Sept. 17

Barry Zito, Derek Lowe and Pedro Martinez are the three winningest pitchers in the American League, in that order.

Martinez, Lowe and Zito are 1-2-3 in earned run average, in that order.

If you look at opponents' OPS as a measure of a pitcher's dominance, Lowe, Martinez and Zito are the top three, in that order.

	Barry Zito leads the AL with 21 victories.

Never before have voters been faced with a more difficult, conflicting Cy Young decision. The argument for Martinez joining Roger Clemens, Steve Carlton, Greg Maddux and Randy Johnson as a four-time winner begins with this universally accepted notion: if you wanted one pitcher to pitch one game in this one league, it would be Pedro. In terms of stuff, heart and what Garret Anderson calls "creative, intellectual and physical genius," there is no one close.

Remember, Martinez was brought slowly off a shoulder injury. In his first three starts of the season, he was tentative, allowing a 6.91 ERA in those three starts, totaling 14 1/3 innings. Since? He has a 1.86 ERA. He also leads the AL in strikeouts, by a huge margin.

But the Lowe supporters can turn to the Baseball Prospectus and most every Sabermetric site to argue that from Opening Day to these dwindling days of September, he has been the league's most consistent, finest pitcher. He threw a no-hitter, allowed one hit in another start and two hits in five other starts. He beat Zito on Aug. 8, he is 5-2 combined against Oakland and the Yankees, and from the night he made his first start -- April 5 in Baltimore -- and threw one-hit ball at the Orioles for seven innings, he has led the league in lowest OPS against.

Normally, the Cy Young is simply the league's best starting pitcher. But this year, because it's so close, the argument may be raised that Zito has done it for a winner, and for the third straight year, while in none of these seasons have the Red Sox been able to run past mid-August. Red Sox Nation would debate that it's not the fault of the great Pedro or Lowe; otherwise, the Red Sox may be a highly mediocre team, because if you measure in 10-game increments, after starting the season 29-11, the Red Sox have been no better than 6-4 and no worse than 4-6 in any 10-game stretch since, which one rival GM says, "is a measure of mediocrity."

All three aces have had good run support, but A's folks point to the fact that Oakland is in the middle of the AL in runs scored, and the reason they are a team with a winning percentage over .600 team the last three seasons is pitching. Last Friday, after they'd lost three straight to Anaheim, Zito went out and took a perfect game into the eighth inning against Seattle. Not only does he lead the AL in wins in 2002, but from the day he arrived in the big leagues -- July 22, 2000 -- Zito is the winningest pitcher in the American League. Mark Mulder is second, Tim Hudson third.

Zito is 5-2 against playoff teams (Zito was 1-0 against the Giants), Lowe 6-5 and Martinez 5-4. Zito has 25 quality starts, Lowe 23 and Martinez 21, although Pedro would have had his 22nd on Monday were it not for the rain in the Rd Sox's victory over the Indians. Zito is 12-1 following A's losses, Lowe and Martinez 10-4 and 13-3, respectively. And the Oakland legions argue that Zito is the legitimate horse -- only six times has Zito pitched on more than four days' rest, while Lowe has done it 12 times and Martinez held back to do it 15 times.

They are all so good and so close that it may come down to their last three starts, and the numbers they have in those starts. Right now, Zito is favored because the A's are winning, they have become a poster team with their 20-game winning streak and Lowe and Martinez may split the vote.

We know one thing: each ballot has three names. So if someone votes for anyone other than Zito, Lowe and Martinez, they should lose their BBWA card.