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Sports Briefs: Lincecum wins NL Cy Young in a close vote
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Published: November 20, 2009
Updated: 11/20/2009 12:45 am
NEW YORK -- Ace Tim Lincecum of the San Francisco Giants won the National League Cy Young Award yesterday for the second straight year. Lincecum, 25, emerged from one of the tightest votes ever to become the first repeat winner since Randy Johnson in 1999-2002.
Lincecum, a wiry right-hander nicknamed "The Freak" for his giant stride, finished with 15 victories -- the fewest for a Cy Young starter in a full season. He led the NL with 261 strikeouts and tied for the league lead with four complete games and two shutouts.
Ten points separated the top three vote-getters. Chris Carpenter of the St. Louis Cardinals was second, and teammate Adam Wainwright finished third despite getting the most first-place votes.
"The guys I was going up against, Wainwright and Carpenter, had tremendous seasons," Lincecum said in a conference call. "It was a lucky one for me. I'll take them as I come, I guess."
Lincecum finished 15-7 with a 2.48 ERA. He received 11 first-place votes, 12 seconds and nine thirds for 100 points in balloting released by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Carpenter got nine firsts, 14 seconds and seven thirds for 94 points. Wainwright, who led the NL with 19 wins and 233 innings, got 12 first-place votes, five seconds and 15 thirds for 90 points.
The six-point gap between Lincecum and Carpenter is tied for the third-closest in the NL since the ballot expanded to three pitchers in 1970. The 10-point margin from first to third is the second-closest for the NL ballot.
More baseball
■ The Arizona Diamondbacks have acquired reliever Aaron Heilman from the Chicago Cubs for minor-league prospects Scott Maine and Ryne White.
Heilman, a 31-year-old left-hander, was 4-4 with a 4.11 ERA in 70 appearances last season, with 65 strikeouts and 34 walks. He spent six seasons with the New York Mets before he was traded to Seattle last December, then traded to the Cubs a month later.
Maine, a 24-year-old left-hander, was a combined 4-5 with seven saves and a 2.90 ERA in Class AAA and Class AA last season. White, a 23-year-old infielder, hit .266 with 58 RBIs for Class A Visalia.
■ Ron Bourquin, a Class AA third baseman in the Detroit Tigers organization, has been suspended for 50 games under baseball's minor-league drug program after testing positive for an amphetamine. He will serve the suspension at the start of next season. Bourquin hit .283 with three home runs and 58 RBIs in 81 games last season for the Class A West Michigan Whitecaps. He hit .228 with five homers and 19 RBIs in 37 games with Class AA Erie.
■ Mike Scioscia's coaching staff with the Los Angeles Angels will be back in 2010. His staff members are bench coach Ron Roenicke, pitching coach Mike Butcher, third-base coach Dino Ebel, first-base coach Alfredo Griffin, hitting coach Mickey Hatcher, bullpen coach Orlando Mercado and bullpen catcher Steve Soliz.
The Angels won their fifth American League West title in six years, then swept Boston out of the division series before losing to the Yankees in the AL Championship Series.
■ Second baseman Chance Veazey of Georgia is paralyzed from the waist down and undergoing rehabilitation in Atlanta.
Dr. Donald Peck Leslie of the Shepherd Center held a news conference yesterday to give the first detailed update on Veazey's condition. Veazey, a freshman, was injured Oct. 28 when his scooter collided with a car on campus. The 10th vertebra in his back was broken, and he suffered spinal-cord damage that cost him use of his legs.
It's not known if he'll ever regain full use of his legs, and his career appears over before he had a chance to play a game for the Bulldogs.
■ Outfielder Desmond Jennings and pitchers Jeremy Hellickson and Alexander Torres have been added to the Tampa Bay Rays' 40-man roster.
The team also reinstated first baseman Carlos Pena from the 60-day disabled list yesterday. He was sidelined most of the final month of the season with two broken fingers on his left hand.
Soccer
■ Midfielder Corben Bone of Wake Forest yesterday was named the national men's player of the year by the Web site TopDrawerSoccer.com, and teammate Ika Opara was a first-team selection on the Web site's team of the season. Bone, the ACC offensive player of the year, has two goals and 10 assists this season and ranks 17th in the nation in assists per game.
Midfielder Michael Farfan of North Carolina was a third-team selection, and UNC Wilmington's Indy Smith, Wake Forest's Zach Schilawski and N.C. State's Alan Sanchez were honorable mention.
Duke's Andrew Wegner and Ryan Finley, Wake Forest's Andy Lubahn, UNC Wilmington's Etienne Boulanger and UNC Charlotte's Jennings Rex made the all-rookie first or second team.
■ Forward Landon Donovan was named Major League Soccer's most-valuable player yesterday after helping lead the Los Angeles Galaxy to the MLS Cup final for the first time since 2005.
Despite all the accolades he has received for being the best player in the U.S., this is the first time Donovan has won the top award in MLS.
He had 12 goals and six assists during the regular season and has scored three goals in the playoffs.
Miscellaneous
■ Retired NBA star Jayson Williams has agreed to a plea deal that would send him to prison for as long as three years for accidentally shooting a driver at his New Jersey estate in 2002, a source told The Associated Press yesterday.
Williams, who retired in 2000 after playing nine seasons in the NBA for the Philadelphia 76ers and New Jersey Nets, was to face a retrial in January on a reckless manslaughter count. The source, who was not authorized to speak about the case, told the AP on the condition of anonymity that Williams will plead guilty today to aggravated assault. Because a gun was used, Williams must serve at least 18 months in prison, the source said.
■ The LPGA Tour is adding a $1.7 million tournament at La Costa Resort & Spa outside San Diego in 2010. The LPGA Classic Presented by J Golf will be played March 22-28, the week before the Kraft Nabisco Championship, the first major.
■ Tyson Gay and Sanya Richards have won the Jesse Owens Award -- USA Track & Field's highest honor -- for a second time each.
Gay tied or lowered his American record in the 100 meters three times in three months this year, with a best of 9.69 seconds. That tied him with world-record holder Usain Bolt for the second-fastest time in history.
Richards won the 400 and ran the anchor leg on the winning 1,600 relay team at the world championships.
■ Jeff Schemmel, the athletics director at San Diego State, resigned yesterday after a university investigation of his travel expenses.
The school investigated his travel expense records after The San Diego Union-Tribune inquired about an attempt to subpoena the records as part of an Alabama man's divorce proceedings.
According to the newspaper, John David Lineberger's wife, Carolyn, testified in a deposition that she met Schemmel for multiple trysts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and in Point Clear, Ala.
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