Chris Carpenter has been the best pitcher for the National League's best team. David E. Klutho/SI

You can tell a lot about a person by his or her preferences in choosing a Cy Young Award winner.

Are you a bottom-line kind of guy? If so, then you probably think victories are the most important criterion in judging a pitcher. The best way for a hurler to help his team is by winning. Who cares if the score is 1-0 or 12-10?

Are you a stylist, someone who enjoys watching an artist work even if the fates ultimately conspire against him? Then W's, which often have little to do with how well a pitcher pitches, is way down on your list of Cy-worthy attributes. You can probably trot out your walk ratios and your slide rule and prove that Jon Lieber deserves a vote.

Which brings us to this year's National League Cy Young runoff, which has a candidate for everyone. There's Chris Carpenter, the ace of the league's best team and the beneficiary of an offense that leads the NL in runs scored. There's Roger Clemens, who gives up less than two runs a game -- and has to watch his teammates huff and puff just to get on the board themselves. And what about Dontrelle Willis? Five shutouts is impressive. Does it matter if most of them came before the All-Star break?

Another complicating factor: Four of the five frontrunners in the NL Cy Young hunt are in thick of the playoff race -- only Carpenter's Cardinals are on cruise control. Whoever pitches his team into the postsason may end up claiming the award. (I'll take a look at the AL next week.) The contenders are ranked in the order I'd vote for today, but things could easily change between now and October.

Roger Clemens, Astros
Vital Numbers: 11-6, 1.56 ERA, 8.2 K/9 IP, .187 opponent BA, 3.4 K/BB
Top 5 in: ERA (1st), road ERA (0.56, 1st), opponent BA (1st), strikeouts (162, 4th)
Likely remaining starts: @Dodgers, Cardinals, @Brewers, Marlins, @Pirates, @Cubs, Cubs

Outlook: With all due respect to Mr. Young and his 511 victories, it's time to consider renaming this prize the Roger Clemens Award. The Rocket has a chance to finish with the lowest ERA for a league leader since 1968, when Bob Gibson's 1.12 mark convinced baseball to lower the mound. (Greg Maddux's 1.56 in 1994 and Dwight Gooden's 1.53 in '85 are the numbers Clemens has to beat.) His ERA is almost a third of the league average. No wonder those (baseless, as it turned out) steroid rumors were flying a few weeks ago. Clemens has been untouchable on the road -- his opponent batting average away from Minute maid Park: .169 -- and has three more road starts against weak teams to pad his stats. All of that more than makes up for his low victory total. I'm assuming Clemens will blaze down the stretch and get to 16 or 17 wins. If he does, he deserves his eighth Cy Young.

Chris Carpenter, Cardinals
Vital numbers: 18-4, 2.34 ERA, 8.2 K/9 IP, .213 opponent BA, 4.3 K/BB
Top 5 in: wins (1st), innings (196 1/3, 1st), complete games (6, T1), win percentage (.818, 1st), ERA (2nd), opponent BA (5th)
Likely remaining starts: @Marlins, @Astros, Mets, Pirates, @Reds, @Brewers, Reds

Outlook: I'm not a slave to win totals, but it's hard to ignore a pitcher who leads the league in victories and is second in ERA. It helps Carpenter's case that in some ways he's been just as dominant as Clemens. Their strikeout per nine averages are identical. Carpenter's strikeout-to-walk ratio is better. He gets bonus points for his heavy workload and complete games, if only because the break he gives the bullpen on days he pitches might be worth another win or two over the season. And while Carpenter gets better run support than Clemens -- most do -- the difference is not garish. The 5.2 runs per game the Cardinals have scored in Carpenter's starts doesn't crack the NL top 10 in run support leaders.