Ubaldo Jimenez

For as much hope as Monday night's win against the Giants brought to the Rockies' playoff chances, Tuesday and Wednesday felt like an anvil to the head.

It almost sounds like a joke.

In the pre-season it was Roy Halladay.  For the first three months of the year it was Ubaldo Jimenez.  Josh Johnson took over for a little while, but as of now there can be no doubt.

The St. Louis Cardinals' Adam Wainwright is now your front-runner for the National League Cy Young Award.

Remember just under two months ago, when Jimenez won his 14th start of the season to run his record to 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA?

Here are two pitching lines from Tuesday night:

Pitcher A: 7 IP, 4 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 8 K

Pitcher B: 5 IP, 6 H, 4 ER, 2 BB, 2 K

Guess which pitcher took a win last night and which pitcher took a loss? Pitcher A is Colorado Rockies ace Ubaldo Jimenez, who suffered a 1-0 loss to the New York Mets last night. Pitcher B is Los Angeles Dodgers righty Vicente Padilla, who got credit for the win last night in the Dodgers’ 15-9 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies.

It seemed as if Drew Goodman was intentionally taunting Rockies fans all night long.

As the MLB season trudges along through the late months of the summer, the CY Young candidates in the National League are becoming clearer by the day. 

All five of the guys that I have selected are currently tops in the National League in wins, strikeouts, ERA, and innings pitched.

Tim Lincecum has won the award the past two seasons, but the way it looks he will not win his third consecutive.

Begin Slideshow

Now that the trade deadline has passed, the final two months of the season begin to take their course. Now that the All-Star break has passed, it's interesting to see if any frontrunners have fallen or any new faces have made shocking gains.

Except for Ubaldo Jimenez, this is not really the case. The NL frontrunners remain the same top four as it has been all season, though the rankings of the AL may be a surprise.

Now that Matt Garza has provided us with the fifth no-hitter of the season we might as well rank the great performances we have seen. It is apparent that the steroids-era in baseball is over.

Begin Slideshow

Josh Johnson makes history each time he takes the mound.

Since he plays for the Florida Marlins, however, media outlets fail to mention him in the NL Cy Young race as often as Ubaldo Jimenez and Adam Wainwright.

Jimenez, whose 15-2 record comes thanks to a hot start in April and May, fares much better with his team's run support.

Over his first 17 starts, the Colorado Rockies pitcher went 13-1 with a 1.15 ERA. In Jimenez's last six starts, he is 2-1 with a 7.64 ERA.