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Much like in the National League, the choice for the American League Cy Young Award is not going to be an easy one. This is a race that will be impacted greatly by what transpires in the last month of the season. At least here there will be no starter-closer controversy as there is bound to be in the National League. I was looking at the ESPN.com poll on that award and was shocked to see that a quarter of the voters thought Eric Gagne's All-Star Game performance should be held against him. Man! Talk about a tough crowd.

Let's run through the leading candidates for the American League Cy Young Award:

Esteban Loaiza: He's third in ERA and fourth in WHIP. He combines that with 17 wins, including a big one over the Yankees in New York last night. For those keen on putting performance in context of what the pitcher's team in doing in the standings, one can make the case that Loaiza kept the White Sox afloat during their first-half ennui.

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