Cy Young Clusterf*ck

The way St. Louis Cardinals fans reacted after Tim Lincecum was named the NL Cy Young award winner*, you would have thought the state of Florida had just screwed him out of the United States presidency.
Yeah, the reactions were that bad.

Adam Wainwright has a legit beef with voters.  Only in America (and America's Past Time) can you get the most first place votes and not be a winner.  Mr. Wainwright, Al Gore is holding on line one prepared with a condolences speech.  Chris Carpenter, you already have a Cy Young award in your back pocket.  Go pretend as if it were a new one and rest up for 2010.

And for everyone saying that Carpenter and Wainwright were robbed.  Or that Lincecum was not deserving of the award.  You're stupid.  I know that will offend a lot of my friends who happen to be charter members of the Redbird Cheering Association, but I don't care.

It is not as if Lincecum was shit-tastic in San Francisco.  Seriously, look at his numbers.

Lincecum led the National League with 261 strikeouts and had a league-best K/9 ratio of 10.4, higher than Carpenter's 144 punchouts and 6.7 K/9 ratio.  He allowed fewer base hits per nine innings andhome runs per nine innings than Wainwright, all while having a lower WHIP.

He won 15 games -- four fewer than Wainwright and two fewer than Carpenter.

Of Lincecum's 10 no decisions, he received two runs or fewer of run support in four of those starts.  If Lincecum is backed with an offense that can some how wave less than a pageant queen, 15 wins becomes 19 wins rather quickly.

I refuse to waste my valuable time running down stats that prove Lincecum was a worthy Cy Young award winner.  If you want to blame the voters, be my guest.  Do so in the comments section and I'll agree with you 100 percent.  If you want to blame any combination of the Cardinals bats or bullpen for not getting Wainwright his 20th win down the stretch, go right ahead.  Again, do so in the comments section.

But remember this.  There is no doubt in the mind of any one with a baseball IQ that Lincecum, Wainwright and Carpenter were the three best pitchers in the National League.  Each player could make a case for winning the coveted award.  Lincecum won, Wainwright and Carpenter finished behind him.

In the end, the Giants, Cardinals and Cubs each won the same amount of playoff games in 2009.

Zero.

Life goes on.

(At what point is it OK to ask how Lincecum will celebrate?)*

Cubs, Cards & Aces From A(dam) to (Big) Z

Chicago Tribune blogumnist Steve Rosenbloom is absolutely correct.  Adam Wainwright, not Carlos Zambrano, is pitching like someone worth $18 million per year.

However, Rosenbloom is completely off base with his comparison.

Comparing Wainwright and Big Z is like comparing the a street baller and a prep school player.

Consider this.


Wainwright and Zambrano are the same age, yet Big Z has a head start of four seasons and 89 starts.  So, why is Wainwright outperforming Zambrano?  It all comes down to preparation.

Waino (seriously, one of the weakest nicknames in baseball) was drafted in 2000 and spent a good chunk of his developmental years in the Atlanta Braves organization.  Yes, the same organization that developed John Smoltz and Tom Glavine.  After being traded to the St. Louis Cardinals, Wainwright learned under the watchful eye of Dave Duncan.  The Cards' pitching coach has saved more arms than Barry Bonds' hardware and has extended more careers than HGH.

Wainwright's steady career path mirrors one of a student who enrolled into Harvard, then transferred to M.I.T.  Zambrano's career path is something like a JUCO transfer who bounces from team-to-team looking for a place to fit.

Zambrano was signed by the Cubs organization in 1997 out of Venezuela at the age of 16.  At that point, Wainwright was just receiving his drivers license and mackin' on high school girls in his mom's station wagon in search of a prom date.

As for Zambrano's mentors ... um ... Larry Rothschild?  Dusty Baker?  That's like learning strip club etiquette from Pacman Jones.

The Cards brought Wainwright slowly through the ranks, starting him as a reliever before converting him into a full-time starter.

Over the last three years, Wainwright has posted a 43-22 record and 3.16 earned run average over the last three years.  Zambrano is 40-25 in the same time span with a 3.87 ERA.

And while Wainwright holds the edge this season, something must be said for Zambrano, who has made at least 31 starts since the 2003 season and 193 overall.  The 2009 season marks Big Z's first injury marred campaign, while Wainwright already had his own disabled list issues in 2008 thanks to a busted finger.

If Wainwright can start 30 games per year over the next six years, throw 1,264 innings, then I'll give him the props he deserves.

But if you want to crown him, well, crown his ass!