It's ANYONE'S Division to win but Wainwright's Cy Young to lose

I am sure this is not how Brandon Phillips saw this series unfold... The Reds went from 2 up to 1 back... and Cincinnati has 47 games to get back on track.

If they don't they can look squarely at this weekend as a big time lost opportunity... when they showed they couldn't play with the big boys.

The Reds are part of my "Less Than Magnificent Seven"... the seven teams that went from 2000 to 2009 without making the post season once.

They can get off the schnide with a division title in a month and a half... and the lead in the NL Central hasn't been more than 2 games since May 9th with the exception of one day where the Reds opened up a 3 game lead.

In other words, a tradition filled midwestern team that has a lot of red in their uniform will be playing in October this year... your guess is as good as mine as which one.

But despite Ubaldo Jimene's solid performance last night in New York, Adam Wainwright at this point has to be the Cy Young winner.

He came up big in today's big game that put the Cardinals in first by themselves.

He's matched Jimenez's 17 wins... his ERA has joined Josh Johnson as sub 2.00. Wainwright's 1.99 ERA trailed Johnson's league leading ERA by 0.02 points.

His 0.97 WHIP is the lowest in the league.

His 176 1/3 innings pitched is second only to Roy Halladay. His batting average against is third in the league.

It's an amazing year for aces, and a strong August and September could put Jimenez, Johnson, Halladay and even Lincecum into the winner's circle.

But right now, it needs to be wrestled from Wainwright.

Is THAT anyway to try and win a Cy Young Award?

Seriously, Josh Johnson... it wasn't that long ago that you were a trendy Cy Young front runner choice. And going into today's game against a recently swept Reds team, you had a 1.97 ERA, best among big league starters.

But with Adam Wainwright on your tail in the ERA lead, it was critical to post a good win against Cincy.

3 2/3 innings, 10 hits and 6 earned runs later, your ERA is all the way up to 2.27, giving Wainwright the league lead in wins, ERA and WHIP.

Now Johnson is only a trendy pick for the Cy Young in the Johnson household.

In fact, Braves star Tim Hudson may have leap frogged Johnson among Cy Young contenders.

Dust yourself off Josh and get back in it... the most intriguing Cy Young race I have ever seen continues.

Adam Wainwright just couldn't make this easy, could he?

Adam Wainwright went into tonight's game as the only starting pitcher with qualifying innings to have a sub 2.00 ERA. He was tied with the league lead in wins with 17 and had the lowest WHIP and the second lowest bating average against.

And he did all of that with the fourth highest innings count in the National League.

Well after tonight, he has the second highest win total and still leads the league in all the above categories. And he pitched well... well enough to win 9 out of 10 games.

But his ERA crept above 2 and his win total is stagnant. And Halladay, Jimenez and yes Tim Hudson are still hanging around.

Oh yeah, Josh Johnson won again.

This isn't ending any time soon.

How many All Star selections do I agree with?

The All Star selections this year have been some of the strangest and bringing around the most controversy of any year I can remember.

With each roster at 35 players, there really shouldn't be any MAJOR controversy. The top players should be in there and the arguments should be over fringe players.

Alas, this year there are some whoppers of omissions, including Joey Votto, who I had as the starting DH for the National League, and Paul Konerko and Kevin Youkilis, who are both having amazing years.

Now all three are on the "pick the final player" poll (or whatever it is called) but they should have to sing for their supper. They should be in, no questions asked.

Some players that got in that I didn't pick I have no problem with... Matt Thornton, Phil Hughes, Jose Valverde... all having nice years.

And I didn't include David Ortiz nor Victor Martinez on MY list, so I guess you can't accuse me of excessive Red Sox bias!

But I'm not saying anything that isn't taking up hours of talk radio time right now.
I suppose that's why I listed my All Star Roster ahead of the release of the real rosters.

That way I can show it wasn't second guessing. (Although I forgot that Troy Tulowitzki was on the Disabled List. Whoops.)

So let's see which All Stars I agreed with and which ones I didn't.

