Sporting News names Tim Lincecum NL Pitcher of the Year

October 21, 3:00 PMSan Francisco Giants ExaminerTheo Fightmaster

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Lincecum dominated the NL again in his second full season. (AP Photo: Jeff Chiu)

After a year in which Cardinals' starting pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright dominated the headlines, pitched their team to a division title and  were expected to be awarded some off-season hardware, it was the Giants Tim Lincecum who picked up the first post-season win amongst the trio. 

For the second consecutive year the Sporting News has named Tim Lincecum the National League Pitcher of the Year. 

Lincecum, the 2008 NL Cy Young winner, went 15-7 with a 2.48 earned run average in 32 starts. The diminutive right-hander led the NL with 261 strikeouts and ranked second in the majors behind only Detroit Tigers right-hander Justin Verlander's 269. Lincecum also was tied for the National League lead with four complete games and two shutouts.
"Tim has been the most dominant young pitcher in baseball the last two years," former Giant Russ Ortiz, the man who Lincecum replaced in the Giants rotation when he made his MLB debut in '07, told the Sporting News. "As he learns the game more, he'll be even more fun to watch." 

The Sporting News awards players with post-season honors much like the Baseball Writers Association of America does, but it doesn't necessarily indicate that Lincecum is a shoe in for his second straight Cy Young award. No pitcher has won the Cy Young in each of their first two full seasons. 

Lincecum, the starting pitcher for the National League in last summer's All-Star game, was as impressive this season as he was in 2008. His win total fell from 18 to 15 but that shouldn't be a reflection on him. He had essentially the same number of strikeouts (265 in '08, 261in '09), he lowered his earned run average from 2.62 to 2.48, decreased the number of walks from 84 to 68 and opponents hit 15 points lower off of him this year than they did last season. 

The Royals' Zack Greinke was named the Sporting News AL Pitcher of the year. The Sporting News will continue to announce their award winners throughout the week. Thursday they will release the Player of the year and the all-star teams and Friday the they will announce the comeback players of the year and the relievers of the year. 

On Tuesday, Phillies left-hander J.A. Happ and White Sox third baseman Gordon Beckham were named the Sporting News' 2009 rookies of the year.