BOSTON -- For the first half-dozen seasons of his career, Rick Porcello pitched in the shadows of Cy Young Award-winning teammates Justin Verlander and Max Scherzer.Now, he walks among them.One year after succumbing to the weight of a lucrative contract extension and losing 15 games for the Boston Red Sox, Porcello won the American League Cy Young Award, edging Verlander -- much to the chagrin of the Detroit Tigers aces fiancée, Kate Upton -- by a narrow margin in voting that was announced Wednesday night by the Baseball Writers Association of America.Porcello became only the fourth pitcher to claim a Cy Young Award with the Red Sox, joining Jim Lonborg (1967), Roger Clemens?(1986, 1987, 1990) and Pedro Martinez?(1999, 2000).Its pretty incredible to be mentioned with those three other Red Sox players, and then Pedro and Roger, Porcello said on a conference call from his parents home in New Jersey, where he received the news. It definitely doesnt feel right, right now, just because I grew up watching those guys. They were my idols growing up, and I had the utmost admiration for what theyve done in the game. To be in that category is -- I cant express my gratitude. Its pretty humbling. I never thought Id be in that position to mention my name with those guys.Porcello, a 27-year-old right-hander, was a first-round pick of the Tigers in 2007 and made his major league debut two years later at age 20. But he entered this season with a 4.39 career ERA and hadnt even been an All-Star, to say nothing of a Cy Young candidate.It was nothing short of a dream season, then, for Porcello, who led the majors with 22 wins and a 5.906 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He ranked behind Verlander and fellow Cy Young finalist Corey Kluber of the Cleveland Indians in both ERA (3.15) and strikeouts (189), but Porcellos candidacy was built on his mind-numbing consistency. He allowed three or fewer runs in 27 of 33 starts and pitched into the seventh inning 23 times, racking up a career-high 223 innings.Porcello said he began to realize he was having a special season right after the All-Star break, a notion that crystallized when he notched his 20th win Sept. 9 in Toronto.I felt like I had the weapons this year and the command to get out just about any guy that I was going to encounter in any lineup, Porcello said. I had nothing to worry about going into a start.Yet Porcello received only eight first-place votes for the Cy Young Award, as compared to Verlanders 14.What put Porcello over the top in the overall voting by a 137-132 margin over Verlander were his 18 second-place votes, coupled with the fact that two Tampa, Florida-based writers -- Fred Goodall of The Associated Press and Bill Chastain of MLB.com -- left Verlander off their ballots entirely.Voters list their five picks in order. A first-place vote is worth seven points, four for second, three for third, two for fourth and one for fifth. Verlander needed to pick up five more points to match Porcello.I feel bad that people are upset about this. I did the best I could, Chastain told the New York Daily News. I went around the clubhouse. I asked guys. I agonized over this. The biggest thing for me was between [Orioles closer?Zach] Britton?and Porcello.Members of the BBWAA have until the end of the regular season to submit their ballots.Chastain said he sent in his ballot a week early, thinking nothing in the final days of the regular season would change his mind. Verlander, though, allowed just one run over his final two starts (14 2/3 innings), going 1-1 and watching his ERA drop from 3.21 to 3.04.At the time, I thought I picked the best five guys, Chastain told the Daily News. Maybe I should have waited until the end. When I voted, it looked pretty clear to me.This marked the second-closest election since 1970, when voters were permitted to select more than one pitcher.Under the current Cy Young voting format, two AL races have been decided by five or fewer voting points. Verlander has been the runner-up in both.Porcello got a $100,000 bonus for winning the Cy Young Award. Verlander, who won the 2011 award, would have gotten $500,000 for this win.Verlanders brother Ben and Upton lashed out against the voters on Twitter, with Upton even saying that Porcello didnt win because he didnt receive as many first-place votes.Verlander later tweeted:?I honestly dont care, Porcello said, when asked about the reaction from Verlanders camp. Im not the one that made that decision, as far as who wins the Cy Young. All I know is Ive got a lot of people around me right now that I love very much and have been instrumental in my success getting to this point. And on top of that, weve got some really good bottles of wine that still need to be drank. Theres not really a concern in my mind.If anything, Porcello said he was thrilled to share this years Cy Young honor with Scherzer, the Washington Nationals ace who won the 2016 award in the National League.Scherzer recalled in his conference call his five seasons as Porcellos teammate, noting that the two pitchers used to critique each others outings and observe their between-start bullpen sessions. Porcello remembered how they used to talk about never throwing back-to-back curveballs and pushed each other to be better after getting demoted to the minor leagues in 2010.We both kind of started from rocky beginnings in our major league careers, Porcello said. Very quickly and almost overnight, [Scherzer] turned himself into an absolute dominant starting pitcher in the big league level. I definitely took a slow development road, and it took me a little bit longer. But the lessons -- we were able to kind of feed off of each other, as far as ideas on how to attack hitters, what were seeing in guys, pitch selection. Watching him and talking to him -- that connection that we have and that friendship that we have -- was instrumental in both of our developments.Porcellos Cy Young ascendance is also a triumph for ex-Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington.After the 2014 season, Cherington staked his reputation on the belief that Porcello would mature into a top-of-the-rotation starter. Not only did the Red Sox trade star outfielder?Yoenis Cespedes?to Detroit for Porcello, they also gave the pitcher a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension