What Chris Carpenter did to deserve the Cy Young Award sort of speaks for itself. He went 17-4, had that 2.24 ERA, missed six weeks of the season and still had as many wins as everybody else. The discussion really should be over there.

Chris Carpenter, besides maybe Tim Lincecum, has the best stuff of anyone in the major leagues that I have seen. He is, really, an amazing specimen of a pitcher. He has missed years of his career with shoulder and elbow issues, then he had the nerve trouble, and he pitched most of this season with an oblique strain that probably no one knows about. But there he was wearing these patches for every game and just going out there and battling through it, throwing 93 mph to 97 mph the entire game with two feet of movement on every pitch.

That's not easy to do. And to do it with as many things he's had to fight through in his career, there is just no way anyone else could.

He can throw a 94-mph cutter, come back with a 94-, 95- or 96-mph fastball with sink on it and throw that to both sides of the plate. He dominates in so many ways, and yet the physical talent he has doesn't even stack up close to the mental talent he has.

What I mean by "mental talent" is Chris Carpenter goes into every game with 100 percent belief that he's going to win every game. There is no doubt in his stuff or his arm. He goes into games with a ferocity that I haven't seen in anyone else. That has been the major turning point in my career, just getting close to Chris and having that part of his personality rub off on me a little bit, even just a fraction of it. He's the best in the game as far as mental toughness. He's the most mentally tough pitcher I've seen, been around, or even read about.

But we should talk about this year. This year he just out-executed everybody. If he wouldn't have lost that time because of injury, would we even be talking about this? He doesn't have the 200 innings, but he's close. He has 17 wins and, better yet, he had only four losses. Say what you will about run support, but if you're not giving up runs, you're not going to lose. When you're facing Chris Carpenter, the opposing pitcher had to throw a shutout, or he didn't have a chance. The opposing team, I have to believe, probably went into the game against Chris Carpenter preparing to be shut out.

That is a definite edge going into any game, and Chris knows how to mentally exploit any edge you'll give him.

Plus, he hit a grand slam. C'mon.

No one has taught me more than Chris Carpenter. You know the story. After a start this year, Chris pulls me in to look at some video — old film, new film, all of it. He said my arm slot was 3 or 4 inches different, and the next day we're playing catch and with each throw he's telling me if it's right. Nope. Yep. Nope. Nope. Yep. Not just anybody can do that, can see from 60 feet a difference of less than 5 inches in every throw. After that, my fastball had movement. I got my slider back. I had confidence in my pitches.

Consider all of that, and I would say this: There isn't even talk if it's Chris Carpenter or me or anyone if Chris doesn't miss part of the season. There's no doubt. But remember this: If Chris doesn't help me figure things out there's no discussion either. I don't have the season I had without him.

Hands down the Cy Young is Chris Carpenter.