Whoa. Whoa. WHOA.
Who is this guy impersonating Adam Wainwright? What has he done with Adam Wainwright? And can we get Adam Wainwright back? Those are the questions and I demand answers.
Our 'ace' was slapped around for another 6 runs over 6 innings on Labor Day (insert your best Ricky Horton 'laboring' joke here) coming off the heels of a 2 inning 9 run mollywhopping 5 days prior.
Both of these starts nee losses were at the hands of the Cincinnati Reds, who mind you, were many people's choice to hoist the NL Central championship banner about a month from now.
They're a good team.
But I had this sneaky suspicion that even though Wainwright's numbers overall have been good (15-9/3.14 ERA/ 1.09 WHIP/ 187K), that he might be kind of a bottom feeder. Beating up the bad teams and coming out with some stinkers when the games are against better competition.
The evidence isn't overwhelming… but it's not exactly disproving this theory. Let's go to the game by game log…
11 games started by Wainwright, the Cardinals have ended up losing. 8 of these losses (yellow) are to teams that have a realistic shot at being in the 2013 postseason.
18 games started by Wainwright, the Cardinals have ended up wining. With only 4 (green ) against teams that have a realistic shot at being in the 2013 postseason.
To be fair, the opportunities to start against 'good teams' are fewer than the ones to start against non-championship caliber teams. But that stretch in late July (ATL/PIT/LAD) where he lost 3 in a row and now back to back against CIN? Makes you take note that this season for Wainwright has been more up and down than I thought before these last two outings.
He's a pro. Hopefully he'll figure it out.
But in a critical game. Against a team that had just flamed him the week prior. In a time where he knows the focus is on the rotation. During a pennant race…
Wainwright didn't deliver.
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