As St. Louis Cardinals starting pitcher Adam Wainwright takes the mound against the San Diego Padres on Friday night at Busch Stadium, fans know his primary focus will be on trying to help increase the Cardinals’ 4 ½-game lead over the Chicago Cubs in the National League Central Division.
Many also are aware that on the personal side, the 27-year-old right-hander will be gunning for his 14th win of the season. That would tie Wainwright’s MLB career best, set in 2007.
Fewer probably know about three current streaks that Wainwright will be looking to extend on Friday. In one case, he already owns the top mark in MLB this season. In another, he can tie for the lead and in the third, he will be gunning to tie for second.
They are:
- Six or more innings pitched, where Waino’s run of 22 games and counting is the best in MLB this season.
- Two or fewer earned runs allowed. With a tenth straight such game Friday night, Wainwright will tie for the MLB lead this season with Arizona’s Dan Haren, Seattle’s Eric Bedard and Kansas City’s Zach Greinke. All three of those streaks have ended.
- Five or more strikeouts. If he continues Friday, Wainwright’s consecutive run of 12 five-K games would tie six other pitchers for the second-longest stretch across MLB this season. Atlanta’s Javier Vazquez is the runaway leader with 23 and counting, so Adam will be unable to pass him in 2009.
The details follow: (* denotes current streak)
Six or more innings pitched, consecutive starts, MLB 2009
| Team | StreakStart | Streak End | G | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | 4/16/2009 | 8/8/2009 * | 22 | 12 | 7 | 22 | 1 | 0 | 154.2 | 149 | 53 | 48 | 45 | 135 | 13 | 2.79 |
| Ubaldo Jimenez | COL | 5/1/2009 | 8/12/2009 * | 20 | 9 | 6 | 20 | 1 | 0 | 139.1 | 110 | 47 | 45 | 46 | 121 | 8 | 2.91 |
| Danny Haren | ARI | 4/7/2009 | 7/18/2009 | 19 | 10 | 5 | 19 | 3 | 1 | 138 | 93 | 32 | 30 | 18 | 137 | 12 | 1.96 |
| Josh Beckett | BOS | 5/5/2009 | 8/12/2009 * | 18 | 12 | 2 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 128.1 | 96 | 37 | 31 | 26 | 114 | 9 | 2.17 |
| Tim Lincecum | SFG | 4/18/2009 | 7/17/2009 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 126.1 | 91 | 31 | 27 | 29 | 149 | 4 | 1.92 |
| Zach Duke | PIT | 5/12/2009 | 7/29/2009 | 15 | 6 | 6 | 15 | 2 | 0 | 104.1 | 104 | 40 | 40 | 25 | 52 | 11 | 3.45 |
| Jon Garland | ARI | 6/3/2009 | 8/12/2009 * | 14 | 2 | 6 | 14 | 1 | 0 | 93 | 91 | 42 | 35 | 24 | 50 | 7 | 3.39 |
| Roy Oswalt | HOU | 5/10/2009 | 7/22/2009 | 14 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 3 | 0 | 97.1 | 87 | 37 | 37 | 21 | 80 | 8 | 3.42 |
| Ted Lilly | CHC | 5/2/2009 | 7/11/2009 | 14 | 7 | 4 | 14 | 0 | 0 | 95.1 | 88 | 34 | 32 | 18 | 85 | 12 | 3.02 |
| Cliff Lee | CLE | 4/16/2009 | 6/25/2009 | 14 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 1 | 1 | 101 | 102 | 25 | 25 | 21 | 69 | 6 | 2.23 |
Two or fewer earned runs allowed, consecutive starts, MLB 2009
| Team | StreakStart | Streak End | G | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Erik Bedard | SEA | 5/5/2009 | 7/25/2009 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 52 | 38 | 18 | 17 | 28 | 58 | 6 | 2.94 |
| Danny Haren | ARI | 5/28/2009 | 7/18/2009 | 10 | 7 | 1 | 10 | 2 | 1 | 75 | 45 | 14 | 12 | 9 | 74 | 4 | 1.44 |
