Below is a poll for the National League Cy Young award. As with my poll for the AL award,the 10 guys I put on the ballot are based on the Cy Young Predictor formula (developed by Bill James and Rob Neyer), which can be seen right here on ESPN.com. Keep in mind that this award is based only on regular-season performance, so please try to ignore anything good or bad you've seen in the post-season.

Also here are some stats (and links to each player) you can use to research your vote.

Here are all the NL pitchers this year to make at least 28 starts, strike out at least 144 batters, and win at least 14 games:

  Cnt                        GS  SO  W Year Age Tm  Lg  G  CG SHO GF  L  W-L% SV   IP   H   R   ER  BB   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF  HBP
+----+-----------------+---+---+---+--+----+---+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+-----+--+-----+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+---+
    1 Matt Cain              33 171 14 2009  24 SFG NL  33  4   0  0  8  .636  0 217.2 184  73  70  73   2.89  148 22  886   3 
    2 Chris Carpenter        28 144 17 2009  34 STL NL  28  3   1  0  4  .810  0 192.2 156  49  48  38   2.24  185  7  750   7 
    3 Jorge de la Rosa       32 193 16 2009  28 COL NL  33  0   0  0  9  .640  0 185   172  95  90  83   4.38  103 20  799   9 
    4 Danny Haren            33 223 14 2009  28 ARI NL  33  3   1  0 10  .583  0 229.1 192  83  80  38   3.14  143 27  909   4 
    5 Ubaldo Jimenez         33 198 15 2009  25 COL NL  33  1   0  0 12  .556  0 218   183  87  84  85   3.47  130 13  914  10 
    6 Josh Johnson           33 191 15 2009  25 FLA NL  33  2   0  0  5  .750  0 209   184  77  75  58   3.23  129 14  855   6 
    7 Jair Jurrjens          34 152 14 2009  23 ATL NL  34  0   0  0 10  .583  0 215   186  71  62  75   2.60  160 15  884   3 
    8 Tim Lincecum           32 261 15 2009  25 SFG NL  32  4   2  0  7  .682  0 225.1 168  69  62  68   2.48  173 10  905   6 
    9 Wandy Rodriguez        33 193 14 2009  30 HOU NL  33  1   1  0 12  .538  0 205.2 192  77  69  63   3.02  138 21  849   5 
   10 Javier Vazquez         32 238 15 2009  32 ATL NL  32  3   0  0 10  .600  0 219.1 181  75  70  44   2.87  145 20  874   4 
   11 Adam Wainwright        34 212 19 2009  27 STL NL  34  1   0  0  8  .704  0 233   216  75  68  66   2.63  158 17  970   3 

This includes all the starting pitchers in the poll below.

Here are all the NL pitchers with at least 36 saves this season.

  Cnt                       SV Year Age Tm  Lg  G   GS CG SHO GF  W  L  W-L%   IP   H   R   ER  BB  SO   ERA  ERA+ HR  BF  HBP
+----+-----------------+---+--+----+---+---+--+---+---+--+---+--+--+--+-----+-----+---+---+---+---+---+------+----+--+----+---+
    1 Heath Bell            42 2009  31 SDP NL  68   0  0   0 59  6  4  .600  69.2  54  21  21  24  79   2.71  138  3  278   0 
    2 Jonathan Broxton      36 2009  25 LAD NL  73   0  0   0 58  7  2  .778  76    44  24  22  29 114   2.61  160  4  300   1 
    3 Francisco Cordero     39 2009  34 CIN NL  68   0  0   0 59  2  6  .250  66.2  58  21  16  30  58   2.16  204  2  276   0 
    4 Ryan Franklin         38 2009  36 STL NL  62   0  0   0 54  4  3  .571  61    49  13  13  24  44   1.92  217  2  250   1 
    5 Trevor Hoffman        37 2009  41 MIL NL  55   0  0   0 46  3  2  .600  54    35  11  11  14  48   1.83  229  2  210   1 
    6 Brian Wilson          38 2009  27 SFG NL  68   0  0   0 60  5  6  .455  72.1  60  27  22  27  83   2.74  156  3  303   1 

This includes all the relievers in the poll.

One more thing...the AL poll got more than 400 votes. Even if you don't normally post comments on this blog, I'd love to hear why you made your selection. This is a great time to post your first comment!

Finally, here's the poll:

I wrote a lot about David Ortiz this year and now it's time to check in on his final numbers for the season.

Check out his 2009 splits by month:

After dismal months in April and May he was great from June on. In fact, in his last 101 games of 2009 (June 6 onwards) Ortiz had 27 HR and 78 RBI, with a SLG of .557 and an OPS of .917. His career averages are .545/.922 so he's really right there in terms of hitting his averages.

