more than 30 innings without giving up a single run.

But the season didn't begin like a trophy year for Santana. After off-season surgery to remove bone chips from his elbow, he had a 2-4 record in 12 starts.

	Twins manager

"It was really tough in the first half of the season, trying to put everything together," Santana said Thursday, after hearing about the award.

Santana spoke to reporters from Caracas, Venezula -- not far from his hometown of Tovar Meridia. He says his season began to turn around in June when he faced the New York Mets. Santana ended a losing streak with a 5-3 win, and striking out 10 batters in that game.

"But in the second half ... you just be consistent, and prove that you can do it," said Santana. "Just make sure you just get better and better and better as the season goes. And start by start -- and then just like that, everything happens."

"I think people started taking notice when you started seeing eight innings, one hit, 13 strikeouts -- and it wasn't just one week," said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire of Santana's performance.

Gardenhire said Santana's numbers in the second half of the season reminded him of Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Gibson. He says Santana was flat-out the most dominant pitcher he'd seen this season. Gardenhire also credits the Twins coaching staff with helping Santana get over his first half slump.

It's a great feeling. I feel real happy. A lot of people feel happy. It's a big thing going on in my country. - Johan Santana

"I think it was a matter of him -- coming off the elbow surgery -- trusting that he could let the ball go," said Gardenhire. "And some mechanical things -- to get him to where he needed to get to, as far as being able to locate the ball. I think through some hard work from Johan and Rick Anderson, the pitching coach -- I think he got there."

Sportswriters had been predicting the award for Santana several weeks before the season ended. The runnerup in the voting was Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling.

Star Tribune editor and former baseball writer Howard Sinker said despite Schilling's World Series win and victory total, there was no question who was the better pitcher this year.

"It's really not the most victories. Schilling had 21 this year and Santana had 20. But Santana was undefeated the second half of the season. He was absolutely dominant," said Sinker. "It was really one of those situations where every fifth game the Twins literally, this season, knew that Santana wasn't going to lose."

Santana is the first Venezulan to collect a Cy Young Award. Venezuela has been plagued by political violence and kidnappings in recent years. But Santana says right now, his award is helping people forget about their troubles.

"There's a lot of people who are going crazy. And it's a great feeling. I feel real happy," said Santana. "A lot of people feel happy and there's a lot of things going on. It's a big thing going on in my country."

Santana is the third Minnesota Twin to win the award. Frank Viola and Jim Perry are the other two.

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