Lincecum Makes It Back-To-Back!

This past Thursday, the winner of the National League Cy Young Award was released, with three main candidates in mind. San Francisco Giants righty Tim Lincecum was in the candidacy against two right-handed St. Louis Cardinals --Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright. Lincecum however, came out on top and won the award for the second consecutive season. With the hardware, Lincecum became the first player ever to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards in each of his first two full big league seasons.

Timmy gave thanks to the Giants organization, fans and more specifically Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti, manager Bruce Bochy and catcher Bengie Molina. Tim also gave praise to his father Chris who taught him just about everything he learned about pitching. Chris was the founder and provider of Timmy's wacky, yet successful wind-up, as he played a huge role in his son's pitching development.

In one of the closest Cy Young votes ever, Tim edged out the competition with 100 total points, opposed to Carpenter's 94 points and Wainwright's 90. Lincecum's 15 wins became the smallest total for a Cy Young winner who was a full-time starting pitcher in a non-strike-shortened season. The slim win total surpassed the previous 16 wins Arizona's Brandon Webb established in 2006, the same record and amount this year's American League Cy Young Award winner Zach Greinke finished the season with by going 16-8. Although both Carpenter and Wainwright compiled more wins than Lincecum did, Tim(15-7) led the league in strikeouts with and owned an ERA of 2.48, only behind Carpenter's 2.24 for the NL. The 25 year old had a remarkable season last year, but had a better year in terms of stats in 2009 in categories such as: Earned Run Average (from 2.62 to 2.48), Opponents Batting Average (from .221 to .206) and Walks (from 68 to 84).

Lincecum led the Major Leagues by making seven starts in which he worked at least eight innings and didn't allow an earned run. He also had a Major League best with eight double-digit strikeout performances, including a 15-strikeout outing against Pittsburgh on July 27th. With the award in back-to-back seasons, Lincecum became the eighth pitcher to be named Cy Young Award winner in consecutive seasons and the first since former Giant Randy Johnson, who won four in a row with the Arizona Diamond-Backs from 1999-2002. After being the cover athlete of MLB 2K10, starting this season's All-Star Game and winning not 1, but 2 Cy Young Awards in Tim's brief yet brilliant career, you begin to ask, What's next on the kid's list? & The answer is starting in and winning the World Series.

Other notable award recipients: AL Cy Young Award winner: Kansas City pitcher Zach Greinke, AL MVP Award winner: Minnesota Twins catcher Justin Morneau, NL MVP Award winner: St. Louis Cardinals first baseman Albert Pujols, AL Manager of the Year Award winner: Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim skipper Mike Scioscia, and NL Manager of the Year Award winner: Colorado Rockies skipper Jim Tracy.