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September 27, 2008 - 8:09PM
Updated: September 27, 2008 - 11:30PM
Webb misses win, but team doesn’t
Jack Magruder, Tribune
Brandon Webb figures he has done what he can do. Now, it is time for Tim Lincecum to make his last start, and for Brad Lidge to likely rest on his perfect season in relief, and let the electorate have their voice in the NL Cy Young Award race.
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“I feel good where I am at,” Webb said after his final start of the season Saturday. “I feel pretty confident.”
Webb gave up four runs in seven innings but did not get a decision in the D-Backs’ 6-4 victory over Colorado, a game not determined until Stephen Drew broke a tie with a two-run single in the last of the eighth inning.
Webb still leads the NL and is tied for the major league lead with a career-high 22 victories, although his ERA rose to 3.30, two-thirds of a run higher than San Francisco’s Lincecum, who is 17-5 with a 2.66 ERA and leads the major leagues with 252 strikeouts.
Webb won the Cy Young with 16 victories in 2006 and was runner-up with 18 last season, and he believes 22 is enough this time through.
“Five wins is a great month,” Webb said, speaking of the difference in victories between him and Lincecum.
“Hopefully, five wins will push me over the top. Victories are usually something that a lot of people look at. At five more, I feel good.”
Webb lost the 2003 NL Rookie of the Year award because of victories — Florida’s Dontrelle Willis was 14-6 to Webb’s 10-9, although Webb had a better ERA and other internal numbers.
As far as combing through the numbers to rate his chances, Webb said enough is enough.
“I try to go out and do the best I can,” said Webb, who finished with 183 strikeouts in 226 2/3 innings, his fourth straight year of at least 225 innings.
“Hopefully, that’s enough.”
His teammates believe so.
“Those five wins hold a lot of weight for me,” said catcher Chris Snyder, who has caught every one of Webb’s starts since September 2006.
“Those could have been wins that got us back into a good state, or stopped the bleeding. He comes up big when we need him to. It’s a career year.”
Webb won eight games after D-Backs losses this season, stopping a five-game losing streak in May, a four-game losing streak in August and a six-game losing streak in early September.
“You know what you are going to get every day with him — ground balls, pop flies, tough at-bats,” Stephen Drew said. “Overall, it was a great year. I’m pulling for him to win the Cy Young for the type of guy he is. I don’t know what it is going to boil down to.”
Webb held a 3-1 lead, breaking a 1-all tie with a two-run double in the fourth, before giving up three runs in the fifth inning when he hit two batters with one out and no one on.
“I just lost two there. Rarely do I hit a lot of guys. That’s kind of disappointing,” he said.
Webb entered at 22-7, the same record he ended with. “I’m glad he got a no-decision instead of a loss,” said manager Bob Melvin, already on record as calling Webb the favorite. “For me, he’s in the same position as before.”





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