Pair of Cardinals vie for NL Cy Young Award
(Sports Network) - The Baseball Writers Association of America will continue to dole out their postseason awards on Thursday, when the National League's Cy Young Award winner will be announced.
Heading the list are a pair of St. Louis Cardinals teammates in right-handers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. San Francisco Giants righty Tim Lincecum, who claimed the award a year ago, also figures to get some votes.
Carpenter, who made just four starts combined in 2007 and 2008, went 17-4 with an NL-best 2.24 earned run average over 28 starts in 2009 to re-establish himself as a Cy Young Award candidate. The 34-year-old recorded three complete games and one shutout while helping St. Louis capture the NL Central title for the first time since 2006.
Over 192 2/3 innings pitched this season, Carpenter has allowed just 156 hits and 38 walks while striking out 144 batters.
During the months of July and August, Carpenter, who captured this award in 2005, went 9-0 with a 2.00 ERA. He dominated divisional opponents in 15 starts, going 11-0 with a 1.58 ERA.
As good of a season as Carpenter has had, though, he may come up short in his bid for a second Cy Young Award to Wainwright, who led the National League with 19 wins, while pitching to a 2.63 ERA.
Wainwright also finished the season strong, winning seven of his final eight decisions. He also surrendered three earned runs or less in all but one his starts from June 26 on.
Lincecum, meanwhile, had another terrific season, as he went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA with a NL-high 261 strikeouts in 225 1/3 innings. Lincecum's ERA was lower than it was last year when he won this award, but the Giants were just 7-7 in his starts after the All-Star break.
11/18 20:21:47 ET
