Giants ace Tim Lincecum vies to improve after winning second straight NL Cy Young award

Giants ace Lincecum wins second straight Cy Young

SAN FRANCISCO — Tim Lincecum has been so dominant in his first two full major league seasons that even his top bosses don’t know how he can get much better.

Two NL Cy Young Awards, a pair of All-Star selections — all at age 25.

Lincecum has a couple of ideas in that area: Grow up and make better decisions personally, and pitch the San Francisco Giants into the playoffs at last.

The hard-throwing right-hander figured the Cardinals’ Chris Carpenter was set to win this year’s NL Cy Young award, but Lincecum captured the honor Thursday for the second straight year by the slimmest of margins.

“Where do we go from here? It’s pretty awesome,” Giants general manager Brian Sabean said. “Obviously, a momentous day. Pretty amazing, but that’s what defines Timmy.”

In one of the tightest votes in the history of the award, only 10 points separated the top three vote-getters. Carpenter was second and St. Louis teammate Adam Wainwright finished third despite getting the most first-place votes.

It’s been quite a month for Lincecum, a 15-game winner in 2009 who led the league with 261 strikeouts and tied for top marks in the NL with four complete games and two shutouts.

“I couldn’t ever have seen this happening growing up,” he said during a news conference at AT&T Park. “I just came out lucky on top.”

At the same time, he is facing misdemeanor marijuana charges stemming from a traffic stop in his home state of Washington on Oct. 30. No questions regarding the incident were allowed, but Lincecum apologized and acknowledged making a mistake while reading a prepared statement. He also touched on the issue in a roundabout way, saying, “it won’t ever happen again and I promise to become better in the future.”

“I think a lot of growing up has to do with experiences you go through, whether that be good or bad,” Lincecum said, slightly emotional. “There’s different people who go through different experiences that shape them. It’s unfortunate also that you have to go through the bumps, like I am going through, to get to where you think you need to be. It’s just about changing yourself and looking for the right road to take instead of making it hard on yourself.”

In case he’s in need of a morale boost, Lincecum’s name is now being mentioned in the same breath as other Cy Young multi-winners — Randy Johnson, Greg Maddux, Sandy Koufax.

“I think he’s one of those guys, I really do,” Giants pitching coach Dave Righetti said.

Lincecum, with nicknames of “Freak” and “Franchise” because of his funky delivery and quick ascent to the big leagues, became the first repeat winner since Johnson won four in a row from 1999-2002 with Arizona. The Big Unit won his 300th game in June for the Giants and Lincecum leaned on him at times for expertise.

Yet Lincecum has always done things his own way, from not icing his arm to munching Philly cheesesteaks pregame and socializing in the clubhouse before his starts. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Lincecum broke into the majors in May 2007 — less than a year after being drafted with the 10th overall pick out of Washington — with two top-notch pitches, but he’s worked to develop a changeup that is now his “go-to” pitch.

He has overpowered baseball’s best hitters by defying physics with his quirky delivery.

“He definitely is setting his mark in baseball,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. “It is remarkable at his age and how young it is in his career how he has established himself as one of the elite pitchers in the game.”

Lincecum received 11 first-place votes, 12 seconds and nine thirds for 100 points in balloting released by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Carpenter had nine firsts, 14 seconds and seven thirds to finish with 94.

Wainwright, who led the NL with 19 wins and 233 innings, had 12 first-place votes, five seconds and 15 thirds for 90 points. Trevor Hoffman, who finished behind Tom Glavine in 1998, is the only other player to get the most firsts and not win the award.

In winning the award a year ago, Lincecum went 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a majors-leading 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place club that finished 72-90. The Giants stayed in the playoff chase well into September this year, but missed out for the sixth straight season. At 88-74, they won 16 more games than in 2008.

Sabean, who said he wasn’t “overly concerned” by Lincecum’s arrest, is prepared for what could be a lengthy arbitration process with Lincecum this winter. The Giants aren’t planning to reward him with a longterm deal at this stage, but that has nothing to do with Lincecum’s legal trouble. Lincecum had a $650,000 salary in 2009.

“I don’t know if we ever grow up, as people, as professionals,” Sabean said. “It’s a process. I don’t know if he’s any different from any young guy trying to make a name for himself, make a living. Obviously the stakes are higher when you’re Tim Lincecum.”

Lincecum went 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA in 32 starts and 225 1-3 innings. After winning his first Cy Young award, he wasn’t content.

“I think that just comes back to being a student of the game and never settling,” he said. “A lot of guys can just sit on things they did. I could easily have sat on what I did last year and just tried to bounce off it. I didn’t. I just wanted to become better. I got to be around guys like Randy Johnson, guys that I looked up to when I was a kid.”

AP Sports Writer Jay Cohen in New York contributed to this report.