He did it!
Giants ace Tim Lincecum takes the National League Cy Young award for 2008.
Baby-faced Lincecum, 24, is the first San Francisco Giant to take home the top prize in more than 40 years.
Lincecum finished the season 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA. He also led the majors with a whopping 265 strikeouts.
Linceum also topped the National League in fewest hits per nine innings (7.22).
Remember, the Giants were one of the league's worst teams, losing 90 games this past season. That made Lincecum one of the bright spots for fans.
The 32 people who got a Cy Young vote in the election had to turn in their ballots before the playoffs started, so post-season prowess didn't count. Lincecum placed first on 23 of the 32 ballots. The list of voters consists of two members of the Baseball Writers Association of America from each National League city. Lincecum finished second on seven ballots and third on one, as he received 137 points based on the 5-3-1 tabulation system.
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Baseball writer Jayson Start told the Mercury News, "It wasn't just a good year. It was a really historic year. The best recent comparison we have is Dwight Gooden and Pedro Martinez in the best season of their careers."
The Giants have scheduled a 1 p.m. news conference at AT&T Park.
He is only the second pitcher in franchise history to win the Cy Young Award. Mike McCormick won the award back in 1967.
Lincecum, the 10th overall pick by the Giants in the 2006 draft, had already collected both the Players Choice and Sporting News NL pitcher-of-the-year awards earlier this offseason.
