The indelible image of Adam Wainwright striking out Carlos Beltran has been seared into the mind of baseball fanatics everywhere. It’s a shame the mighty curveball that helped the St. Louis Cardinals reach the pennant might have lost its final battle. Adam Wainwright the last man standing from that 2006 World Champion Cardinals has been placed on the Injured List for a variety of reasons that Cardinals manager Oli Marmol did not go into.

Adam Wainwright started the four of July on the bump for the Cardinals against the Miami Marlins. He allowed seven runs, only three earned, across 3 1/3 innings this afternoon. An ironic twist was that his ERA ballooned to 7.76. When the game was said and done it was a 15-2 romp that the Cardinals faithful nor Adam Wainwright supporters wanted to see. He is only two wins away from 200 but has not been right in his last three starts. Allowing 20 runs, 17 earned in that span for a career that borderlines the hall of fame.

200 is a number that is looked to be the new 300 as pitchers no longer work the amount of time to reach that number. The most recent pitcher to get 200 victories was Clayton Kershaw back in April of this year. It is the last piece to the puzzle for a stellar career that Wainwright has had.

Since debuting in 2005, he has 2 World Series rings (had Tommy John Surgery in 2011 preventing him from pitching but the Cardinals won the World Series), Clinched both the Pennant and World Series back in 2006, and was a 20-game winner in 2010, was runner-up to Cy Young winner Roy Halladay. Fans might hope that this stint to the IL will be just a stopping point, as many want to see number 50 reach 200 before he calls it a career after the season is over.