Breaking the tie for Cy

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What’s more impressive? Twenty-two wins and a 2.54 earned-run average or a single-season record 62 saves? That’s what voters choosing between the American League’s top two contenders for the Cy Young award had to figure out.

But there’s one other way to look at the Angels’ Francisco Rodriguez and the Indians’ Cliff Lee -- call it the Mike Redmond factor.

The Minnesota Twins’ backup catcher has a .292 lifetime average over 11 big-league seasons, but for some reason, he’s dominated a number of past Cy Young winners. He’s hitting .500 with six RBIs in 26 career at-bats against Milwaukee’s C.C. Sabathia, for example. He is batting .438 with two homers and seven RBI in 48 at-bats against Atlanta’s Tom Glavine. And he’s a combined four for 14 with three RBIs against Toronto’s Roy Halladay and St. Louis’ Chris Carpenter.

Using that as a guide, Cy Young voters should give the nod to Rodriguez. Redmond had an RBI single the only time he faced the Angels closer. Against Lee, he’s 0 for 9 with three strikeouts.

-- Kevin Baxter