The big question for 2010 is whether he'll be the Ortiz of old with just the expected slight decline with age or whether he'll be the guy who produced a lot less during most of 2008 and early 2009.

From Sporcle, Name the all-time franchise leaders in hits, HR, wins, and saves for every MLB team.

Here's a great reason to watch Game 5 of the ALCS tonight:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Alex Rodriguez     2007-10-08  2009-10-20     8     32   10   13   1   0   6   12    6    4    1   0  .406  .459 1.000 1.459 NYY
 Ryan Howard        2009-10-07  2009-10-19     8     29    7   11   4   1   2   14    7    5    0   1  .379  .457  .793 1.250 PHI
 Lou Gehrig         1928-10-04  1932-10-02     8     28   14   15   2   0   7   17    1    8    0   0  .536  .649 1.357 2.006 NYY

Ryan Howard's streak of consecutive post-season games with an RBI ended last night despite the Phillies' big win. Tonight, A-rod has a chance to move into sole possession of first place for this record. In my opinion, this is a pretty big deal, particularly since most of his RBI so far have been very meaningful in terms of game situations.

Incidentally, the record for consecutive regular-season games with an RBI is pretty far out of reach:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Mike Piazza        2000-06-14  2000-07-02    15     63   14   22   3   0   8   28    9    4    0   0  .349  .388  .778 1.166 NYM

 Mike Sweeney       1999-06-23  1999-07-04    13     52   14   23   4   0   4   19    5    5    1   0  .442  .508  .750 1.258 KCR

 Garret Anderson    2007-08-26  2007-09-07    12     42   12   20   3   0   7   22    3   10    1   0  .476  .556 1.048 1.604 LAA

Rodriguez is reminding me more and more of Barry Bonds, who was another guy who failed a lot in the post-season before having a breakout playoff output late in his career. Now Bonds' earlier failures are rarely remembered--I wonder how A-rod's reputation will change after this season? If he can drive in a few more runs and the Yankees win the World Series, my guess is most fans will forget his earlier poor performances.

Jayson Werth has hit two home runs and a single in what should be the pennant clinching game for the Phillies.  Since the start of LCS play in 1969 only 4 other players have had as many as 9 total bases in their team's pennant clinching game.

  Cnt Player            Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR **TB** RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----------------+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
    1 Adam Kennedy      2002-10-13    ALCS   5 ANA  MIN W 13-5   4  4  3  4  0  0  3   13     5  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 9th 2B        

    2 Steve Garvey      1974-10-09    NLCS   4 LAD  PIT W 12-1   5  5  4  4  0  0  2   10     4  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 4th 1B        
    3 Paul Blair        1969-10-06    ALCS   3 BAL @MIN W 11-2   6  6  1  5  2  0  1   10     5  0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 2nd CF        

    4 Johnny Damon      2004-10-20    ALCS   7 BOS @NYY W 10-3   6  6  2  3  0  0  2    9     6  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   1  1  0 1st CF        

It it interesting to note that there have been 2 players with 9 total bases on the opposing team in 2 pennant clinching games:

  Cnt Player            Date          Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt PA AB  R  H 2B 3B HR **TB** RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS BOr Positions
+----+-----------------+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+--+--+--+--+--+--+--+------+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+---------+
    1 Alex Rodriguez    2000-10-17    ALCS   6 SEA @NYY L  7-9   5  5  2  4  2  0  1    9     2  0   0  1   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 3rd SS        
    2 Reggie Jackson    1971-10-05    ALCS   3 OAK  BAL L  3-5   4  4  2  3  0  0  2    9     2  0   0  0   0  0  0   0   0  0  0 3rd RF        

There have been 41 post-season major league baseball games, to date, where a team has hit 4+ homeruns in the contest where the game was played in 9 innings or less.  Thanks to Baseball-Reference.com's Play Index Post-Season Batting Game Finder, we can see that overall list in a snap.  But, there have only been two games in MLB's post-season history where a team has hit 4+ homers in a game that was played in 9 innings or less and they lost the game:

  Cnt Date       Series G Tm   Opp GmReslt  PA  AB  R  H 2B 3B HR RBI BB IBB SO HBP SH SF ROE GDP SB CS LOB Batrs
+----+-------------+------+-+---+----+-------+---+---+--+--+--+--+--+---+--+---+--+---+--+--+---+---+--+--+---+-----+
    1 2004-10-13 NLCS   1 HOU @STL L  7-10  38  37  7 10  2  0  4   7  1   0  9   0  0  0   0   0  0  0   4    15 
    2 2002-10-20 WS     2 SFG @ANA L 10-11  41  38 10 12  1  0  4  10  3   1  8   0  0  0   0   0  1  0   4     9    

Jeff Kent played in both these games, and hit homeruns in both these contests, for the losing teams. Now, there's a trivia question for ya, right?

