TOWER GROVE — If there is a game so far in this season when Adam Wainwright deleted all of the fancy adjectives we’ve been attaching to ace in front of his name — de facto, budding, pro tempore, fill-in, stand-in and, my personal favorite, proxy — and just became the Cardinals’ ace it was his 126-pitch start Saturday against Houston.

He didn’t have his best stuff. He wasn’t dominant.

But he won with what he had, and the Cardinals let him go as long as he could.

It was his second career complete game and it came with that career-high pitch count. As he got ready to leave the clubhouse Wednesday for the Cardinals’ off day, Wainwright said he thought he would feel the high pitch count the day after the start.

“But I didn’t,” said Wainwright, who will start tonight’s series opener against the Chicago Cubs, a game pitting the top two teams in the NL Central. “It wasn’t that bad, at all.”

Asked what he thinks it means for his next start, he shrugged.

“Guess we’ll find out.”

Wainwright pointed to the extra day of rest he’s getting — the Cardinals kept their rotation in place and let each member take advantage of Thursday’s off day. He also has shown durability all season, throwing at least 90 pitches in every game and going at least seven innings in every start. The rainout means he’s a start behind most aces, so Wainwright’s total pitch count ranks fourth on his own team. (Though with his first pitch tonight he’ll tie Kyle Lohse; with his 48th he’ll pass Todd Wellemeyer.)

His 126 pitches Saturday were the most thrown in one game by pitcher to that point this season. Only 14 times did a pitcher throw at least 126 pitches in a game last season, and Daisuke Matsuzaka and Roy “Mr. CG” Halladay did it twice each. And within those outings, perhaps there is an indication of how a pitcher does in the game after 126.

The 126-plus and the after-126 and how long they went till next 100 (all from 2007):

RHP A.J. BURNETT

June 7 … 131 pitches … 7.0 IP … 7 H … 3 R, 3 ER … 3 BB, 13 K

June 12 … 82 pitches … 4 2/3 IP … 6 H … 3 R, 2 ER … 2 BB, 4 K

Went three starts until next 100-pitch game.

RHP ORLANDO HERNANDEZ

Aug 14 … 130 pitches … 6.0 IP … 5 H … 3 R, 3 ER … 5 BB, 7 K

Aug 19 … 109 pitches … 7.0 IP … 3 H … 2 R, 2 ER … 4 BB, 4 K

Next start was also 100-plus pitches.

RHP BRONSON ARROYO

May 16 … 129 pitches … 8.0 IP … 10 H … 3 R, 1 ER … 2 BB, 6 K

May 21 … 62 pitches … 2.0 IP … 6 H … 6 R, 6 ER … 3 BB, 2 K

Went four starts until next 100-pitch game.

RHP DAISUKE MATSUZAKA

June 5 … 129 pitches … 7.0 IP … 7 H … 2 R, 2 ER … 2 BB, 8 K

June 10 … 120 pitches … 6.0 IP … 4 H … 2 R, 2 ER … 4 BB, 9 K

Next start was 100 pitches.

RHP JUSTIN VERLANDER

Sept. 1 … 129 pitches … 6 2/3 IP … 6 H … 1 R, 1 ER … 3 BB, 10 K

Sept. 7 … 92 pitches … 8.0 IP … 7 H … 1 R, 1 ER … 0 BB, 3 K

Went one start until next 100-pitch start.

RHP CARLOS ZAMBRANO

June 11 … 128 pitches … 8.0 IP … 3 H … 1 R, 0 ER … 1 BB, 8 K

June 16 … 123 pitches … 9.0 IP … 2 H … 1 R, 1 ER … 5 BB, 6 K

Next start was also 100 pitches.

LHP TED LILLY

Aug 9 … 127 pitches … 6.0 IP … 5 H … 2 R, 2 ER … 5 BB, 5 K

Aug 15 … 85 pitches … 5.0 IP … 6 H … 6 R, 6 ER … 2 BB, 5 K

Went one start before 100 pitches.

RHP DAVID BUSH

Aug 16 … 127 pitches … 7.0 IP … 7 H … 3 R, 3 ER … 1 BB, 4 K

Aug 21 … 95 pitches … 6.0 IP … 6 H … 2 R, 2 ER … 1 BB, 6 K

RHP BARRY ZITO

April 21 … 126 pitches … 7 1/3 IP … 4 H … 0 R, 0 ER … 3 BB, 4 K

April 27 … 110 pitches … 7.0 IP … 6 H … 3 R, 3 ER … 3 BB, 4 K

Next start went 100 pitches.

RHP MATT MORRIS

May 20 … 126 pitches … 9.0 IP … 2 H … 1 R, 1 ER … 2 BB, 9 K

May 26 … 98 pitches … 7.0 IP … 8 H … 6 R, 2 ER … 0 BB, 3 K

Went three starts before next 100-pitch game.

RHP ROY HALLADAY

July 28 … 126 pitches … 8.0 IP … 10 H … 2 R, 2 ER … 2 BB, 7 K

Aug 3 … 105 pitches … 6.0 IP … 7 H … 4 R, 4 ER … 2 BB, 9 K

Next start was 100 pitches.

Sept. 4 … 126 pitches … 8.0 IP … 9 H … 5 R, 5 ER … 2 BB, 7 K

Sept. 10 … 123 pitches … 8 2/3 IP … 11 H … 3 R, 3 ER … 1 BB, 3 K

Next start was also 100 pitches.

A few of the pitchers above obviously had their stumbles after throwing 125-plus pitches, though all recovered eventually without showing immediate signs of trouble. There’s obviously concern any time a pitcher starts throwing into the 120s, especially one coming out of his first season with 200-plus innings. (In fact, Houston catcher Brad Ausmus said one of the real impressive things he’s seen from Wainwright is no sign of tiring “since he came out of the bullpen and into the rotation, but it is something to watch when a young guy does that.”)

But the bigger revelation about the list above, isn’t the numbers. It’s the names.

There are some bona fide starter stalwarts in that group.

Consistency makes them so.

That’s Wainwright’s challenge this season. Consistency. That means both quantity and quality. It won’t be pitch count that keeps him from that. Besides, he may not have really thrown 126 pitches afterall. Didn’t he get charged for a ball when he put his hand to his mouth while on the mound?

So, 125. No big deal.

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COMMERCIAL ZONE

Fascinating experiment being done at several blogs in Cardinals Nation. Daniel Shoptaw, the author of C70 at the Bat, organized what he’s compared to a progressive dinner. Each blog in the “United Cardinals Bloggers” will handle one inning of Saturday’s game with its style and its analysis. It includes some of the fan-favorite blogs (Fungoes) and one blog from Ireland (The Cardinal Virtue; love the LOB graphic). To log on and follow the game, UCB-style check out Shoptaw’s map to his blog tour: UCB Game Blogging Project.

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Whatever you think about his blogging, Cardinals’ fan and Deadspin.com editor Will Leitch sure can manage a virtual team. He’s got the Cardinals in first place with only a couple days to go in The Sporting News’ replay of the 1986 season.

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Today is the little man’s second birthday and he was already telling me how to run a wheel bunt defense, so he’s probably out-grown the newest offering from Team Baby Entertainment. In the style of Baby Einstein, here’s … St. Louis Cardinals Baby. The video is narrated by Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith. The larger-than-life baseball figure they got to narrate the same kind of video for New York Yankees Baby?

Yep, George Steinbrenner.

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