The National League CY Young award race has come down to 3 pitchers: 2 from the St. Louis Cardinals and 1 from the San Francisco Giants.

Adam Wainwright has smoothly made the transition from World Series closer in 2006 to ace starting pitcher. Wainwright is tied for the lead in the majors with 18 wins and leads the NL in innings pitched.

In Wainwright’s last 10 starts, only once (against the Pirates) has he given up more than 2 runs (6-2 in that span).

He has been a workhorse for the Central division leading Cardinals and part of the 1-2 punch that has other playoff-bound teams quivering.

Chris Carpenter is the other ace of the Cardinals. Despite missing part of the 1^st half, Carpenter has 16 wins and an NL-leading 2.34 ERA. Carpenter bounced back from a horrible start against the Braves on 9/13 to shut out the Cubs for 8 innings on 9/19 (8IP, 8H, OR, 2BB, 4K). He is 7-1 in his last 10 starts, with 2 no-decisions.

Because Wainwright and Carpenter are both deserving of this award, they may pull votes from each other, opening the door for the Giants ace, Tim Lincecum. Lincecum, last year’s winner, has yet again put up gaudy numbers, which would be much better if the Giants offense was as good as the Cardinals or Phillies. Lincecum is a workhorse and leads the majors in strikeouts. He has recorded double-digits in strikeouts in 3 of his last 10 starts. Lincecum is 4-3 in his last 10 starts, with three no-decisions. He lost to the Phillies on 9/3, giving up just 2 runs on 4 hits and struck out 11 (he was out-dueled by Pedro Martinez). His last outing was one of his worst and shortest, but he had been dominant in his starts prior. These three pitchers have separated themselves from the rest of the pack.

Two sleepers for the CY Young are Matt Cain and Josh Johnson. Matt Cain forms the formidable 1-2 punch with Lincecum for the Giants. Cain has struggled as of late as his innings have increased well over what he has ever thrown and he’s amassed 4 complete games. Cain is 1-5 in his last 10 starts, with four no-decisions in which he only gave up a total of 9 runs. Josh Johnson is the hard-throwing who has emerged as the young ace for the Florida Marlins. Johnson, like Cain, has struggled lately as his innings have increased. Johnson is 5-3 in his last 10 starts, but has only gone more than 6 innings 3 times. However Johnson is still 15-5 with a 3.12 ERA.

Who should win: Adam Wainwright, St. Louis Cardinals

219 IP              18-8                 2.59 ERA         193 K/63 BB

1CG                 .243 AVG        16 HR allowed

Who will win: Wainwright or Tim Lincecum, SF Giants

211.1 IP           14-6                 2.47 ERA         247 K/63 BB(leads majors)

4 CG/ 2SHO    .208 AVG        10 HR allowed

OR

Chris Carpenter, St. Louis Cardinals

180.2 IP           16-4                 2.34 ERA (leads NL)   136 K/34 BB

3 CG/ 1 SHO   .227 AVG        7 HR allowed

It could go either way because all 3 have similar statistics, but Wainwright and Carpenter are leading the Cardinals to the playoffs, while Lincecum’s Giants are on the outside looking in. Lincecum won it last year on a losing team, but this year’s competition is a little better.

Sleepers: Matt Cain, SF Giants

204.2 IP           13-7                 2.99 ERA                     158 K/70 BB

4 CG                .235 AVG        22 HR allowed

Josh Johnson, Florida Marlins

199.1 IP           15-5                 3.12 ERA                     181 K/53 BB

2 CG                .235 AVG        13 HR allowed

*stats as of 9/23/09 from MLB.com