Tim Lincecum Wins Second Straight NL Cy Young Award

In yet another victory for marijuana enthusiasts, San Francisco Giants’ Starting Pitcher Tim Lincecum has taken home the National League Cy Young Award for the second straight year. Lincecum becomes the first winner to repeat since Randy Johnson, his teammate this season, won in four consecutive seasons from 1999-2002.

The Giants’ 25 year old ace led the league in strikeouts for the second straight year, compiling 261 in just 225.1 innings. He led the league with four complete games and two shutouts also en route to a 15-7 record and 2.48 ERA.

Despite his dominant stats, the race was incredibly close as Lincecum edged out St. Louis Cardinals teammates Adam Wainwright and Chris Carpenter. Wainwright actually had the most first-place votes in the balloting, 12 to Lincecum’s 11. Carpenter received nine first-place votes but still managed to finish in second in the overall ballot.

Wainwright and Carpenter both had phenomenal seasons, but may have split some votes that helped Lincecum sneak in and take the award. Wainwright led the league in wins with a 19-8 record and had a 2.63 ERA  Carpenter, who has battled a plethora of injuries since 2007, led the league with a 2.24 ERA and went 17-4. However, the fact that he didn’t break the 200-inning threshold and only made 28 starts as opposed to Lincecum’s 32 and Wainwright’s 34 could have cost him the award.

In 2008, pitching in just his first full season in the Majors, the 5′11″ right-handed Lincecum humiliated opposing batters all year long and ran away with the Cy Young over competitors Brandon Webb and Johan Santana. He managed 18 wins opposed to just five losses on the 72-90 Giants, a season that brought up comparisons to Steve Carlton’s 1972 season when he won the Cy Young by going 27-10 on the Philadelphia Phillies who finished 59-97.