Giants ace Lincecum named NL's top pitcher

Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants beat out former Cy Young Award winners Brandon Webb and Johan Santana for this year's honour as the National League's top pitcher, which was announced Tuesday.

The five-foot-11 right-hander with the whirling windup joins Mike McCormick (1967) as the only Giants hurler to win a Cy Young.

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.

"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).

The 24-year-old also was second to none in the NL in winning percentage (.783), held the opposition to a .221 batting average and topped the league in fewest hits per nine innings (7.22).

"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 starts and doesn't ice his arm. When he was called up from the minors in May 2007, ballpark security workers in San Francisco thought he was a bat boy.

But by late this season, some teammates were asking for his autograph, including veteran catcher Bengie Molina.

"The key is to continue to get better," Giants outfielder Randy Winn said. "With the usage of video that hitters use, now people are going to see him a little more. People are going to have a better idea of what his pitches look like and how he attacks hitters. The pitchers who have been good for a long time are pitchers who continue to get better."

Drafted 10th overall out of the University of Washington in 2006, Lincecum said his major league experience last season definitely helped him succeed this year. He also credited an improved changeup, which he threw more often after finding a comfortable grip.

"I've always taken pride in trying to strike people out. I've always been that guy," he said. "That's the one [statistic] that kind of gets me fired up."

Webb, who won the Cy Young two years ago, finished in the top 10 in many statistics, but Arizona's late-season slide probably cost him a few votes.

Though he won seven games over the final two months of the season, the 29-year-old's ERA was an uncharacteristic 3.84. Overall, Webb went 22-7 in 34 starts with a 3.30 ERA and 183 strikeouts in 226 2/3 innings pitched.

His second-place finish increased the buyout of his $8.5-million US 2010 club option by $500,000 to $2 million.

3rd time not lucky for Santana

Santana, 29, missed out on his first NL Cy Young after winning twice in the AL in 2005 and 2007 with the Minnesota Twins. He received a $50,000 US bonus for finishing third.

This season, the left-hander led the NL in innings pitched (234 1/3) and ERA (2.53). Santana nearly led the New York Mets to the playoffs, tossing a three-hitter in a 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins on the second-last day of the season. Milwaukee went on to win the wild-card race.

Dempster, 31, posted a 2.96 ERA in 33 starts in 2008 after saving 28 games for the Cubs the previous season.

He was nearly unhittable at home this season, going 14-3 in 20 starts and struck out 114 batters in 129 innings pitched. The 14 home victories fell one shy of fellow Canadian Ferguson Jenkins's Cubs record, set in 1967.

The righty will be declared a free agent this Thursday and there are rumblings he could receive four-year offers. Dempster most likely will secure the biggest contract of his career, topping the three-year, $15.5- million US deal he signed in November 2005.

The other first-place vote went to Milwaukee lefty CC Sabathia, traded by Cleveland into the NL on July 7. He was 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA and seven complete games in 17 starts for the Brewers, pitching them to their first playoff berth since 1982.

Sabathia came in fifth and received a $75,000 contract bonus. Brad Lidge, the star closer who had a perfect season for the World Series champion Philadelphia Phillies, was fourth.