"After consecutive seasons as a strong contender for the National League Cy Young Award, but not its winner, this is the sacrifice Cardinals starter Adam Wainwright is making to ascend from ace to elite: He has given up sweet tea.

The pitcher who once passed the time on the disabled list with a quest for the best barbecue in St. Louis has halved his intake of beloved ribs and turned to sugarless sauces. French fries? Forgotten. Fried okra? Bumped from the plate. Fried chicken? A jilted friend. Wainwright went into a 16-day gastronomic detox this winter and emerged with a new diet, one that doesn't even include the drink that nourished his Southern roots, his wife's sweetened iced tea.

"If there's a way to get better, I'm going to do it, even if that's what it means," Wainwright said after his first bullpen session at the club's spring training complex. "When you talk about the top couple starters in the game, I'm still not in the conversation. Every pitcher going into spring training is trying to be the best pitcher in the league. Or he should be. That's mindset. If you're in the conversation as the top two or three starters in Major League Baseball, then you're doing your thing. But I've yet to get there in most people's minds.

"You think (Philadelphia's) Roy Halladay. You think (Seattle's) Felix Hernandez," Wainwright continued. "I want to be one of those guys."

Wainwright was among a handful of Cardinals who made their first appearance of spring at Wednesday's informal workout. Pitchers and catchers don't officially report until Sunday, and their first scheduled practice is Monday. With pitching coach Dave Duncan watching, Wainwright threw off the mound Wednesday. He's penciled in as the starter for the Cardinals' first exhibition game, Feb. 28 against Florida.

The Cardinals ace won 20 games for the first time in his career, a year after leading the National League with 19. He and Cy Young Award winner Halladay were the only NL starters to finish in the top 10 in the significant pitching stats such as ERA, innings pitched, strikeouts and WHIP (walks and hits per innings). In a statistical quirk, Wainwright essentially turned opposing batters into him: He held opponents to a .224 average; he's a .223 career hitter."