Continuing what I posted yesterday, Bob Herzog at Newsday.com and Jack Curry at The New York Times start making the case for Mo. From the Curry article:

"I think he's got a good chance only because he's really been clutch and there's not anyone else, except probably Colón," said Dennis Eckersley, who won the Most Valuable Player award and Cy Young for the Oakland Athletics in 1992. ...

For a closer to win the award these days, he usually has to be almost perfect and it has to be a lean year for starters. Rollie Fingers, who won the Most Valuable Player award and the Cy Young with the Milwaukee Brewers in 1981, said that modern-day closers simply did not pitch enough to win those awards. Fingers tossed 78 innings in 1981, a strike year in which 38 percent of the schedule was lost.

"Sportswriters aren't stupid," Fingers said. "It's tough to give a guy who pitched 50 innings a Cy Young."

Jorge Posada, the Yankees' catcher, dismissed that argument. "You go for the best pitcher," he said. "He's been the best pitcher."

Eckersley agreed with Posada. "There was more pressure on him than anybody," Eckersley said. "Every game he pitched, they needed. The guy is ice."

Mo has pitched 75 innings so far. With 10 games remaining, I'd expect him to reach 80 with a good possibility of him pitching more. So, let's say he reaches 81 and doesn't allow an earned run in any of those innings. That knocks his ERA down to 1.22. Let's say he reaches 45 saves and gets another win. 8-4, 45 saves, 81 innings, 1.22 ERA. I just did a quick check, so I may be wrong... but the three pitchers who have won the Cy Young with the least innings pitched are:

1. Rollie Ringers - 78 (1978) - 6-3, 1.04 ERA, 28 Saves
2. Dennis Eckersley - 80 (1992) - 7-1, 1.91 ERA, 51 Saves
3. Eric Gagne - 82 (2003) - 2-3, 1.20 ERA, 55 Saves

Mariano Rivera - 81 (2004) - 8-4, 1.22 ERA, 45 Saves

Via Pride of the Yankees.