American League All Stars that I picked as well

(The players voted in by fans)

ROBINSON CANO, Yankees

CARL CRAWFORD, Rays

VLADIMIR GUERRERO, Rangers

JOSH HAMILTON, Rangers

DEREK JETER, Yankees

EVAN LONGORIA, Rays

JOE MAUER, Twins

JUSTIN MORNEAU, Twins

ICHIRO SUZUKI, Mariners

(Pitchers and Reserves That I Also Picked)

ELVIS ANDRUS, Rangers

ADRIAN BELTRE, Red Sox

CLAY BUCHHOLZ, Red Sox

JOHN BUCK, Blue Jays

MIGUEL CABRERA, Tigers

TREVOR CAHILL, A's

TORII HUNTER, Angels

IAN KINSLER, Rangers

CLIFF LEE, Mariners

JON LESTER, Red Sox
ANDY PETTITTE, Yankees

DAVID PRICE, Rays

MARIANO RIVERA, Yankees

C. C. SABATHIA, Yankees

JOAKIM SORIA, Royals

VERNON WELLS, Blue Jays

American League Players I chose
but didn't make the All Star Roster

ANDREW BAILEY, A's

SHIN SOO CHOO, Indians

FELIX HERNANDEZ, Mariners

PAUL KONERKO, White Sox

COLBY LEWIS, Rangers

NICK MARKAKIS, Orioles

MIKE NAPOLI, Angels

JARED WEAVER, Angels

KEVIN YOUKILIS, Red Sox

American League Players that made
the All Star Roster that I DIDN'T pick

JOSE BAUTISTA, Blue Jays

FAUSTO CARMONA, Indians

NEFTALI FELIZ, Rangers

PHIL HUGHES, Yankees

VICTOR MARTINEZ, Red Sox

DAVID ORTIZ, Red Sox

ALEX RODRIGUEZ, Yankees

MATT THORNTON, White Sox

JOSE VALVERDE, Tigers

TY WIGGINTON, Orioles

National League All Stars that I picked as well

(The players voted in by fans)

RYAN BRAUN, Brewers
ANDRE ETHIER, Dodgers
YADIER MOLINA, Cardinals
ALBERT PUJOLS, Cardinals
HANLEY RAMIREZ, Marlins
DAVID WRIGHT, Mets

(Pitchers and Reserves That I Also Picked)

MARLON BYRD, Cubs
ADRIAN GONZALEZ, Padres
ROY HALLADAY, Phillies
COREY HART, Brewers
RYAN HOWARD, Phillies
TIM HUDSON, Braves

UBALDO JIMENEZ, Rockies
JOSH JOHNSON, Marlins
TIM LINCECUM, Giants
BRIAN McCANN, Braves
BRANDON PHILLIPS, Reds
SCOTT ROLEN, Reds
TROY TULOWITZKI, Rockies
ADAM WAINWRIGHT, Cardinals

National League Players I chose
but didn't make the All Star Roster

HEATH BELL, Padres
R. A. DICKEY, Mets
JAIME GARCIA, Cardinals
DAN HAREN, Diamondbacks
MAT LATOS, Padres
MIGUEL OLIVO, Rockies
ROY OSWALT, Astros
COLBY RASMUS, Cardinals
STEPHEN STRASBURG, Nationals
JOEY VOTTO, Reds
BILLY WAGNER, Braves
JAYSON WERTH, Phillies

National League Players that made
the All Star Roster that I DIDN'T pick

MICHAEL BOURN, Astros
JONATHAN BROXTON, Dodgers
MATT CAPPS, Nationals
CHRIS CARPENTER, Cardinals
YOVANI GALLARDO, Brewers
MATT HOLLIDAY, Cardinals
OMAR INFANTE, Braves
EVAN MEEK, Pirates
JOSE REYES, Mets
ARTHUR RHODES, Reds
BRIAN WILSON, Giants
CHRIS YOUNG, Diamondbacks


I am voting for Joey Votto and Kevin Youkilis for the final roster spot... although with Youk going down we might have the sore sight of All Star Nick Swisher.

TO BE CONTINUED

Adam Wainwright... Cy Young front runner?

It seems like Ubaldo Jimenez has been the front runner for the Cy Young Award for so long that it almost seemed silly to look at other candidates.

And then suddenly we all looked up and Josh Johnson somehow passed him on the radar.

Well now it is looking more and more like Wainwright is the one to vote for.

Last night he threw another complete game shutout (he is second in the league for both complete games and shutouts to Roy Halladay)... which gives him 16 wins (second to Jimenez's 17 wins) an ERA of 2.07 (second to Josh Johnson's 1.96) a WHIP of 1.00 (second to Mat Latos's 0.99) in 169 innings pitched (second to Roy Halladay's 178).

(His 154 strikeouts puts him in third in the NL... it was almost so perfectly lined up.)

Being #2 in so many categories should put him #1 in the Cy Young vote... at least at this juncture.

Now a dominating August and September could put Jimenez back on top... or Johnson... or even Halladay.

Wainwright already has the ultimate team highlight... clinching the 2006 World Series. Now to snag the top individual achievement.

He's in second place so many times that he might have to be in first.