Well, that's one more issue resolved. See ya later Randy Winn - the softest number three hitter in the history of the game! I don't even know WHY he batted third for the Giants even once this season. He hit two homers the entire year! Granted, a descent number two guy when hot (or even better: number-seven or -eight), but that just didn't seem to materialize for very long stretches this year. Everyone in the Giants' organization seemed to think (or convince themselves) that Winn would recapture that initial magic when he was first acquired at the 2005 trade deadline from Seattle. I mean the guy was raking for a month straight, and had some real cartoon-like numbers as I recall. He never got back to that level for any sustainable length of time, but was able to parlay six inc

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 Just sheer domination that didn't necessarily show up in the win column! Fifteen victories equals a Cy Young?  Let's look at ALL of the numbers to really appreciate how great Tim Lincecum has been through his first two-full seasons with the Giants (he did throw 146-plus innings in 24 starts in 2007). Back-to-back Cy Young Awards do not come around very often (see: N.L. stand-outs RJ and Maddux, each with four straight, and Sandy Koufax with three of four; Clemens, Palmer, McClain, and Pedro each went back-to-back in the A.L. ([Clemens did it twice; ten years apart]). The difference? Lincecum has done it twice in two full years by the age of 25! So how do you follow up a CY YOUNG AWARD WINNING SEASON??? You work even harder to improve (by perfecting a third pitch), and that's exactly what Lincecum did after winning his first CY in 2008 with an 18-and-5 record, and 265 strikeouts in 227 innings. Lincecum worked 225 and one-third innings this year, and went 15-and-7 with 261 strikeouts. No, that doesn't sound any better until we delve deeper. Check this out - in roughly the same number of innings pitched, Lincecum allowed fourteen

Continue reading ""Tim Lincecum Captures Second Cy Young""