Britton finishes fourth in AL Cy Young balloting

If it's any consolation for Orioles closer Zach Britton, he received more first-place votes than finalist Corey Kluber for the American League Cy Young Award.

The Baseball Writers' Association of America has presented Red Sox's right-hander Rick Porcello with the award, the announcement coming tonight on MLB Network.

Porcello had 137 points. The Tigers' Justin Verlander was runner-up with 132 points and the Indians' Kluber was third with 98.

A first-place vote is worth seven points, second place four, third place three, fourth place two and fifth place one.

Of greater interest to Orioles fans and the local beat crew was how Britton fared in the balloting. He was excluded from the final three, the news almost causing manager Buck Showalter to blow a gasket.

Britton finished in fourth place with 72 points. He received five first-place votes, compared to three for Kluber.

Britton also received three second-place votes, two third-place votes, five fourth-place votes and nine fifth-place votes.

White Sox left-hander Chris Sale was fifth with 40 points, followed by the Blue Jays' J.A. Happ (14), the Jays' Aaron Sanchez (six), the Yankees' Masahiro Tanaka (six), Indians reliever Andrew Miller (three), and Tigers rookie Michael Fulmer and the White Sox's Jose Quintana (one).

Verlander received more first-place votes (14) than Porcello (eight), but two voters left him off their ballots - Fred Goodall of the Associated Press and Bill Chastain of MLB.com, both of the Tampa chapter of the BBWAA.

Closers are eligible for the Cy Young, but Eric Gagne is the last one to win it in 2003. Nine of them have been honored.

Britton turned in an historic season by going 47-for-47 in save opportunities and posting a 0.54 ERA in 67 innings.

According to STATS, Britton has the longest save streak in as many chances to start a season by a left-handed pitcher in major league history and ranks third all-time. His 0.54 ERA was the lowest in major league history among pitchers with at least 50 innings pitched.

Britton won the Mariano Rivera Award as the top reliever in the American League, but he couldn't convince enough BBWAA voters that he belonged in the Cy Young discussion.

I had a Cy Young vote this year and selected Britton first, followed by Porcello, Kluber, Verlander and Sale. I was put in a no-win position, open to accusations of being a homer for taking him or infuriating fans and segments of the organization for excluding him.

If there's any bias on my end, it's only from watching Britton on a regular basis and perhaps being more appreciative of his accomplishments. I get the whole innings argument, but Britton's season extended beyond greatness.

Historic seems worthy of Cy Young consideration.

Other voters who put Britton first were CSNmidatlantic.com's Rich Dubroff, the Los Angeles Daily News' Mark Whicker, CSN Bay Area's Joe Stiglich and the Tacoma New Tribune's John McGrath.

Britton was left off six of the 30 ballots.