Nov 11th 2008 2:45PM by Josh Alper (author feed)
Now 57 games into his big league career, Tim Lincecum has officially arrived. The Giants right-hander ran away with the National League Cy Young award, garnering 23 of 32 first-place votes, to become the second San Franciscan so honored.

It is quite difficult to argue with the selection. Lincecum led the NL in strikeouts, ERA+ and VORP, while allowing the fewest hits per nine innings. His 18 wins were good enough for second in the league, and represented a full quarter of the wins that the Giants mustered for the entire season. When you take into account the team’s bottom-of-the-barrel finish in all the key offensive categories, Lincecum’s season becomes even greater.

Brandon Webb finished second in the voting, earning four first-place nods, for the second straight season, largely because of his league-leading 22 victories. Johan Santana, who was a better choice than Webb, also got four first-place votes and finished third in the voting. CC Sabathia got the other first-place vote, even though he only pitched 17 games after his trade to the Brewers.

There’s no doubt that Sabathia was the most impressive pitcher after he moved to the Senior Circuit, but Lincecum was the best from the first day to the last. While Santana should have finished higher than Webb, I’ll settle for being impressed that the win total didn’t sway the voters enough to give Webb an undeserved award.