Felix finishes fourth in AL Cy Young race

SEATTLE -- A winless September cost him any shot at winning his second American League Cy Young Award, but Mariners ace Felix Hernandez wound up fourth in the voting for the prestigious pitching honor announced Wednesday by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Hernandez at one point appeared a top contender for the Cy Young after winning nine straight decisions -- including five shutouts and a perfect game -- in a sterling 14-start stretch in midseason. But the 26-year-old went 0-4 with a 6.62 ERA over his final six starts to finish 13-9 with a 3.06 ERA.

Hernandez certainly deserved to be in the Cy Young conversation as he led the AL in shutouts while ranking second in innings pitched at 232, third in strikeouts with 223 and tied for second in strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.98).

But in the end, those numbers weren't enough to beat Tampa Bay's David Price, who edged the Tigers' Justin Verlander to win his first Cy Young. The Angels' Jered Weaver finished third.

Price, who finished second to Hernandez for the 2010 Cy Young, was named first on 14 of the 28 BBWAA ballots after compiling a 20-5 record and 2.56 ERA. Price, 27, led the AL in both wins and ERA.

Verlander, who won the award in 2011, received 13 first-place votes following his 17-8, 2.64 ERA season.

The other first-place vote went to Rays closer Fernando Rodney, who racked up 48 saves and a 0.60 ERA. Rodney finished fifth overall in the voting.

Two BBWAA members from each of the AL's 14 cities voted for the award. Each writer selected a top five and points were awarded on 7-4-3-2-1 scoring system. Hernandez didn't get any first- or second-place votes, but was third on five ballots, fourth on 10 and fifth on six.

That gave Hernandez 41 points. Price edged Verlander 153-149, with Weaver third with 70 points. Rodney totaled 38, followed by Chris Sale of the White Sox (17), the Orioles' Jim Johnson (5) and the Rangers' Matt Harrison (2) and Yu Darvish (1).

Hernandez didn't get any votes in 2011, when Verlander was the unanimous winner. Hernandez won the award in 2010 with 21 first-place votes after finishing second behind the Royals' Zack Greinke in '09, which was the first year Hernandez received votes for the honor.

Former Mariners right-hander R.A. Dickey was a runaway winner for the National League Cy Young Award, which also was handed out Wednesday. The Mets knuckleballer earned 209 points and 27 of the 30 first-place votes in NL balloting following his 20-6 season with a 2.73 ERA at age 37.

Dickey, who was 5-8 with a 5.21 ERA with the Mariners in 2008, led the NL in innings pitched (233 2/3), strikeouts (230), complete games (5) and shutouts (3). He was the only pitcher listed on every NL ballot.