| Zack Greinke | KCR | 4/8/2009 | 5/26/2009 | 10 | 8 | 1 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 75 | 54 | 8 | 7 | 12 | 81 | 0 | 0.84 |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | 6/26/2009 | 8/8/2009 * | 9 | 5 | 3 | 9 | 1 | 0 | 67 | 63 | 12 | 11 | 17 | 62 | 1 | 1.48 |
| Clayton Kershaw | LAD | 6/16/2009 | 7/29/2009 | 9 | 5 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 56.2 | 34 | 6 | 5 | 26 | 55 | 0 | 0.79 |
| Dallas Braden | OAK | 5/31/2009 | 7/11/2009 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 51.1 | 41 | 16 | 14 | 12 | 36 | 2 | 2.45 |
| Jair Jurrjens | ATL | 4/17/2009 | 5/24/2009 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 50 | 41 | 11 | 11 | 14 | 32 | 3 | 1.98 |
| Wandy Rodriguez | HOU | 7/2/2009 | 8/9/2009 * | 7 | 5 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 47 | 35 | 4 | 4 | 9 | 41 | 3 | 0.77 |
| Felix Hernandez | SEA | 5/24/2009 | 6/27/2009 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 53 | 38 | 10 | 5 | 14 | 51 | 2 | 0.85 |
| Johan Santana | NYM | 4/6/2009 | 5/11/2009 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 46 | 31 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 60 | 2 | 0.78 |
Five or more strikeouts, consecutive starts, MLB 2009
| Team | StreakStart | Streak End | G | W | L | GS | CG | SHO | IP | H | R | ER | BB | SO | HR | ERA | |
| Javier Vazquez | ATL | 4/8/2009 | 8/9/2009 * | 23 | 10 | 7 | 23 | 1 | 0 | 155.1 | 129 | 53 | 50 | 32 | 171 | 13 | 2.90 |
| Tim Lincecum | SFG | 6/12/2009 | 8/12/2009 * | 12 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 93.1 | 63 | 20 | 16 | 18 | 110 | 3 | 1.54 |
| Danny Haren | ARI | 5/12/2009 | 7/18/2009 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 89 | 60 | 22 | 20 | 9 | 86 | 9 | 2.02 |
| Josh Beckett | BOS | 4/30/2009 | 7/1/2009 | 12 | 7 | 2 | 12 | 1 | 1 | 81.1 | 69 | 33 | 27 | 21 | 76 | 7 | 2.99 |
| Justin Verlander | DET | 4/11/2009 | 6/10/2009 | 12 | 7 | 1 | 12 | 2 | 1 | 82.2 | 62 | 24 | 21 | 23 | 102 | 4 | 2.29 |
| Chad Billingsley | LAD | 4/13/2009 | 6/9/2009 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 12 | 0 | 0 | 79.2 | 68 | 26 | 24 | 34 | 86 | 2 | 2.71 |
| Roy Halladay | TOR | 4/11/2009 | 6/7/2009 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 12 | 3 | 1 | 93 | 84 | 25 | 23 | 11 | 86 | 4 | 2.23 |
| Adam Wainwright | STL | 6/16/2009 | 8/8/2009 * | 11 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 80 | 77 | 18 | 17 | 19 | 75 | 4 | 1.91 |
| Ricky Nolasco | FLA | 6/12/2009 | 8/7/2009 | 11 | 6 | 1 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 73.1 | 53 | 23 | 21 | 14 | 84 | 7 | 2.58 |
| Felix Hernandez | SEA | 5/24/2009 | 7/22/2009 | 11 | 7 | 0 | 11 | 1 | 1 | 83 | 59 | 17 | 12 | 20 | 81 | 3 | 1.30 |
| Tim Lincecum | SFG | 4/7/2009 | 6/2/2009 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 11 | 0 | 0 | 71.2 | 67 | 27 | 24 | 21 | 91 | 2 | 3.01 |
| Zack Greinke | KCR | 4/8/2009 | 5/31/2009 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 82 | 62 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 88 | 0 | 1.10 |
| Johan Santana | NYM | 4/6/2009 | 5/27/2009 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 10 | 0 | 0 | 66 | 52 | 20 | 13 | 20 | 86 | 5 | 1.77 |
A special thanks to Tom Orf for the data.
