I’m tired of hearing all the Cy Young talk.

I don’t want to hear one more debate about Roger Clemens’ ERA or Dontrelle Willis’ leg kick. I’m done watching Baseball Tonight to find out what the commentators think. I’m not interested.

If it were up to me, there wouldn’t even be a vote this year. Just send the award to Busch Stadium, care of Chris Carpenter.

Call me biased to my hometown, but there’s no denying it: Carpenter is having a Cy Young year. In a seemingly three-headed race to the finish, Carpenter stands out as the reasonable choice to take home the award. And in case reason isn’t enough, he’s got the statistics to back it up.

With two weeks to go in the season, Carpenter sports a 21-4 record and a 2.42 ERA. Couple those numbers with his 203 strikeouts and seven complete games and he’s got a resume fit to be the ace on any major league staff.

Don’t like large numbers? Try the number zero. That’s how many times Carpenter’s lost since the All-Star Break. But it doesn’t stop there. Zero is also the number of losses Carpenter’s suffered on the road all year.

Maybe the number one is more your style, like Carpenter’s 1.00 WHIP (walks + hits per inning pitched). One also signifies first, the inning Carpenter pitched as this year’s All-Star Game starter. And the most important one of all might be Carpenter’s position in the Cardinals pitching rotation. He’s number one there, too.

Carpenter has been the steadying force for a pitching staff that’s seen its share of difficulties this year. Mark Mulder struggled early. Jason Marquis and Matt Morris have had trouble finding their consistency of late. And through it all, Carpenter’s kept the Cardinals in cruise control.

Don’t get me wrong – Willis and Clemens are having great years. But neither can match up across the board with Carpenter’s numbers.

Willis shares the league lead with Carpenter in wins at 21. But Willis also owns a 2.48 ERA, 148 strikeouts and seven complete games. None of those numbers best Carpenter’s. In fact, Carpenter has collected 55 more strikeouts than Willis while allowing one less walk.

The third pitcher with Cy Young aspirations is Clemens. Clemens, who recently turned 43, leads the league in ERA, posting a wicked 1.77 thus far. Clemens has been hurt by Houston’s lack of run support. His 12 wins have taken him almost completely out of contention for the award.

Bob Gibson is the only St. Louis pitcher ever to win the award, doing it in 1968 and 1970. Gibson is a St. Louis icon, a name synonymous with Cardinals baseball. And if Carpenter can collect his first Cy Young this season, his name would forever be linked with the Cardinal great.

The Cy Young Award was first given out in 1956 to the best pitcher in the major leagues. The award is named after Cy Young, the Boston Red Sox pitcher who holds the record for most major league wins at 511. No pitcher is close to eclipsing his mark, with almost 100 wins between Young and his closest competitor. Young was one of the first truly dominant pitchers in history.

So isn’t it fitting that Carpenter should be the front-runner after dominating the competition this season? And if you don’t say it, I will – it’s been domination. Now it’s time for the dominance to be rewarded.

In a year full of firsts for the Cardinals pitcher, nothing less than a first Cy Young seems fair.