Tim Lincecum was announced the 2009 National League Cy Young Award winner - being honored Thursday for the second straight season as the best pitcher in the National League.
Along with Zach Greinke in the American League being honored, it only punctuates the underlying story behind the headlines - Lincecum only had 15 wins and Greinke only had 16 wins but clearly were deserving because of their sheer dominance.
It seems kind of silly to think if a guy makes 30-35 starts and is good enough to pitch six, seven innings in the majority of those starts to win 18, 19, 20 or more games - he isn't as good as the guy who wins only 15, 16, 17 wins.
But for a starting pitcher, the evaluation of the quality of work has evolved and statheads or sabremetrically-inclined baseball fans/pundits are rejoicing - because they are the ones championing more sophisticated stats to be taken into account over merely being stupefied by the numbers of wins accumulated in one season.
It isn't no coincidence Lincecum and Greinke are acutely aware of the terms - and have seemingly been made poster-children for evaluating a pitcher's performance.
For Greinke - he likes the FIP.
For Lincecum - it is all about the WHIP.
In the end, Chris Carpenter or Adam Wainwright had more wins, pitched more innings and clearly demonstrated their value to their team - Lincecum simply had the more dominant season.
I want more autographs from Tim "The Franchise" Lincecum. He seems to sign less after his first Cy Young Award last year.
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