TOWER GROVE — There are many examples of a player storming toward his leagues Most Valuable Player award with a strong September that, in most cases, elevates his team to a postseason berth.

See: Ryan Howard.

Enter Tim Lincecum.

The San Francisco Giants righthander Lincecum struck out 11 and muscled his team to a pivotal victory Monday night against the Wild Card-leading Colorado Rockies. Lincecum skipped his previous start because of back trouble and returned to throw the Giants back into the race. “You couldn’t ask for a better guy to be on the hill for Game 1, in probably the biggest series of our season,” outfielder Aaron Rowand told ESPN.com. Henry Schulman, at the San Francisco Chronicle, writes that Lincecum gave the Giants a foothold on an Everest-like climb back into the race. The reigning Cy Young Award winner is about to see how much one pitcher can mean for a team in the hunt, and how much a hunt could mean for the Cy Young.

The Giants ace can show if the Cy Young Award can be won like the MVP award, with a surge.

Lincecum and the Cardinals’ pocket aces — Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright – are the three favorites for the Cy Young entering the final weeks of the regular season. (Ballots are due before a pitch is thrown in the postseason.) They are the top three pitchers in the NL when ranked by ERA, and each has a claim to the award while not one has run away with it. Carpenter had his thud on Sunday. Wainwright had a dud in Pittsburgh. And Lincecum missed key starts with that back pain. So the stage is set for a three-way duel down the backstretch. Wainwright has the edge in wins and the best ERA in the league since the All-Star break. Carpenter is within arm’s reach of the overall ERA lead. Lincecum is the incumbent. Could the importance of Lincecum’s starts then sway voters, like “clutch” hits have in Septembers past for MVP candidates?

Recent history isn’t clear, meaning Lincecum could be the litmus test.

That’s where today’s 10@10 begins, while also illustrating how the race for the Cy is only going to get better.

1. Few of the past five winners of the National League Cy Young Award distinguished themselves in the final month of the season. Most have been OK, having let a strong August make their case for the award. A few even coasted into the offseason, and there was really only one that was clearly aided by a race for the postseason — Roger Clemens in 2004. Perhaps that is the standard set for Lincecum. Here are the Septembers from the previous five winners in the NL:

2008, Lincecum … 3-2, 3.46 ERA, 41 2/3 ip, 6 starts … total: 18-5, 2.62

2007, Peavy … 4-1, 3.94 ERA, 45 2/3 ip, 7 starts … total: 19-6, 2.54

2006, Webb … 2-3, 3.45 ERA, 44 1/3 ip, 6 starts … total: 16-8, 3.10

2005, Carpenter … 2-1, 5.73 ERA, 37 2/3 ip, 6 starts … total: 21-5, 2.83

2004, Clemens … 4-0, 2.57 ERA, 42 ip, 6 starts … total: 18-4, 2.98

2. The Cardinals are going to juggle their rotation this weekend, and it may give them a chance to start both Carpenter and Wainwright against the Chicago Cubs (if they choose to do so). That would give Wainwright four more starts, including tonight’s against the Florida Marlins, and limit Carpenter to three more — with an eye on having him set for Game 1 of the NLDS. It would so have him skip the series in Colorado, who he could be facing a week or so later in the first round of the playoffs. Using the schedule as my guide, here are potential starts for the three Cy Young contenders, and how each has done against those teams this season. Hint: They’ve all done well. Exceptionally well. Hence, their candidacies …

WAINWRIGHT (18-7, 2.59 ERA)

… vs. Florida … 2-0, 2.63 ERA, 5 games/3 starts (career)

… vs. Cubs … 3-0, 2.34 ERA, 4 starts in 2009

… at Colorado … 0-1, 3.00 ERA, 1 start in 2009

… vs. Milwaukee … 3-1, 0.59 ERA, 4 start in 2009

***

CARPENTER (16-4, 2.45)

… vs. Cubs … 2-0, 2.45 ERA, 2 starts in 2009

… at Houston … 1-0, 1.96 ERA, 3 starts in 2009

… at Cincinnati … 3-0, 1.57 ERA, 3 starts in 2009

***

LINCECUM (14-5, 2.30)

… at Dodgers … 1-0, 3.32 ERA, 3 starts in 2009

… vs. Cubs … 1-0, 2.57 ERA, 1 start in 2009

… vs. Arizona … 1-0, 0.56 ERA, 1 start in 2009

3. There are more free agents the Cardinals have to re-sign than just the ones on the field. When asked recently if he was eager to help open Minnesota’s new ballpark next spring, manager Tony La Russa instead chided the media about whether or not he’s worn out his welcome with the beat writers and wouldn’t be back in 2010. Then there’s Dave Duncan, and there’s also Jose Oquendo’s ongoing interest in landing a manager gig. That prompted, with initial inspiration from MLB.com’s Matthew Leach, today’s poll:

