Tim Lincecum Wins Second Consecutive NL Cy Young Award, Thursday

Many experts predicted that St. Louis Cardinals starting pitchers Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright would take votes away from each other due to the fact that they are teammates and many voters had differing opinions as to which one was the true ace of the team's staff. It turns out that those experts have been proven right as San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum edged out Carpenter and Wainwright in one of the closest races in recent memory to win the 2009 National League Cy Young Award on Thursday.

The Baseball Writers Association of America tabulated the votes and discovered that Lincecum, who received 11 of 32 possible first place votes, scored 100 overall points while Carpenter, who received nine first place votes, scored 94 points. Wainwright ended up with the most first place votes of any National League pitcher with 12 but earned a total of 90 points to finish in third place.

Lincecum struck out a league-high 261 batters in 2009 and totaled a remarkably impressive 1.05 WHIP. His minuscule earned run average of 2.48 and outstanding .206 opponents batting average were optimal indicators that his 15-7 record could have been far more impressive if he had received better run support throughout the season. Wainwright had the highest wins total of the three pitchers with 19 while Carpenter sported the most impressive earned run average at 2.24.