Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants won the Cy Young Award after the pitcher ranked second in the National League in victories and earned run average.
Lincecum went 18-5 last season with a 2.62 ERA and led Major League Baseball with 265 strikeouts.
``I have always taken pride in trying to strike people out,'' Lincecum said on a conference call with reporters. ``It's one of those things that get me fired up.''
The 24-year-old right-hander received 23 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks was second with 73 points and Johan Santana of the New York Mets was third with 55.
Lincecum had a quarter of his team's victories as San Francisco finished last season with a 72-90 record. He's the second Giants pitcher to win the award as the league's best pitcher, following Mike McCormick in 1967.
The Giants selected Lincecum with the 10th pick in the 2006 draft. He went 7-5 with a 4.00 ERA in 24 starts in his rookie season.
Lincecum said he threw his changeup more this season, helping him get more groundballs and strikeouts.
``This year it came up as a good pitch for me,'' he said. ``I found a grip that I am comfortable with.''
First-Place Votes
Webb and Santana each received four first-place votes with Milwaukee's CC Sabathia getting the other first-place vote.
Webb, the 2006 Cy Young winner, was 22-7 and led the National League in victories. The right-hander's 3.30 ERA ranked 10th in the league.
Santana, a two-time Cy Young winner in the American League, led the NL in ERA at 2.53. He finished his first season in New York with a 16-7 record.
Sabathia went 11-2 with a NL-high seven complete games and three shutouts in his three months with the Milwaukee Brewers. He compiled a 1.65 ERA in 17 starts for Milwaukee after arriving from Cleveland in a July 7 trade. The left-hander won last year's AL Cy Young Award.
The AL Cy Young Award winner will be announced on Nov. 13.
Source: bloomberg.com
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