that appeared foolish when Porcello went 9-15 with a 4.92 ERA in 2015.Information from The Associated Press was used in this report. Montrezl Harrell Jersey . But now that hes in the NHL, the Calgary Flames centre showed big improvement in that department by scoring the winner in the eighth round of a 5-4 shootout victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Monday. Mfiondu Kabengele Jersey . PETERSBURG, Fla. https://www.clipperslockerroom.com/Maurice-Harkless-City-Edition-Jersey/ . Perez, 35, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.69 earned-run average in 19 relief appearances last season. His season ended Aug. 9 due to a torn ligament in his left elbow. Perez joins infielder Andy LaRoche and catcher Mike Nickeas with minor-league agreements for 2014 that include invitations to attend spring training. Blake Griffin Jersey . While hell be dialed in to that tournament on a course he loves, you can forgive him if his eyes glance down the calendar just a bit, towards April. Los Angeles Clippers Jerseys . Belfort (24-10) needed just 77 seconds to down Henderson in the headlining bout of Saturdays "UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson" event at Goiania Arena in Goiania, Brazil. The fight served as a rematch of the pairs 2006 meeting, which Henderson won by decision. All in all, Furniture Row Racing had a solid weekend at Watkins Glen. The team announced a two-year extension for driver Martin Truex Jr. and the addition of a second car in 2017 for Erik Jones.About the only time things didnt go right came on the racetrack. After leading opening practice Friday and posting the second-fastest lap in final practice later that afternoon, Truex appeared to be one of the race favorites.But things started going south in qualifying Saturday. Truexs qualifying lap was messed up when Ricky Stenhouse Jr. accidentally blocked him, and Truex failed to advance to the final round of qualifying. Stenhouse indicated it was an honest mistake -- he thought Truex was on his cool-down lap.All probably would have been forgotten if the last lap of the Cheez-It 355 didnt end up the way it did. Truex was challenging Denny Hamlin for the win when his trophy hopes were abruptly spun out in the final turn by Brad Keselowski.Truex had to settle for a seventh-place finish and a damaged car, a car that even had more damage after he gave Keselowski a few not-so-love taps on the cool-down laps.He said it was his fault, Truex said after a brief conversation with Keselowski. I said I knew that. Its as simple as that.To be honest, Truex doesnt know whether he would have been able to beat Hamlin in a drag race to the finish line. He just wishes he would have had the chance.Brad was making big moves and screwing up about every restart there towards the end, driving over his head trying to make something happen, Truex said. We were kind of a victim of that.Truex knows the only thing he lost was a chance at possibly three bonus points for the first round of the Chase with the win. But a victory also would have capped off the weekend perfectly.After an awful first year at Furniture Row in 2014, Truex has had two incredible seasons driving the No. 78 car. He not only has one win each year and advanced to the championship round in 2015, he has led more laps and miles than any other driver in the series this year.The move to Toyota for 2016 sparked enough support that the team, as long as it could land enough sponsorship, wanted to start a second car. With Bass Pro Shops committed to 16 races for Truex next year and 5-Hour Energy committed to 22 races for Jones, that leaves Furniture Row to fill in the remaining 36-38 events with some of its other sponsors.It also can put Furniture Row or Toyota (a big player in the deal) on the hood for select events, meaning team owner Barney Visser should not be ppouring in as much money as when it was a one-car organization just sponsored by Vissers Furniture Row company.ddddddddddddSo the future looks bright, and the 2016 Watkins Glen weekend will always be looked at as a potential turning point. Even if looking back on Sunday will be frustrating.It wont matter that Keselowski took the blame.I thought the 78 [of Truex] was going to get in behind and kind of rough up the 11 [of Hamlin], Keselowski said. I wanted to be outside and make a crossover [move] to see if I couldnt get both. At the last minute he came back up and I was already committed.I didnt think hed come back up. You make a commitment before you know exactly whats going to happen. I made a commitment and it just didnt work out. He got the bad end of it.Whats Truexs plan?I dont run over people all the time, Truex said. I dont pull out in front of people in qualifying. Race me like I race you is all that I ask.Xfinity Series: Dont worry, be happyJoey Logano won for the second consecutive year at Watkins Glen in a race pretty much dominated by Sprint Cup drivers.Several series regulars had bad days. But even those who struggled know that with the new elimination Chase system being used in the Xfinity Series, they dont have to wig out over every bad finish.Darrell Wallace Jr. finished 29th but remained ninth in the standings. With a 77-point edge on 13th-place driver Ross Chastain, Roush Fenway Racings Wallace driving his Ford is virtually assured a spot in the 12-driver Xfinity championship when the field is set after six more races.[The goal is] just to get on a consistent roll from here to Homestead, Wallace said prior to the Watkins Glen race. If we start knocking away top-10s and getting into the top five by the time the Chase rolls around [we can contend].A win is at the top of our list, but we definitely have to do some cleaning up -- show up at the track more prepared, more close to where we need to be, and well be OK.Wallace said he can look forward to the postseason -- sort of. While Loganos win was the first for the Ford stable this year, Wallace knows that the Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota cars are going to be tough to beat.Theres something to look forward to, Wallace said. At the end of the day, theres really not [in some ways] because when you go to the racetrack now youre fighting for fourth behind the JGR cars.-- John Oreovicz contributed to this story. ' ' '