The Notebook casts its Cy Young vote today, with Justin Verlander in Detroit and Roy Halladay from Philadelphia being the choices. Let's dispense with the obvious one first--Verlander has delivered one of the premier seasons in recent memory, perhaps the most dominant performance by a starter since Pedro Martinez for 1999 Boston. Verlander leads the majors in wins with 24, he leads the American League in ERA at 2.40 and he leads in innings pitched with 251. If you're into strikeouts, he leads that too, with 250. Even factoring in the good pitching environment of Comerica Park, Verlander is so far ahead the rest of the field that this the easiest pick of all the postseason awards. Jered Weaver for the Angels faded down the stretch and C.C. Sabathia in New York was not dominant. Verlander took over a close Cy Young race in the last two months and is now in the MVP sweepstakes that we'll address here tomorrow.

Halladay was a much tougher call. There's four good candidates in the National League, including fellow Phillie Cliff Lee, Los Angeles lefty Clayton Kershaw and Arizona ace Ian Kennedy. The stats say Kershaw, who's the ERA champ at 2.27, and also leads in wins at 21. He only trails Halladay by two innings for the lead in IP and strikeout lovers (I'm not one if that hasn't already come across) love the league-leading Kershaw. Like Verlander, he is in a pitcher's park, but unlike Verlander his edge is not prohibitive. All three Cy Young rivals pitch in hitter's parks, and Halladay and Lee are each on the Dodger lefty's heels for the ERA lead. Kershaw is 2.28, Halladay 2.35 and Lee at 2.40. Kennedy is further back at 2.88. His 21 wins keep him in consideration and would move him ahead of Lee (16 wins) on my ballot, but Halladay's 19 victories are close enough to give deference to superior ERA and more innings pitched. Thus, Halladay wins the "Hitter's Park Semi-Final" and is paired up with Kershaw, where I think his numbers are close enough to feel that if the pitchers switched parks, Halladay would have the better numbers. I don't expect him to win the award, but I believe he should get it for the second straight year.