Tim Lincecum won his second consecutive Cy Young Award on Thursday, pulling out a narrow victory that is likely to be the story of this awards season.The Giants' 25-year-old flame-thrower edged out Cardinals' teammates Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright in an election that was just as tight and unpredictable as expected, with a twist at the end.
Lincecum (15-7, 2.48) had the fewest victories of any starter to win the Cy Young in a nonstrike season, and he also became only the second pitcher to win the Cy Young without getting the most first-place votes.
Lincecum received 11 first-place votes among the 32 ballots cast, from two writers in each National League city. Wainwright got 12 first-place votes, but he finished third because he had only five second-place votes. Carpenter, the only one of the three who was not named on all 32 ballots, got nine first-place votes and finished second.
In 1998, Tom Glavine edged Trevor Hoffman, despite getting two fewer first-place votes than Hoffman.
With voting based on a 5-3-1 points system, Lincecum totaled 100 points, followed by Carpenter with 94 and Wainwright with 90.
The six-point margin between the top two was tied for the third smallest since Cy Young voting expanded to three spots per ballot in 1970. The smallest margin was Steve Bedrosian's two-point victory over Rick Sutcliffe in 1987, followed by Fernando Valenzuela's three-point win over Tom Seaver in 1981. The 1979 election was also a six-point victory, for Bruce Sutter over Joe Niekro.
This race was expected to be a tight one because the pitchers had such similar performances.
| How They Voted |
||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Voting for 2009 NL Cy Young (5 points for a first-place vote, 3 for second, 1 for third): | ||||
| Player, Team | 1st | 2nd | 3rd | Pts |
| Lincecum, Giants |
11 |
12 | 9 | 100 |
| Carpenter, Cardinals |
9 |
14 | 7 | 94 |
| Wainwright, Cards |
12 |
5 | 15 | 90 |
| Vazquez, Braves |
|
1 | 3 | |
| Haren, D-backs |
|
|
1 | 1 |
The voting was completed before the start of the playoffs (and before Lincecum had been arrested for possession of marijuana, by the way).
With the repeat victory, Lincecum became the first pitcher since Randy Johnson to win consecutive Cy Youngs. Johnson won four in a row from 1999-2002.
Lincecum, at 25 years, five months, is the youngest pitcher to win back-to-back Cy Youngs since Roger Clemens won his second in 1987 at 25 years and three months.
There have been eight pitchers who have won back-to-back Cy Young awards. Johnson and Greg Maddux hold the record at four in a row, followed by Clemens, Sandy Koufax, Lincecum, Pedro Martinez, Denny McClain and Jim Palmer, who each won two in a row. Clemens won two in a row twice.
At the end of Lincecum's conference call with the media, he read a statement regarding the marijuana charges.
"I made a mistake and I regret my actions earlier this month in Washington. I want to apologize to the Giants organization and to the fans. I know as a professional athlete I have a responsibility to conduct myself appropriately both on and off the field. I certainly have learned a valuable lesson through all this and promise to do better in the future. I hope and expect the matter will be resolved soon. In the meantime, I am focused on preparing for the 2010 season. Since all this is still pending before the courts, this is all I can say on the topic right now."
Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Congratulations Tim, you deserved it.
carpenter had better stats"
Only thing that Tim deserves is a suspension and/or some jail time..Im wondering how many times he might have taken the mound stoned?? Im sure it relaxed him out there..But i would be willing to bet 75-80% of ALL Pro athletes smoke pot..Just don't get caught like Tim did..So would you say the chances of Cardinal's pitchers just went "up in smoke"...Roll another one, just like the other one..Whoaa dude.
You deserved it? Two less victories and a higher ERA than Carpenter? The system is messed up.
Way to go Tim! He had another stellar season and it's great to see him get the Kudo's he deserves! A great competitor who is only going to get better with time. Congratulations Tim!
It is sorry that two great Cardinal pitchers with equal if not better credentials lost because they had good years the same year. 15 and 7 is not Cy Young material.
Dude, you don't have a vote.
Typical cardinal fan whine whine whine you sound like your manager cry cry cry
Congratulations Freak!!! Not sure you were the best this year, but you were ours! I hope this helps you get the contract from our Giants that your have earned. Now I hope you learn your lessons from your recent traffic stop and stay on the straight and narrow. Congratulations Tim.
This proves once again the biggest travesty - sports writers bias against midwest teams and players in favor of the east and left coast.
What a shame - what a waste - the freakin' giants didn't even get a smell of the playoffs.
You sportswriters suck big time.
The Giants not even tasting the playoffs is why Lincecum winning the Cy Young is a good thing you dumbass. Lincecum was a good pitcher on a bad team, which showcased his ability more so than Wainwright or Carpenter, who were good pitchers on a pretty good team.
So how did Zack Greinke beat out Felix Hernandez (west coast) and CC Sabathia (east coast ... New York, even)?
Also, Pujols and Mauer are going to win MVP over plenty of East and West coast guys.
Just because you disagree with a vote doesn't mean there's some vast conspiracy. It's all opinions. You have yours, others have theirs. That's life.
Its not just the sports writers. NO one cares about the midwest. Only reason people go there is to start a cult
well let's see if we had holliday and pujols in our lineup then maybe lincecum wins 20 easy.offense carried carpenter and wainwright end of story
Great!!!!!!!!!!!!You smoke GRASS (an illegal drug), get caught when it is illegal in baseball and you still get a Cy Young Award with with the third best "Credentials". Both Cardinals pitchers deserved it more.
15-7 with a 2.48era is NOT as good as 17-4 with a 2.24 era and he doesn't smoke dope.
Yet the clowns will not elect superior players to the Hall of Fame when steroids WERE NOT illegal in baseball. can we say HYPOCRITES??????????
Put either Cardinal pitcher on the Giants with their anemic offense and see what their records would have been. I do agree Carpenter should have gotten the award but it was a close call and sports writers unfortunately are too swayed by strikeout stats not what city, a player plays in with the exception of the Yankees. There is an anti-Yankee bias among the BBWA, which helped keep Rozzuto out during regular HoF balloting, and cost Guidry the MVP award in 1978.
Going 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA on a bad team IS just as good as going 17-4 with a 2.24 ERA on a good team. He had two wins less and a slightly lower ERA pitching for the crappy Giants than Carpenter had pitching for the Cardinals (which were a pretty good team). Imagine what Linececum's numbers might have been had he played for a good team. The Cy Young isn't all about the numbers, remember that.
Amen. The season started with the reminder that if the Giants couldn't win *with* Barry Bonds, they sure couldn't win without him, and they went on to prove that was true. The other 8 guys on the field let down every single pitcher on the team time and again. Great pitching, lousy fielding. Giving up only 1 or 2 runs per game wouldn't be a problem if your team could score more than zero, but only Panda was doing much hitting.
What a joke and two writers didn't have Carpenter on the ballot they should loose their jobs and media credentials
egap14 I totally agree with you. How could anyone leave Carpenter off the ballot. That is a joke