With the World Series rapidly approaching, now seems like a good time to give a tour of the expansive Postseason Section we have here at Baseball-Reference. In some ways, our postseason record is more complete than the regular-season one -- our regular-season boxscores only go back to 1954, but we have complete boxscores and play-by-play records for every postseason game ever played (if you don't believe me, check out the first World Series game ever). The play-by-play accounts even feature Win Probability! From 1903!

But that's not all. Beyond the box scores, you can take a broader view of each playoff matchup in history using our series pages, which contain basic linescores for each game of the series, as well as aggregate series pitching and batting stats. These pages are current as of the previous day's action, so feel free to check out an ongoing series or two. Also, take a trip around our leaderboards to learn about all-time postseason records:

• Batting and Pitching Leaders for World Series Career and Single-Series
• Batting and Pitching Leaders for LCS Career and Single-Series
• Batting and Pitching Leaders for Division Series Career and Single-Series
• Batting and Pitching Leaders for Playoffs Career and Single-Year

Finally, our Play Index Batting and Pitching Event Finders let you search through every play in postseason history, up to and including the previous day's games. And as always, let us know your questions or comments, so that we can continue to be your go-to baseball website all year long.

One of the close races for this year's seasonal awards is the American League Cy Young award.

This simple poll asks who you think deserves the award, which isn't necessarily the same as who you think will win.

I hope to incorporate a lot more polls here, so stay tuned.

Tonight's mlb Game Notes mentions that Scott Kazmir has not won in his last 5 post-season starts. UPDATE: Make that 6. (Teammate John Lackey snapped a six game streak at the start off this year's playoffs.) This made me wonder who had the longest win-less postseason streak. Here are the results from the PI streak finder.

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games   W   L   GS  CG SHO  GF  SV   IP     H    R   ER   BB   SO   HR   ERA  HBP  WP  BK Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Al Leiter          1997-10-01  2000-10-26    11    0   3  11   0   0   0   0   66     60   37   32   31   58   6   4.36   3   2   0 FLA-NYM

 Dwight Gooden      1986-10-08  1998-10-10     9    0   4   9   0   0   0   0   52     51   24   22   23   46   6   3.81   2   2   1 NYM-NYY-CLE
 Gary Nolan         1970-10-10  1976-10-12     9    0   2   9   0   0   0   0   43.2   37   20   20    9   24  10   4.12   0   1   0 CIN

 Randy Johnson      1995-10-13  2001-10-10     8    0   7   8   1   0   0   0   58.2   52   28   25   15   66   9   3.84   0   0   0 SEA-HOU-ARI
 Charles Nagy       1995-10-13  1997-10-21     8    0   2   8   0   0   0   0   49     53   30   28   21   34  11   5.14   3   0   0 CLE

Clearly to own such a streak, your team has to be winning and to keep pitching you have to be doing pretty well also. However, a combination of inconsistency and bad luck left these players on this undistinguished list. As a group, during these games they made 45 starts and went 0-18 with 27 no decisions. They averaged 5.96 innings per start and had an ERA of 4.26 and a WHIP of 1.31. Yet their teams won a lot of pennants and championships during these streaks. (I'm not putting a number on it because there are too many variables to know what to count). A few more interesting fact come to light when you take a closer look.:

• Al Leiter recorded more postseason wins as a reliever for the Blue Jays and Yankees (1 each) than he did as a starter for the Mets and Marlins (0).
• Doc Gooden never won a postseason game. In the '86 playoffs he went 0-3 with a no decision.
• Gary Nolan won his first postseason game and his last (the '76 clincher), but none in between.
• From when he broke the Yankees hearts in '95 until the LCS before he dominated the Yankees in 2001, Randy Johnson went 0-7 with 1 no decision. The 7 losses were in consecutive starts.
• Charles Nagy pitched in 5 postseasons. In each one he earned a decision in the first game he started. He only earned 1 more decision in any of the other nine postseason game that he started.