Adam Wainwright has stepped up!!!! We all know pitchers could at times be described as prima donna’s. Adam got caught up a little in April in the draft caused by Carp flapping such large wings. He established his fastball after a struggle, and has been going hard ever since. Thats not a simple task when you look at the weakness of the Cardinal lineup at that point. These guys have been running interference or drafting for each other for a couple of months. Lets hope that Lohse steps up to take his turn and the Joel’s courage allows him to stands his ground.
DeWitt’s moves before the deadline have done a lot to change the competitive climate in the “psychological battle” with division opponents. Lets hope those moves begin to mesh and create a little “rally chemistry” which is noticeable absent. Tony has the talent now. I hope he has the wisdom to manage a little less like a “platoon” Sargent and let these guys learn to rely on each other a bit.
An ERA under 2 during the past 80 innings. Nice going.
The Cards do not have an especially deep bullpen, so Wainwright helps a lot by eating innings. He has to be on track for a career best in innings pitched, headed toward 210-220, I would guess. Some fans think of innings eater as a pejorative term. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It wasn’t enough that Wainwright should give us seven shut-out innings, but he also crowned our offensive attack with his homer! Jumbo ain’t just whistlin’ Dixie when he says, “The Cards do not have an especially deep bullpen, so Wainwright helps a lot by eating innings”. After Miller did his typical performance of excellence, who should prove Jumbo’s point, but Motte? We can be thankful that our offense was so magnificent: Had the game been much closer, Motte would have once again demoralized us! What in the world was Tony thinking by giving the ball to a proven loser? 9 to 0 would have looked a lot better than 9 to 2.
CFS57, Tony had an alterior motive in putting Motte in the game with only a 9 run lead; This was TLR’s way of trying to get a save situation for Franklin. Larussa has always been one to pad his closers stats. Very creative our genius manager, but I saw right through his coy little plan. Do you think it’s too late to get the Greene – Gregerson trade reversed? Surely they didn’t give full disclosure to Mozeliak.
This game pretty much covered all recent topics. The positives were Colby’s bunt and all field attack. Holiday responded nicely to what Albert conceded. Better chemistry there. There was a nice picture of Albert’s single up the middle from behind. He was facing the mound at contact. The guy is in trouble. If you want to see a well timed step-in move, check out Adrian G………good hitter there. Motte is now history. I believe this appearance, when he had good velocity shows he can never make a playoff appearance. To bad. These guys will hit Joel so I hope we shred there pitcher early tomorrow.
Troy G is making a sudden miraculous recovery. He’ll probably be with the team by the end of the month and maybe a regular by end of season, adding another big bat. Just in time to help us win it all. (and advertise his services on post season stage) Its a miracle!
Glaus definitely needs to re-establish his health and therefore his value as a free agent this off-season.
How perceptive of WCW (“These guys will hit Joel so I hope we shred their pitcher early tomorrow”)! They certainly hit him right off the bat, but we struck back early; not as resoundingly as we had wished, but decisively nevertheless. What is more, Joel regained composure and settled-in nicely. It is so good to see Colby bouncing back into Rookie of the Year form! With regard to Axcion’s idea of a Greene – Gregerson trade reversal, ’twas interesting to see them give Green (.211) an intentional pass in order to get to Colby (.259): They knew that our Colby can’t hit southpaw pitching! Gergerson’s third of an inning, featuring 3 hits and 2 earned runs, wasn’t very impressive (especially since the performance followed an inning of 2 hits and an earned run on the night before)…
Well at least Gregerson has been there (short stint on DL) most of the year to help his team and for a rookie pitcher (check his stats CFS57) he has been terrific. We could use him a lot more than we can Greene. I’m sure Luke was pretty nervous coming back to face his former team and I stand by him as that 8th inning guy we need so bad.
While I certainly wouldn’t knock your obvious “big picture” reasoning (who would dare argue with Gregerson’s overall rookie stats?), I merely thought it was interesting that, in this latest series, he should be every bit as ineffective as the mentally troubled Greene. I would love for the trade to be reversed, but thought that the performances during the past couple of games had greatly diminished the blatant nature of the disparity. Indeed, while Gregerson will certainly get back on track and will eventually be a priceless asset to the Padres, Greene’s career definitely appears to be impaired (if not, evaporating). Indeed, we got the raw end of the deal and there is justification for suspecting that the Padres “didn’t give full disclosure to Mozeliak”.