Tim Lincecum wins the Cy Young

NL Cy Young Award goes to Lincecum

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Lincecum has been called "The Freak," "The Franchise" and "Seabiscuit."

Now he can be called something else: The National League's Cy Young Award winner.

The Giants right-hander earned the prestigious honor, emblematic of the league's best pitcher, in voting conducted by the Baseball Writers' Association of America and announced Tuesday.

Lincecum outdistanced Arizona's Brandon Webb, the New York Mets' Johan Santana, Milwaukee's CC Sabathia and Philadelphia's Brad Lidge for the honor.

Lincecum became only the second Giant to capture the Cy Young, joining 1967 winner Mike McCormick, and the first second-year player to earn the distinction since right-handers Dwight Gooden of the Mets and Bret Saberhagen of Kansas City secured the 1985 awards in their respective leagues.

At 24, Lincecum already has earned a place in Giants lore alongside Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry, San Francisco's Hall of Fame right-handers. Marichal somehow never received a Cy Young first-place vote in his six 20-win seasons, and Perry twice won the award after leaving the Giants.

Despite Lincecum's sustained excellence, he faced formidable competition for the award. Santana's 2.53 ERA led the NL, Webb's 22 victories paced the league, Sabathia performed in otherworldly fashion after being traded from Cleveland (11-2, 1.65 ERA) and Lidge converted all 41 of his regular-season save opportunities.

But none of them matched Lincecum's overall dominance. He compiled a league-best .783 winning percentage with his 18-5 record and amassed 265 strikeouts to become the first Giant in baseball's modern era (since 1900) to earn that distinction. Against Lincecum, opponents hit .221 overall and .167 with runners in scoring position while averaging 7.22 hits per nine innings -- all league lows. And his 2.62 ERA was the NL's second best.

Lincecum's game-by-game progression defined consistency. His 26 quality starts ranked second in the league, two behind Santana. Never did he lose consecutive starts; only once did he allow four or more earned runs in back-to-back outings. As the Giants lurched to a fourth-place, 72-90 finish in the West, Lincecum rescued them from a harsher fate by posting a 14-3 mark with a 2.79 ERA in 25 games following losses.

That led to another measure of just how singular Lincecum's season was. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, the .339 difference between his winning percentage and San Francisco's was the seventh-largest in Major League history among pitchers with at least 15 victories.

Lincecum cemented his Cy Young candidacy with a strong finish. He struck out 10 or more batters in six of his last 13 starts and yielded two or fewer runs in all but three of them. He pitched his two complete games, including a four-hit shutout at San Diego, in September. And in the season finale against Los Angeles, he recorded his first nine outs on strikeouts, becoming the first hurler to accomplish that feat since the Mets' Sid Fernandez on July 30, 1986.

Webb won 11 of his last 14 decisions. But while Lincecum surged, he dropped three starts in a row between Aug. 26-Sept. 6, allowing 19 earned runs in 13 2/3 innings.

Lincecum's triumph was a matter of style as well as substance. Despite his 5-foot-11, 170-pound physique, his long-striding, mechanically precise delivery enabled him to exceed 95 mph with his fastball routinely. He complemented his heat with a curveball, slider and a changeup that proved to be one of his top strikeout pitches as the year lengthened.

In his first full Major League season -- he made his Giants debut on May 6, 2007 -- Lincecum became one of the game's most charismatic performers. The native of Bellevue, Wash., was named to the NL All-Star team, appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated and won two pre-Cy Young elections as the league's top pitcher involving player voting (Players Choice and The Sporting News).

Now he has the Cy Young, the most impressive totem of pitching excellence.

I think I'm going to cry...


LINCEYYYYYYYYYY!

Vote totals:

Pitcher	1st Place Votes	2nd Place Votes	3rd Place Votes	Points
Tim Lincecum	23	7	1	137
Brandon Webb	4	15	8	73
Johan Santana	4	8	11	55
Brad Lidge	0	1	7	10
CC Sabathia	1	1	1	9
Ryan Dempster	0	0	4	4

One voter didn't vote for Lincecum at all

Lidge, you can't be serious?

Those were some painful saves..

(some anyway)

Wooooohooo Go Tim!!!

Ends Cats worries, now he just needs to get here to Detroit!

gdennis59 wrote:

Ends Cats worries, now he just needs to get here to Detroit!

Keep him out of Detroit! They'll just ruin him. Leyland wouldn't ever let him throw more than 100 pitches either.

catbox_9 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Ends Cats worries, now he just needs to get here to Detroit!

Keep him out of Detroit! They'll just ruin him. Leyland wouldn't ever let him throw more than 100 pitches either.

Ah speaking of 100+ pitches games, remember that one where he threw like 135 or so and I was really convinced Bruce was going to bring in Wilson, but he didn't!!

cdurbfan22 wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Ends Cats worries, now he just needs to get here to Detroit!

Keep him out of Detroit! They'll just ruin him. Leyland wouldn't ever let him throw more than 100 pitches either.

Ah speaking of 100+ pitches games, remember that one where he threw like 135 or so and I was really convinced Bruce was going to bring in Wilson, but he didn't!!

I think he went over 130 a few times.

In other news, Tim Lincecum is on the cover of MLB 2K9!!!! I guess I'll be buying 2K9 instead of MLB 09: The Show next year!

catbox_9 wrote:

One voter didn't vote for Lincecum at all

That voter is Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times...

"One writer, Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times, did not name Lincecum on his ballot. His three choices were Webb first, Lidge second, Santana third."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/11/SPLR142BMU.DTL

catbox_9 wrote:

cdurbfan22 wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Ends Cats worries, now he just needs to get here to Detroit!

Keep him out of Detroit! They'll just ruin him. Leyland wouldn't ever let him throw more than 100 pitches either.

Ah speaking of 100+ pitches games, remember that one where he threw like 135 or so and I was really convinced Bruce was going to bring in Wilson, but he didn't!!

I think he went over 130 a few times.

In other news, Tim Lincecum is on the cover of MLB 2K9!!!! I guess I'll be buying 2K9 instead of MLB 09: The Show next year!

Oh my goodness, I want that too!!!!!!

catbox_9 wrote:

catbox_9 wrote:

One voter didn't vote for Lincecum at all

That voter is Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times...

"One writer, Chris DeLuca of the Chicago Sun-Times, did not name Lincecum on his ballot. His three choices were Webb first, Lidge second, Santana third."

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/11/11/SPLR142BMU.DTL

What an idiot!

catbox_9 wrote:

gdennis59 wrote:

Ends Cats worries, now he just needs to get here to Detroit!

Keep him out of Detroit! They'll just ruin him. Leyland wouldn't ever let him throw more than 100 pitches either.

Fire Leyland

Then bring Lincecum to Detroit

That might work. Fire Leyland first though.

Fire Leyland

I wouldn't mind having Tim in the D