Carpenter, Hill win comeback awards

NEW YORK, Oct. 5 (UPI) -- St. Louis pitcher Chris Carpenter and Toronto second baseman Aaron Hill have been selected Major League Baseball's comeback players of the year.

Carpenter was named first on 27 of 30 ballots for National League players and second on two others. He made just four starts over 2007 and 2008 but was 17-4 with an NL-best 2.24 earned run average in 28 starts in 2009.

Carpenter won the Cy Young Award after a 21-5 season 2005 but had an elbow injury that led to surgery in May 2007. Further problems limited his play until this season.

Hill this season had career highs with 36 home runs, 108 runs batted in, 195 hits and 103 runs scored. He was coming off a season cut by a concussion suffered May 29, 2008.

He was listed first on 14 of the 30 ballots for AL players, second on five others and third on three. Boston catcher Victor Martinez was second with six first-place mentions, nine seconds and six thirds.

Carpenter was a run-away winning in the National League. Milwaukee pitcher Yovani Gallardo was second with nine second-place votes and three thirds.

The awards, announced Monday, are determined by a vote of writers for MLB.com.