Tim Lincecum helped his Cy Young Award candidacy by beating the Dodgers in Sunday's season finale.
Knowing his in for a tough voting battle against the Diamondbacks' Brandon Webb and the Mets' Johan Santana, Lincecum struck out 13 batters -- including the first nine outs, an accomplishment that hadn't been done since Sid Fernandez accomplished it in 1986 -- to finish 18-5. Now it's up to voting members of the Baseball Writers Association of America to determine if Lincecum is the second Giants Cy Young Award winner, joining Mike McCormick (1967). Lincecum finished with a 2.62 ERA, second in the NL behind Santana's 2.53 mark. He would have needed 11 shutout innings to win the ERA title. The San Francisco right-hander led the majors with 265 strikeouts.
Webb was 22-7 with a 3.30 ERA, and Santana was 16-7 with a 2.53 ERA. CC Sabathia, traded from Cleveland to Milwaukee in July, was 11-2 with a 1.65 ERA.
Lincecum broke a two-game losing streak, his first of the season. Sunday marked his first game of the season against the Dodgers.
Cy Young voting is to be conducted before the first playoff game, and results will be made public in November.
GIANTS 3, DODGERS 1: Trailing 1-0, the Giants rallied in the seventh when Travis Ishikawa and Dave Roberts hit singles, and Pablo Sandoval's pinch single tied the game. Nate Schierholtz, with two outs, put the Giants ahead with an RBI single, and Randy Winn drove in the final run in the eighth.