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4. Cardinals outfielder Matt Holliday crossed the 100-RBI threshold for the third time in his career with his three RBIs on Monday against Florida. Holliday has 48 RBIs with the Cardinals in 47 games. Twelve of those games have been multi-RBI games for Holliday. Since his arrival on July 24th, Holliday ranks second across the board in key offensive statistics. For example: His .371 batting average is second to Hanley Ramirez’s .383; his .674 slugging percentage is second to Derrek Lee’s .711; his 48 RBIs are tied with Ryan Howard for the league lead since July 24; and his 66 hits are third behind two Marlins, including Chris Coghlan’s 76. One other lead Holliday has of note: 42 runs. Those are the most scored in the NL since July 24. Of course, those were all scored by Albert Pujols, mostly with Holliday behind him.

5. Speaking of the 100-RBI mark. Pujols has long since surged past it to make a little Cardinals history of his own, but he was the first Cardinal in more than 40 years to be the first to 100 RBIs in the majors. The other Cardinals to drive in that 100th RBI before anyone else in the game were: Jim Bottomley (1929), Stan Musial (1954), Ken Boyer (1964) and Orlando Cepeda (1967). (That list courtesy the Cardinals’ media relations staff.) Bottomley had five seasons of at least 120 RBIs in his Cardinals career, setting the franchise record. This is Pujols’ sixth season with at least 120, breaking Bottomley’s record.

6. Second baseman Skip Schumaker had his second consecutive three-hit game Monday, and now he’s back on the brink of batting .300 for a second consecutive season. Shouldn’t be a surprise. Schumaker leads the Cardinals with 13 three-hit games this season, and his 35 multi-hit games are tied with Yadier Molina for second behind Pujols’ 43. Moreover, he’s been a closer in his career. Including that Sept. appearance back in 2006, Schumaker is a career .310 hitter in the season’s final month. Include August, and the Cardinals leadoff hitter is a .312 hitter in the final two months of the season.

7. FARMNIK REPORT: Class AAA Memphis opens its best-of-five playoff series against Sacramento tonight down in Memphis. Marlon W. Morgan has a preview of the series in this morning’s Commercial Appeal and a look at how the big-club Cardinals value postseason success for their minor-leaguers. … Quick correction to yesterday’s Farmnik: Allen Craig did have an at-bat in the first round. An at-bat. … The Sacramento Bee’s John Schumacher has a look at the series through former Redbird Brett Wallace’s eyes. … Daniel Descalso leads Team USA in hitting as the national club continues play in the World Cup of Baseball over in Europe. Of course, he’s 1-for-2 in a limited role, so far. The second baseman has been hit by a pitch, walked, singled, and drove in a run.

8. Back to RBIs briefly, because as the Elias Sports Bureau points out this morning, Pujols reached 125 RBIs on Monday night.  It is Pujols’ fourth season with at least 125 RBIs. Since 1950, all other players who have swung a bat for the Cardinals have combined for four seasons of at least 125 RBIs. The eight total since 1950:

Albert Pujols: 2001 (130), 2002 (127), 2006 (137) and 2009 (125+)

Mark McGwire: 1998 (147) and 1999 (147)

Joe Torre: 1971 (137)

Stan Musial: 1954 (126) … also had 131 in 1948

9. The ninth spot in both batting orders Monday night had remarkable evenings. The Cardinals’ No. 9 spot had three different hitters get one base hit — starting with Todd Wellemeyer, followed by pinch-hitter Khalil Greene and finally shortstop Brendan Ryan, who reached base in both of his plate appearances. Over on the Marlins’ side, Florida got one hit from its No. 9 spot, but also used three pinch hitters to take two at-bats — including two of their best in the same at-bat.

10. Bolted from the ballpark to the bookstore last night to buy the new Dan Brown book — I’m a sucker for midnight premieres, midnight releases, etc. — but also was pleased to find another 9/15-release book on the local Borders’ shelves: The Machine. In his second baseball book, Joe Posnanski targets his prose on the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, The Big Red Machine, and the season they finished 20 games better than anyone else in their division and boasted a lineup for the ages. The book, which I flipped through instead of Brown’s latest, is chocked with insight and great moments. (And there is this amazing photo of Johnny Bench showing how he can hold seven baseballs in one hand. Seven!) There is also a moment starring the Cardinals and Bob Gibson in an example of how Pete Rose “hated taking walks”:

Gibson threw a pitch inside, Pete tried to pull out of the way, and the pitch ticked Pete’s uniform.

“Ball hit him,” the umpire, Bill Williams, shouted, and he pointed toward first. “Take your base.”

“The ball didn’t hit me, Bill,” Rose shouted back.

And so it continues for another half page until Rose is standing on first base still yelling about how he was robbed of an at-bat against Gibson in a game the Reds were behind by seven runs. Here’s betting that if Rose had won his argument and stepped back in the box against Gibson, he really would have been hit.

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