Wainwright's Top Spot Completes the STL Transition

W. Ross Clites
Your City Sports-Cleveland

Saint Louis, MISSOURI--For my local Saint Louisans, visiting YCS-Cleveland from a link at examiner.com, welcome to Pitcher Rating.

The recipe is as secret as Colonel Sander's chicken, and it was my conception earlier this summer. Scroll through the June archives to see how the statistic has evolved. It has added Holds, Run Support, and WHIP in subsequent weeks from its June 16, 2010 birth.

It seems fitting that this introduction occurs as Adam Wainwright takes over the best overall ranking.

Quite impressively, this is the first time that Ubaldo Jimenez fell to the second spot all season long. He got out of the blocks like the hare, with a 15-1 record (.938 win percentage). Yet, Wainwright never went away. He was right there when Jimenez had even the most minor of hiccups. The infamous tortoise would be jealous at how well he closed the gap.

Meanwhile, in the race for the postseason, 2010 is beginning to look like a throwback to 1996. Who were the six divisional champions that year? Atlanta Braves, St. Louis Cardinals, San Diego Padres, New York Yankees, Texas Rangers, and...the Cleveland Indians. Well, five of the six have pretty decent shots at making history repeat itself.

It could be worse, Tribe fans, the Baltimore Orioles were the American League Wild Card that year and they have actually fallen further from grace.

That is, up until they hired Buck Showalter. Now, they might just run the table and take that AL Wild Card again this year. They were all but mathematically eliminated in June, and are now playing with passion for the new skipper. One thing is for sure, the Fightin' Showalters will definitely spoil the party for someone in the AL East.

On to the weekly Pitcher Rating update. Enjoy.

Pitcher Rating August 11
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