Originally published Tuesday, October 21, 2008 at 12:00 AM

Former Husky Tim Lincecum captures two NL honors

Tim Lincecum, a strong candidate to earn the National League Cy Young award in his first full major-league season, walked away with two...

By Larry Stone

Seattle Times staff reporter

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Tim Lincecum could be up for more hurling honors.

Tim Lincecum, a strong candidate to earn the National League Cy Young award in his first full major-league season, walked away with two prestigious pitching honors Monday.

Lincecum, a 24-year-old right-hander from Liberty High School and the University of Washington, won the Players Choice Award as the National League's outstanding pitcher, and was also named NL Pitcher of the Year by Sporting News.

In both cases, the AL's top pitcher was Cliff Lee of the Cleveland Indians.

Lincecum had a brilliant year for the San Francisco Giants, going 18-5 with an earned-run average of 2.62 and a major-league-leading 265 strikeouts in 227 innings.

Lee was 22-3 with a 2.54 ERA and was the starter for the American League in the All-Star Game.

Both awards are voted on by their peers. In the Players Choice Award, announced by the Major League Players Association, Lincecum beat out finalists CC Sabathia of Milwaukee and Brandon Webb of Arizona.

Those two, along with the Mets' Johan Santana, will be Lincecum's toughest competition for the Cy Young, to be announced Nov. 11. Two writers from each NL city do the Cy Young voting.

Sporting News polled 314 major-league players for its award.

"You don't see many guys his size throwing that hard, but it's not so much his size and deception," Philadelphia's Chase Utley told Sporting News regarding Lincecum. "It's his stuff. He has 'A' stuff."

Larry Stone: 206-464-3146 or lstone@seattletimes.com

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