updated 2:38 p.m. ET Aug. 3, 2005

ST. LOUIS - To Chris Carpenter, facing Dontrelle Willis was not a Cy Young preview. It was just another stingy outing.

Carpenter is coming out on top against all of the National League’s aces. He threw a three-hitter Tuesday night to become the major leagues’ first 16-game winner in a 3-1 victory over Willis and the Florida Marlins, strengthening his Cy Young Award credentials.

“He’s one of the best pitchers we’ve seen all year,” Marlins manager Jack McKeon said. “One of the best-pitched games we’ve seen all year. Give the guy credit.”

John Gall drove in the first two runs of his career and Jim Edmonds had an RBI single for the Cardinals, who have won five of eight and have the NL’s best record at 67-39. St. Louis, which has beaten up on the Central Division with a 32-13 record, improved to 8-9 against the tougher competition in the East.

Carpenter (16-4) beat Roger Clemens in his first start after throwing a scoreless inning in the All-Star game, and bested Roy Oswalt and Andy Pettitte earlier this season. He won his eighth straight decision in nine starts and Willis, who hit the first two batters he faced to set the tone for a wild, 103-pitch, five-inning outing, couldn’t keep up.

Carpenter convinced himself it wasn’t a special matchup, and he just had to do his job against the Marlins hitters.

“Nothing I can do about what Dontrelle does,” Carpenter said. “Dontrelle goes out and competes just like I do. My job is to get the one through nine guys out on their side.”

Carpenter allowed only a leadoff double in the first to Juan Pierre, a third-inning single to Juan Castillo and an infield single to Jeff Conine in the ninth, striking out six and walking one. In his last nine starts, Carpenter is 8-0 with an 0.83 ERA with 68 strikeouts and 11 walks in 75 2-3 innings. His overall ERA dropped to 2.26.

He needed only 109 pitches, 81 strikes, to throw his fifth complete game of the season and the 18th of his career. For Cardinals manager Tony La Russa, it was a no-brainer sending Carpenter out for the ninth against the top of the Marlins lineup instead of Jason Isringhausen.

“We have one of the game’s best closers but he was fresh and we didn’t feel like we were pushing him at all,” La Russa said. “I don’t care how great Izzy is, if I’m on the other side they may think they’ve got a better chance when the other guy comes out, because Carpenter’s just dealing.”

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