It's funny to go back and look at all the "WHAT'S WRONG WITH _____?" articles at the end of the season, tallying up the ones we really should have been worried about. Albert Pujols? Nope. Tim Lincecum? Yep. Alex Gordon? Nope. Ervin Santana? Yep.
And it's hard to remember now, but Adam Wainwright was the subject of a lot of those articles, coming back after Tommy John surgery and posting a 6.16 ERA through his first seven starts. But his strikeout-to-walk ratio suggested that he was the same pitcher, and the maths were right; after the early struggles, he settled in nicely.
His start in Game 1 on Sunday, though, might be one of his most impressive outings since coming back from his injury. Wainwright has tied a season high in strikeouts with nine, and he's through only five innings.
Well, okay, Wainwright's real season high is 12, but that was against the Astros.
On the other side, Gio Gonzalez has been grinding through his outing, tying his career mark for walks in a single game with seven. At 109 pitches, he's a longshot to return for the sixth.