If you asked him right now, he'd say he doesn't care a hoot, but San Francisco Giants' pitcher Tim Lincecum ended the 2010 season just one strikeout away from winning the Major League Baseball strikeout title.
That one strike is behind the Mariners' Felix Hernandez. Lincecum has 231 strikeouts on the season compared to Hernandez' 232.
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If you haven't heard, the Giants won Sunday and that means they won the National League West and are playoff bound later this week.
Bruce Bochy could have put Timmy in for an inning at any point this final homestand to give him shot at taking that title, but it did not happen.
By the numbers, Timmy is now officially baseball's most prolific young strikeout artist since they moved home plate back in 1893.
After four seasons, Lincecum has the highest career strikeout total of any fourth-year player in 117 years. Timmy's 907 strikeouts in his first four seasons are the most of any young pitcher in the modern era, passing Dwight Gooden's mark of 892, per MLB.com.
The owner of the 117-year old record was also a Giant, albeit a New York Giant in the 1890s. Amos Rusie, known as the "Hoosier Thunderbolt", threw 1,174 strikeouts over his first four seasons from 1890 to 1893. It was after Rusie's 1893 season that home plate was moved back.
Even if Lincecum had pitched one more game he would not break Rusie's 117-year-old record. He is 267 strikeouts short of the mark.
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Lincecum would need to throw all strikeouts for a perfect game that went 90 innings in order to tie that record.
