New York ? Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young Award by a comfortable margin Tuesday, taking home pitching’s highest honor in his second major-league season.

The slender kid with the whirling windup joined Mike McCormick (1967) as the only San Francisco Giants pitchers to win a Cy Young.

Lincecum received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks had four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points.

The 24-year-old right-hander was 18-5 with a 2.62 earned-run average and a major-league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place team that finished 72-90.

Lincecum led the NL in winning percentage (.783), ranked second in ERA and was third with 227 innings. He made his first All-Star squad, but an illness prevented him from appearing in the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium.

New York Mets ace Johan Santana, who led the league in ERA (2.53) and innings (2341â3), also garnered four first-place votes and came in third.

The other first-place vote went to Milwaukee lefty CC Sabathia, last year’s AL winner who was traded by Cleveland into the National League on July 7.

This year’s American League winner will be announced Thursday, with Cleveland lefty Cliff Lee a heavy favorite. AL and NL Managers of the Year are today.