by leigh_east_photoman

 

With only a quarter of the baseball season left to go, let’s take a look at how the National League awards might shake out as we continue down the stretch.  (Note: stats as of Aug. 16.)

Cy Young candidates:

Roy Halladay, Philadelphia Phillies:

Though the season started with Ubaldo Jimenez on pace to have one of the best seasons in history, Halladay, Wainwright and Johnson have put together better overall years.  Though he hasn’t gotten a tremendous amount of run support, Halladay has put together five straight wins as of late to push his record to 15-8.  Halladay also is leading the league in innings pitched, helping to save the Philly bullpen and keep them in the N.L. East race.  With the third best ERA in the N.L. (2.24), Halladay is actually having one of the very best seasons of his career, which is saying quite a bit.  If Halladay can finish near 20 wins and continue to eat innings, he will have a very strong Cy Young resume.

Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals:

Wainwright isn’t exactly a household name, but he should be.  Over the past few seasons, Wainwright has been one of the best pitchers in the league and he’s finally having a complete breakout season.  Wainwright is leading the league in ERA (1.99) and is the only starting pitcher in the National League with a WHIP under 1.00.  With just one loss since the third week in June, Wainwright has also been lights out in the most crucial time of the year for the Cardinals.

Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins:

Up until Wainwright’s recent surge, Johnson looked to have the Cy Young award almost wrapped up.  Johnson went through a stretch of the season in which he was absolutely dominant before coming back to Earth a little bit the last month or so.  Still, Johnson has a 10-5 record on a sub-par Marlins squad and has an exceptional ERA of 2.27.  Johnson still has been one of the most dominant pitchers in the league and has a really bright career ahead of him, though it seems that he’ll eventually get outshined by some of the veterans in the league putting together outstanding seasons.

Ubaldo Jimenez, Colorado Rockies:

Even with a regression and a return to a bit of inconsistency, Jimenez is still having a tremendous year.  His 17-3 record is definitely misleading, as he has had plenty of run support, but with a 2.59 ERA and 1.12 WHIP, Jimenez definitely deserves a bit of Cy Young consideration.  Jimenez has been so good that he could be the first big-time starting pitcher that can directly help the Rockies sell <a rel=”nofollow” onclick=”javascript:_gaq.push([‘_trackPageview’, ‘/outgoing/article_exit_link’]);” href=”http://www.stubhub.com/mlb-tickets/”>MLB tickets</a>.  With a strong conclusion to the season, Jimenez should easily get to 20 wins and keep Colorado in the division/Wild Card race right up until the end of the season.

Winner:

Adam Wainwright.  Unless something changes dramatically, Wainwright has to be the Cy Young in the National League.  Like Jimenez, he should get to 20 wins without much of a problem and he has been at his most dominant when his team has needed him the most.  No starter in the National League has finished the season with an ERA under 2.00 since Roger Clemens did it in 2005; if Wainwright can do that, he should be nothing short of a slam dunk.

 

 

 

 

After going to the World Series in 2009 the Phillies are favorites to go back. Who’s their closest competition in the National League East? The Braves, Marlins, Mets, or Nationals? www.twitter.com www.facebook.com

Tags: Breaking, Down, League, National, Tickets, Young

This entry was posted on January 14, 2011 at 1:53 am and is filed under NL East. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.