Lincecum Wins 2nd Consecutive Cy Young Award

In one of the closest races in baseball history, Tim Lincecum beat out Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright, both of the St. Louis Cardinals, to win his 2nd consecutive Cy Young award. Lincecum received 11 first-place votes, and only 10 points separated the three candidates.

Lincecum is the first repeat winner in the majors since his 2009 teammate, Randy Johnson, won 4 consecutive Cy Young awards from 1999-2002.

Lincecum didn't have as many wins as both Carpenter and Wainwright, but he was the most dominant starter in 2009, even more so than in 2008. Lincecum struck out a league-leading 261 batters against only 68 walks in 225.1 innings and his 2.48 ERA was 2nd-best in the NL. Lincecum also tied the league high with 4 complete games and 2 shutouts.

Lincecum made only $650,000 in 2009. He'll obviously make a ton more in the years to come. The Giants better be prepared to pony up.