With Ryan Howard's outstanding performance so far this post-season, you've probably already heard that he just tied Lou Gehrig for most consecutive playoff games with an RBI:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Ryan Howard        2009-10-07  2009-10-19     8     29    7   11   4   1   2   14    7    5    0   1  .379  .457  .793 1.250 PHI                                         
 Lou Gehrig         1928-10-04  1932-10-02     8     28   14   15   2   0   7   17    1    8    0   0  .536  .649 1.357 2.006 NYY                                         

 Alex Rodriguez     2007-10-08  2009-10-19     7     28    7   10   0   0   5   10    5    3    0   0  .357  .406  .893 1.299 NYY                                         
 Bill Skowron       1958-10-06  1960-10-09     7     31    7   12   1   0   2   10    6    1    0   0  .387  .406  .613 1.019 NYY                                         
 Clyde Barnhart     1925-10-12  1927-10-08     7     28    1    9   2   0   0    8    2    2    1   0  .321  .355  .393  .748 PIT                                         

 Ivan Rodriguez     2003-10-10  2003-10-18     6     23    4    6   2   0   1    6    5    4    0   0  .261  .357  .478  .835 FLA                                         
 Bernie Williams    1996-10-04  1996-10-12     6     22    9   12   2   0   5   10    4    5    1   1  .545  .607 1.318 1.925 NYY                                         
 Tony Perez         1975-10-22  1976-10-17     6     24    2    8   1   0   1    8    3    1    0   1  .333  .333  .500  .833 CIN                                         
 Carlton Fisk       1975-10-04  1975-10-14     6     21    6    7   1   0   1    6    3    4    1   0  .333  .440  .524  .964 BOS                                         

Howard's not the only player with an RBI in every game during these playoffs. A-rod has done the same, and he has a streak of 7 going back to the Yankees' last playoff game in 2007.

Notice that the Iron Horse's numbers were incredible in those 8 games--an OPS of 2.006 and 17 RBI.  On this list, only Bernie Williams has numbers comparable to Gehrig's.

Incidentally, by limiting the streak to just League Championship Series games, one guy stands out above all others:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Manny Ramirez      2007-10-16  2009-10-15    10     33    7   14   3   0   4   13    6   11    0   0  .424  .556  .879 1.435 BOS-LAD                                     

 Ryan Howard        2008-10-13  2009-10-19     6     21    7    9   1   1   2   10    3    6    0   0  .429  .556  .857 1.413 PHI                                         
 Derek Jeter        2004-10-18  2009-10-19     6     31    3    7   1   0   2    8    5    1    0   0  .226  .250  .452  .702 NYY                                         
 Kevin Youkilis     2007-10-16  2008-10-11     6     27    9   16   3   1   4    9    1    2    0   0  .593  .621 1.222 1.843 BOS                                         
 Ivan Rodriguez     2003-10-10  2006-10-10     6     25    5    8   2   0   2    6    6    4    0   0  .320  .414  .640 1.054 FLA-DET                                     
 Mark McGwire       1988-10-06  1989-10-06     6     21    6    9   1   0   2    6    5    2    0   0  .429  .458  .762 1.220 OAK                                         

Streaks like these are quite impressive. Remember that when playing in the post-season, batters are usually facing quite good pitchers. Driving in runs in 10 straight games is amazing.

For just World Series games:

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Reggie Jackson     1977-10-14  1978-10-14     8     29   11   15   2   0   6   14    5    3    0   0  .517  .588 1.207 1.795 NYY                                         
 Lou Gehrig         1928-10-04  1932-10-02     8     28   14   15   2   0   7   17    1    8    0   0  .536  .649 1.357 2.006 NYY                                         

 Bill Skowron       1958-10-06  1960-10-09     7     31    7   12   1   0   2   10    6    1    0   0  .387  .406  .613 1.019 NYY                                         
 Clyde Barnhart     1925-10-12  1927-10-08     7     28    1    9   2   0   0    8    2    2    1   0  .321  .355  .393  .748 PIT                                         

Gehrig's streak shows up again, since all his post-season games were World Series games. He's joined by REG-GIE REG-GIE from 1977-1978.

                   StreakStart  Streak End Games    AB    R    H   2B  3B  HR  RBI  SO   BB   SB   CS   BA   OBP   SLG   OPS  Teams
+-----------------+-----------+-----------+-----+------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
 Reggie Jackson     1977-10-14  1978-10-14     8     29   11   15   2   0   6   14    5    3    0   0  .517  .588 1.207 1.795 NYY                                         
 Lou Gehrig         1928-10-04  1932-10-02     8     28   14   15   2   0   7   17    1    8    0   0  .536  .649 1.357 2.006 NYY                                         

 Bill Skowron       1958-10-06  1960-10-09     7     31    7   12   1   0   2   10    6    1    0   0  .387  .406  .613 1.019 NYY                                         
 Clyde Barnhart     1925-10-12  1927-10-08     7     28    1    9   2   0   0    8    2    2    1   0  .321  .355  .393  .748 PIT