Making believers: Carpenter builds strong case for Cy Young

ST. LOUIS -- Two years ago, Chris Carpenter wandered around the St. Louis Cardinals clubhouse in baseball limbo while recovering from shoulder surgery.

The team signed him to a free-agent deal despite the uncertainty of his medical condition, and since has reaped the rewards for its patience. Carpenter, who had a breakout season in 2004 with 15 wins before a biceps injury knocked him out of the postseason, is 21-4 this year and the NL Cy Young Award favorite.

"I played with Maddux, Glavine and Smoltz and I've never seen anything like this," said fellow Cardinals pitcher Jason Marquis. "I played with Russ Ortiz when he got 22 wins, but it wasn't the same.

"This is mowing them down, three up, three down."

Carpenter and Dontrelle Willis of the Florida Marlins are the leading candidates for the Cy Young honor. Willis won his 20th game on Wednesday, then Carpenter topped him on Thursday with seven innings of three-hit scoreless ball against the New York Mets for his 21st victory.

Cubs manager Dusty Baker says his heart favors the flamboyant, excitable Willis for the Cy Young award -- but his mind says it's the stoic, workmanlike Carpenter.

"Sentiment probably says Dontrelle, but statistically you'd probably want to take Carpenter," Baker said. "Carpenter doesn't show much emotion, he just gets you out over and over and over again. He can pitch, he can really pitch."

The Mets' Doug Mientkiewicz had been on the fence before facing Carpenter on Thursday and going 0-for-3, failing to get a ball out of the infield.

"I said Dontrelle Willis before the game. I say Chris now," Mientkiewicz said. "I faced Chris when he was in Toronto and I thought he was the best I'd ever seen then. He's better now."

As for Roger Clemens and his microscopic 1.57 ERA? Well, Carpenter's not far behind at 2.21 and he has 10 more victories.

"He's in the running," Baker said of Clemens. "This guy has a semi-microscopic ERA."

Besides, Carpenter has beaten Clemens in both of their head-to-head matchups this season. He's also topped Roy Oswalt, Carlos Zambrano, Andy Pettitte and A.J. Burnett. And he bested Willis in early August, prompting glowing remarks from Marlins manager Jack McKeon.

"He's one of the best pitchers we've seen all year and it was one of the best-pitched games we've seen all year," McKeon gushed. "Give the guy credit, he did a hell of a job."

Carpenter has been unbeatable since early June. He's 13-0 with a 1.36 ERA since losing on June 8 to the Red Sox, the team that swept the Cardinals -- minus their ace -- in the World Series. He has a shot at the franchise record set by Bob Gibson in 1968, one of the most dominant seasons in modern major league history.

Gibson won 15 straight decisions in '68, the year he posted a major league record 1.12 ERA, won the first of his two Cy Youngs and prompted baseball to lower the mound from 15 inches to 10 inches the following season.

Home or road, it's all the same to this guy. Carpenter is the first NL pitcher to win 10 straight decisions on the road since Gibson won 12 in a row in 1970 -- the last time a Cardinals pitcher won the Cy Young.

Carpenter's just-business approach on and off the mound reminds manager Tony La Russa of the late Darryl Kile, who won 20 for the Cardinals in 2001. He's far from colorful after games, often apologizing before delivering bland assessments about keeping the ball down in the strike zone.

"He's willing to take responsibility, and he's not going to take any credit if he wins," La Russa said. "If he loses it's because he stunk. From day one he's been the leader of our staff."

In La Russa's mind, the race for the Cy Young is already over.

"I think I respect what Dontrelle has done," La Russa said. "Second is really an important finish, too. But I think Carp's put together some kind of season."

Carpenter, typically, is indifferent to the buzz.

"I've thought about it, but I really don't care. I mean, I don't. If it's meant to be, it's meant to be. I'm going to go out and battle my butt off for the rest of the season and if it comes down to it that they give me a call and tell me I win it, I win it," he said.

"If I don't, I don't. As long as we get to the playoffs and have an opportunity to get to the World Series and have a chance to win a world championship, that's all that matters."

From day one, Carpenter's been doing his part, piling up wins and innings. He leads the major leagues with seven complete games and 220 innings, and with four shutouts trails only Willis by one. He was 4-1 in April and May, 4-0 with a 1.11 ERA in July while earning the All-Star start from his manager, and 4-0 again in August.

Win No. 20 was typical Carpenter: Get to him early, or forget it. He retired the final 11 Houston batters.

So was No. 21 in Thursday night's 5-0 victory over the Mets. Carpenter threw 20 pitches to the first four hitters, allowing two singles and a walk, then quickly hit his stride and required only 33 pitches to retire the next 10 batters in order. He retired 19 of the last 20 batters, giving up only a harmless seventh-inning single to Carlos Beltran.

Carpenter's only glitch of the night was believing a called third strike on David Wright was the third out of the seventh instead of the second. Head down and gum smacking, he was well on his way to the dugout before backtracking.

Carpenter had forgotten that the Cardinals failed to turn a double play on Cliff Floyd's grounder the previous at-bat.

"I'm sure I'll hear something about it," Carpenter said. "I was so into that at-bat against Cliff knowing that if I made a good pitch I can probably get a groundball, and I got it.

"That's all right, come back and get the next guy."

He did, retiring Mientkiewicz on an easy grounder to first.

"It seems like he's never in trouble," Marquis said. "He makes pitches when he needs to, and he makes pitches when he doesn't need to."