Posted by Brian Joseph on Friday, September 4, 2009 at 2:52 am

August delivered a number of solid pitching performances and the BDD writers were torn on who to select with three different pitchers earning 3 first-place votes. The decision came down to second- and third-place with Adam Wainwright of the St. Louis Cardinals picking up 3 second-place votes and a third-place vote to edge out his closest competition.

Wainwright made 6 starts with the Cardinals winning 5 of Adam’s starts. Wainwright himself went 4-1 with a 1.30 ERA and 0.89 WHIP. All 6 starts were quality starts and Wainwright tossed 7 scoreless against the Padres on August 14th and 8 scoreless against the Astros on August 25th — his best outing of the month. The Cardinals hurler also helped himself at the plate with a homer off of Mat Latos in their 9-2 win over the Padres.

Phillies’ new addition Cliff Lee and Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez finished in a dead heat for second place with both receiving 3 first-place votes. Lee appeared on more ballots with a second-place vote and 3 third-place votes but Jimenez tied Lee with 2 second-place votes. Lee was on track to have a perfect month until an awful start against the Braves derailed him. Despite the poor start, Lee finished 4-1 with a 2.00 ERA and allowed just 2 earned runs over his first 4 starts after joining the Phillies. Lee not only took a liking to the National League opponents at the plate, he also took a liking to the opportunity to hit as he went 4-for-14 with a double and a run scored.

Jimenez went 5-1 with a 1.77 ERA and held opponents to a .199/.279/.286 batting line in 6 starts. Jimenez feasted on poor offenses with wins over the Reds, Cubs, Pirates, Nationals and Giants and his only loss came against the Giants despite Jimenez tossing 7 innings and allowing just 2 runs.

Wainwright’s teammate Chris Carpenter picked up the other first place vote and finished 4th overall. The former Cy Young winner ran his record to 14-3 with a 5-0 August record.

Previous Pitcher of the Month Winners

April: Zack Greinke, Kansas City Royals
Greinke was 5-0 with a 0.50 ERA and 0.89 WHIP

May: Justin Verlander, Detroit Tigers
Verlander was 5-0 with a 1.52 ERA and 0.895 WHIP

June: Tim Lincecum, San Francisco Giants
Lincecum was 3-1 with a 1.48 ERA and 0.88 WHIP

July: Wandy Rodriguez, Houston Astros
Rodriguez was 4-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 0.94 WHIP