Carpenter Third in NL Cy Young Voting

ST. LOUIS -- A late-season fade nearly cost Chris Carpenter the National League Cy Young Award in 2005, but he had such a head start on the competition that he held on just the same. In 2006, a much shorter slump, really a mini-slump, may have cost Carpenter the chance to repeat.

Arizona's Brandon Webb, who came on extremely strong in his final four starts, took the hardware, with Carpenter finishing third in the balloting behind San Diego's Trevor Hoffman. Carpenter received two first-place votes, 16 second-place votes and five thirds for 63 points. Webb was first on 15 ballots and had 103 points; Hoffman had 12 firsts and 77 points.

Webb led the league in victories, one of six pitchers tied at 16 -- Carpenter finished with 15. The two groundballers ended the year nearly tied in a large number of categories, but Webb had one more start, more innings and pitched in a tougher ballpark.

"It's not a surprise," Carpenter said of the result. "I think that there was a group of guys [where] everybody had a shot. I said all year long that you do the best you can during the season, and when it's all said and done, it's up to the voters. ... There's no question that there were five or six guys that all could have had the opportunity to win it, and Brandon Webb deserves it, no question about it."

Carpenter nonetheless put up a season fully worthy of the game's top pitching honor. His 3.09 ERA ranked second in the NL. He led the league with three shutouts and a 1.07 WHIP (walks plus hits per innings pitched), and ranked among the league leaders in strikeouts (184, sixth), innings (221 2/3, sixth), complete games (five, second) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (4.28, third).

If there was any justice, however, Carpenter might well have run away with the league lead in wins. On seven different occasions, he pitched at least six innings, allowed no earned runs or one earned run, and did not receive a win. In another two games, he departed with a lead and the St. Louis bullpen was charged with a blown save. A year earlier, Carpenter didn't pitch all that much better, but was a 21-game winner.

"It goes to show how hard it is to win 20-something games," he said. "You have to have a lot of things go your way. A lot of little things happen that give you an opportunity to win."

In 2006, St. Louis went 20-12 with Carpenter on the mound. With any other starter, the Cards were a sub-.500 team in the regular season, going 63-66 in those games. That, as much as anything, illuminates his effectiveness and importance to his club.

"Everything hasn't worked for him this year," manager Tony La Russa said late in the season. "Sometimes we don't score. And he has just ignored everything and gotten ready to pitch, and he's putting another great season [together]. But it isn't like everything fell into place for him. He's had a couple things go against him.

"He's as good as anybody that's pitching in the big leagues today."

A year ago, Carpenter rolled to 21 wins and the first Cy Young for a Cardinals pitcher since Bob Gibson won it in 1970. Had he been honored a second time, he would have matched Gibson's total. The Hall of Famer won in 1968 and '70.

"[Webb] deserved to win it," Carpenter said. "For me, I'm just excited and pleased and proud of what's gone on the last two or three years for me personally and with us as an organization."

Carpenter was named The Sporting News NL pitcher of the year for a second straight year, as well as the Players Choice honoree for the same title. However, those votes were taken in September, before Carpenter endured a late-season mini-slump that surely hurt his chances. Carpenter lost his final two starts, to the Astros and Padres, and watched his ERA jump from 2.79 to 3.09.

Nonetheless, he has established himself as the clear ace of the world champions' staff, and one of the elite starters in the National League. Carpenter is 51-18 in a St. Louis uniform, posting a composite 3.10 ERA in his three years as a Cardinal.