Verlander, Halladay lead close Cy Young races (cont.)

National League

1. Roy Halladay, RHP, Phillies (1)

Season Stats: 11-3, 2.45 ERA, 1.02 WHIP, 8.7 K/9, 8.12 K/BB, 6 CG

Last Five Starts: 2-0, 2.61, 0.92 WHIP, 7.6 K/9, 10.67 K/BB, 2 CG

The Phillies are 16-3 in Halladay's starts this season and have won his last 10 in a row. Halladay, meanwhile, has failed to complete seven innings just three times, has never lasted fewer than six innings in any of his 19 starts, and has just three non-quality starts, two of which were near-misses in which he allowed four runs in seven innings. He hasn't made first post-break start yet, so his last five starts in the line above reach slightly further back than for the other pitchers on this list and, as a result, include one of those non-quality starts.

2. Cole Hamels, LHP, Phillies (2)

Season Stats: 11-5, 2.71 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 8.2 K/9, 4.43 K/BB, 1 CG

Last Five Starts: 2-2, 3.34 ERA, 1.18 WHIP, 5.9 K/9, 2.33 K/BB

Hamels has made 20 starts this season. In the first and last, he allowed 13 runs in just seven innings. In between, he went 11-3 with a 1.95 ERA. In that interior 18, he failed to complete seven innings just three times and the only time he failed to finish six innings was when he was hit in the glove hand with a comebacker after four scoreless frames against the Red Sox. Hamels' two disaster starts both came against the Mets, one at home and one on the road, but in between he had a dominant outing in Citi Field, striking out 10 against no walks in seven innings, so it seems there's little to be learned from those two duds.

3. Jair Jurrjens, RHP, Braves (3)

Season Stats: 12-3, 2.26 ERA, 1.11 WHIP, 5.5 K/9, 2.63 K/BB, 2 CG, 1 SHO

Last Five Starts: 4-0, 2.59 ERA, 1.15 WHIP, 5.3 K/9, 2.00 K/BB, 1 SHO

See Hamels' numbers from his middle 18 starts above? Well, Jurrjens, who started the year on the disabled list, has only made 17 starts all season. That's the primary reason why he's still looking up at those two Phillies. Additionally, Jurrjens has been less effective in the strike zone, less effective at keeping runners off base, and pitches in a friendlier home ballpark. That's meant not to diminish the outstanding season he's having but to explain why the league leader in ERA and wins isn't leading the Cy Young race.

4. Cliff Lee, LHP, Phillies (4)

Season Stats: 9-6, 2.82 ERA, 1.06 WHIP, 9.0 K/9, 4.72 K/BB, 4 CG, 4 SHO

Last Five Starts: 3-1, 1.49 ERA, 0.71 WHIP, 6.4 K/9, 4.29 K/BB, 3 SHO

Like Halladay, Lee has yet to make his first post-break start, so those last five starts above extend a few days further back than they do for the other men on this list, which allows that line to include each of Lee's three consecutive shutouts from his final three starts in June. Lee allowed just one run in that entire month, going 5-0 with a 0.21 ERA in 42 innings, crowning that performance by shutting out the Red Sox. In his first start of July, Lee snapped a 34-inning scoreless streak by giving up seven runs (six earned) in Toronto, but he got right back on the horse with eight dominant innings against the Braves in his final start before the break and struck out 18 men against just two walks in 15 1/3 innings in those two starts combined.

5. Clayton Kershaw, LHP, Dodgers (N/A)

Season Stats: 10-4, 2.88 ERA, 1.05 WHIP, 10.1 K/9, 4.19 K/BB, 3 CG, 2 SHO

Last Five Starts: 4-1, 1.85 ERA, 0.85 WHIP, 11.3 K/9, 8.17 K/BB, 2 CG, 1 SHO

Kershaw has been hanging around the periphery of this list all season, finally cracking the top five this week after posting a 1.76 ERA over his last six starts. Like Lee, Kershaw has lacked the consistency you'd like to see from a Cy Young award winner. In fact, he has allowed six earned runs in a start three times since the beginning of June. Still, only Lee has more 10-strikeout games this season than Kershaw's five, and statistics that attempt to filter team defense out of a pitcher's ERA (such as DIPS, Baseball Prospectus's Fair Run Average, and FanGraphs' xFIP) all list Kershaw in the top four, if not top two, qualified starters in all of baseball.

Off the list: Ian Kennedy