Doing a Double Take: Tim Lincecum's 2009 Season Is Rivaling That of 2008

After he won the 2008 National League Cy Young, many people thought that San Francisco Giants' ace Tim Lincecum couldn’t really get much better than what he did in his first-full major league season. Dude racked up strikeouts like they were going out of style, shot up the ranks as one of baseball’s best, and did all of this on a team that finished 20 games under .500. However, donned with his new rock star hair and a couple of new toys to play with, "The Freak" has made his encore season making any doubters believe the sophomore slump does not exists. First, the numbers through 16 starts: 2008: 9-1, 2.38 ERA, 109.2 IP, 93 H, 114 K, 43 BB 2009: 8-2, 2.37 ERA, 114 IP, 94 H, 132 K, 28 BB Those are eerily similar, aren’t they? The thing that is making Lincecum’s 2009 better than his 2008 are the two stats categories at the end of each year’s line. 2009’s version is certainly a different product than what we saw a year ago. After adding a change-up to his ... (link)