Baseball's best race might not be in the AL East or the NL Central or either chase for the wild card.

It's quite possibly the battle for the NL Cy Young Award.

In this "Year of the Pitcher," six candidates have broken away from the pack and three of them were in action Wednesday. One won, one lost and one settled for a no-decision.

Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals remains a strong contender despite suffering his first loss in 12 home decisions this season. Wainwright, who took a major league-best 1.99 ERA into Wednesday's game, gave up seven hits and three runs in a 3-2 loss to the Brewers. The Cardinals missed a chance to get Wainwright (now 17-7) off the hook when Trevor Hoffman struck out Brendan Ryan with the bases loaded in the ninth. registering his 598th career save on behalf of Randy Wolf. St. Louis manager Tony La Russa had this to say about Wainwright, who finished third in last year's Cy Young balloting: "You can't win every one forever, but he certainly did his part. He competed like a maniac. They beat a really, really good pitcher."

Atlanta's Tim Hudson, who'd won his previous five starts to improve to 14-5, 2.13, took a no-decision in the Braves' 3-2 victory against Washington. Hudson, who gave up eight hits but induced four double plays in his seven innings, has given up four earned runs in his last 43 2/3 innings. Hudson is having his best season since 2000 when he went 20-6 and finished second to Pedro Martinez in the AL Cy Young race. The Braves are having a pretty good season as well. They won for a major league-high 21st time on their final at-bat thanks to Jason Heyward's two-out RBI single.

Florida's Josh Johnson is probably on the outside looking in after going 0-2 in five starts leading up to Wednesday's 3-2 victory against Pittsburgh. He pitched like a Cy Young contender in this one, however, improving to 11-5, 2.27 as he struck out six and did not walk a batter. Johnson, whose ERA inflated from 1.61 to its current point during his rough stretch, was touched for solo homers by Ryan Doumit and Andrew McCutchen, just the sixth and seventh homers he's surrendered all season.

San Diego's Mat Latos puts his 12-5 record and 2.32 ERA on the line Thursday against the Cubs. His 6.3 hits per nine innings is the best rate in the NL. Working against Latos is the fact that the Padres are limiting his innings. His only complete game was his one-hitter May 13 against the Giants. Since then, he's pitched more than six innings in four of 15 starts. After a brief respite on the DL, he's gone 2-1 with a 1.55 ERA in his last five starts.

Colorado's Ubaldo Jimenez might still be the leader in the clubhouse. He's 17-3, 2.59 and could be 19-3 had he not lost a 1-0 decision to the Mets, then watched his defense squander a ninth-inning lead in his last two starts. Having a no-hitter on his resume doesn't hurt his chances.

Then again, Roy Halladay has a perfect game and a lot more to consider. The 2003 AL Cy Young Award winner is 15-8 with a 2.24 ERA and vying to lead his league in compete games for a sixth time. Halladay, who has gone the distance in eight starts for the Phillies -- three of them shutouts -- leads the NL in innings pitched with 193 and also in strikeout-to-walk ratio with 7.955 strikeouts for every walk.

Finally, there's one NL pitcher who's not going to win the Cy Young Award but deserves a little love. Ross Ohlendorf fell to 1-10 this season when Johnson and the Marlins beat him Wednesday night. Getting a major league-low 2.1 runs of support per game, Ohlendorf gave up just four hits in eight innings Wednesday and has one win despite a 2.34 ERA in his last 10 starts. Alas, the Pirates, who've lost nine of their last 10, are 40-80 and two losses away from extending their dubious record with an 18th consecutive losing season. Where's Doug Drabek (22-6 on the way to the 1990 NL Cy Young Award) when you need him?