NEW YORK – C.C. Sabathia won the AL Cy Young Award on yesterday, beating out several worthy contenders by a comfortable margin and becoming the first Cleveland pitcher in 35 years to earn the honor.

The Indians ace received 19 of 28 first-place votes and finished with 119 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Boston’s Josh Beckett was second with eight first-place votes and 86 points, while John Lackey of the Los Angeles Angels got the other first-place vote and came in third. Cleveland’s Fausto Carmona was fourth.

“I was excited. My family and everybody were around,” Sabathia said on a conference call from his home in California. “I was surprised. Beckett had a great year and an even better postseason.”

Sabathia went 19-7 with a 3.21 ERA and 209 strikeouts, pitching a major league-high 241 innings. Beckett (20-7) became the only big league pitcher to win 20 games since 2005, compiling a 3.27 ERA in 200 2-3 innings. Lackey led the AL in ERA at 3.01, going 19-9 and tossing 224 innings. Carmona was 19-8 with a 3.06 ERA.

Voting took place before the postseason, when Sabathia struggled while Beckett pitched the Red Sox to a World Series championship with a string of dominant outings.

“I did look at a few numbers,” Sabathia said. “I definitely thought that Beckett – it could have went either way. I’m just happy and thankful that it went my way.”

The only other Cleveland pitcher to win the award was Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry in 1972. Now that he has one, Sabathia plans to display his trophy prominently at home.