Lincecum named NL Cy Young award winner

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- San Francisco's Tim Lincecum was voted his second consecutive National League Cy Young Award, it was announced Thursday.

Lincecum, a 25-year-old right-hander, is the first to win back-to-back Cy Young Awards since Randy Johnson won four consecutive years 1999-2002.

He was 15-7 with a 2.48 earned run average and 261 strikeouts, figures that were comparable to his statistics in 2008. It was the second consecutive year he led the National League in strikeouts and he is the first Giant to do that since Christy Mathewson in 1907-08.

Lincecum was listed first on 11 of the 32 NL Cy Young ballots, was second on 12 and third on nine others for a total of 100 points. He edged St. Louis Cardinals' pitcher Chris Carpenter by six points, the closest voting for the award since the ballot was expanded to three pitchers in 1970.

Kansas City's Zack Greinke, who turned 26 last month, won the American League's Cy Young Award on Tuesday.

Representatives from the Baseball Writers Association of America from each NL city vote to determine the Cy Young winner.