Jake Peavy’s dream season got even dreamier Thursday.
The San Diego Padres ace was the unanimous winner of the National League Cy Young Award, the ultimate tribute to the league’s best pitcher.
“This is truly amazing,” Peavy said during a national conference call. “It’s a very humbling day when you think about all my peers that take the mound every fifth day.”
The right-hander led the NL in wins (19) and led the majors in ERA (2.54) and strikeouts (240).
The one black mark on his season came in Game 163 at Coors Field. That night, Peavy took the mound against the Rockies with a chance to win his 20th game and a wild-card playoff berth on the line. But the Rockies roughed him up, scoring six runs on 10 hits in 6 1/3 innings. The Rockies went on to win the game 9-8 in 13 innings.
“That was a tough way to go,” Peavy said. “We were so close and had grinded it out for so long. I really thought that this year’s team, if we got into the playoffs, could really make some noise.”
He received all 32 first-place votes and finished with 160 points. Peavy, 26, became the 12th NL pitcher to win unanimously, the first since Arizona’s Randy Johnson in 2002.
“I’m elated, obviously,” Peavy said. “This is as big as it gets as far as individual awards go.”
