Nov 13 2008
Tim Lincecum wins NL Cy Young award in dominating fashion…
Tim Lincecum won the NL Cy Young for 2008 season.
I have been pulling for this kid since Day 1. I knew he would be something special since he got called up for his first start last April of 2007. He didn’t have a great rookie campaign, but showed flashes of his dominance in finishing 7-5 with a 4.00 E.R.A. However, in 2008, Lincecum had one of those storybook years and dominated hitters and it showed in his results as he finished with a record of 18-5 with a 2.62 E.R.A. and led the major leagues in strikeouts with 265.
Lincecum, 24, picked up 23 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Webb finished 64 points back, counting four first-place votes, as did Santana.
Ryan Dempster of Gibsons, B.C., collected four third-place votes after leading all Chicago Cubs pitchers with 17 wins this season in his conversion from closer to starter.
“I was definitely surprised. I thought it was going to be a lot closer,” Lincecum said on a conference call.
Lincecum was the big story this past season for a Giants club that finished 12 games out of first place in the NL West Division with a 72-90 record.
His 18-5 mark was impressive enough, but he added a league-best 2.62 earned-run average and major league-leading 265 strikeouts in 227 innings covering 34 appearances (33 starts).
Lincecum, at 24 and 5 foot 11, has shown that he has a bright future ahead of him and possibly will add a few more Cy Young Awards to his resume before his career is over.
“People have been doubting me my whole life,” he said. “I don’t let them bring me down.”
The baby-faced Lincecum, nicknamed “Franchise,” is an aberration in almost every way. He eats junk food before he starts and doesn’t ice his arm ever. When he was called up from the minors in May 2007, ballpark security workers in San Francisco thought he was a bat boy. That is how young this kid looks and when he is on that mound he is more ways than none a Giant portraying a repertoire of high 90’s fastballs, devastating curveballs, effective sliders, and jawbreaking changeups in making major league hitters look foolish up there.
Hence, the Giants were lucky to draft this kid with 10th pick overall in 2006 and they look to have their ace and franchise player for many years. He is the new face of this young Giants squad and looks to spearhead this team and its strength: the starting rotation in 2009 and beyond.
