"Cardinals righthander Adam Wainwright already this season has recorded scoreless streaks of 26 and 25 1/3 innings. This, in a way, nearly matches Bob Gibson, the greatest Cardinals righthander of them all, except that Gibson had all 47 of his scoreless innings in one swoop in his landmark 1968 season when he had a 1.12 earned-run average.

Gibson allowed two earned runs in 92 innings in June and July of that year.

Wainwright, at 17-7 with at least nine starts remaining, has a chance to be the winningest Cardinals starter in 40 years. Since Gibson, of course. If Wainwright were to win six of those nine starts, he would have 23 victories, matching Gibson's total in 1970.

At 2.06, Wainwright's ERA would be the lowest by a Cardinals starter since John Tudor finished at 1.93 in 1985. It would be the lowest by a Cardinals righthander since ... Gibson in 1968.

Hall of Famer Gibson has been a "celebrity coach" at Cardinals spring training for years now and was there when Wainwright first showed up in camp in 2004. But Gibson isn't easily impressed."