Giants' Lincecum wins 2nd straight Cy Young Award

Lincecum led the National League with 261 strikeouts and tied for the league lead with four complete games and two shutouts.

The right-hander went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA and took the honors in one of the tightest votes in the history of the award.

Only 10 points separated the top three vote-getters. St. Louis's Chris Carpenter was second and Cardinals team-mate Adam Wainwright was third, despite getting the most first-place votes.

Lincecum received 11 first-place votes, 12 seconds and nine thirds for 100 points in balloting released by the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Carpenter had nine firsts, 14 seconds and seven thirds to finish second with 94.

Wainwright, who led the National League with 19 wins and 233 innings, had 12 first-place votes, five seconds and 15 thirds for 90 points.

The only other player to finish with the most first-place votes and not win the award was San Diego closing pitcher Trevor Hoffman in 1998, when the NL Cy Young went to Braves starter Tom Glavine.

“The guys I was going up against, Wainwright and Carpenter, had tremendous seasons,” Lincecum said. “It was a lucky one for me. I'll take them as I come I guess.” Kansas City Royals pitcher Zack Greinke won the American League Cy Young on Tuesday. Grienke's 16 wins equaled the previous low for a Cy Young winner in a full-length season.

Lincecum said the selections reflected the fact that voters are judging the top pitchers by a wider range of statistics, rather than strictly on wins, losses and earned run average.

“It's turned into a game of complete numbers and statistics and what people do with that,” Lincecum said. “So I mean just to put more options in the voters' heads about what's supposed to be more important, which takes priority over another, that's all based on opinion.”

Lincecum, who is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges stemming from a traffic stop in his native Washington on October 30, declined to take questions about the incident during a press conference call, but he did address the matter.

“I know that as a professional athlete I have a responsibility to conduct myself appropriately both on and off the field,” he said. “I certainly have learned a valuable lesson through all of this and I promise to do better in the future.

“I hope and expect that the matter will be resolved soon. In the meantime I am focused on preparing for the 2010 season.”

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