Today at 8:00 pm, the Venezuelan pitcher will receive the Order of the Liberator from the President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela Hugo Chávez Frías, in the Ayacucho Hall of the Palace of Miraflores. The left-hander for the Minnesota Twins, won the Cy Young Award unanimously, to get the 28 votes from the Baseball Writers’ Association of the Major Leagues, in recognition of the excellent season he played. Venezuelan pitcher, Johan Santana, was awarded the Cy Young in the American League by the Baseball Writers’ Association of the Big Top, in a unanimous, after reaching the 28 votes granted by this organization. The left-hander for the Minnesota Twins, played a spectacular season on the mound, where he earned 20 wins with only 6 losses, making the best ERA in the AL with a 2.61 average and fanned 265 batters. Santana excelled in the second half of the season, which did not lose any of the 15 appearances on the mound with 13 wins and 2 no-decisions, for an ERA of 1.21. Recognized as the best pitcher in each league was created in 1956 to honor the Cy Young, the winningest pitcher in major league history (511), who died in 1955. At first he gave only one pitcher a year, but since 1967 is given to the best of each circuit. Only four have won Latin: Cuban Miguel Cuellar, Puerto Rican Guillermo Hernandez, Fernando Valenzuela and Pedro Martinez.
