Javier Vazquez, Atlanta’s starter in Washington tonight, is 14-9 with 20 quality starts and a 2.91 ERA that would be a career low. He might be a favorite for NL Cy Young honors if not for a little more run support in June.

June was Vazquez’s best month of the season, though he’s making a case for September with a strong finish. He posted a 1.98 ERA and opponents batted just .197/.239/.315 against him in June, but he was only 1-3. The 33-year-old right-hander pitched two quality starts in which the Braves were shut out, including a 1-0 loss to Boston on June 27. In another start two weeks earlier, he struck out 12 Pirates and left a 1-1 tie after eight innings. He easily could have had a couple of extra wins in June.

Vazquez has been prone to extreme highs and lows over the course of a season, but he is having far and away the most consistent one of his career. He lost more than two games in a month only in June and never posted a monthly ERA higher than 3.76.

Another indicator of his consistency has been his strikeouts. He has struck out at least five batters in each of his 30 starts in 2009. Since 1954, only three pitchers have recorded five or more strikeouts in more consecutive starts from the start of a season. They are Randy Johnson, who fanned at least five in all of his 35 starts for the 1999 Diamondbacks; longtime Cardinals ace Bob Gibson in all 34 of his 1970 starts; and Curt Schilling with 33 straight for Arizona in 2002.