Can You Split A Cy Young Award Three Ways?

Okay, so how many jokes can you think of where the punch line is, "they should change the name of the award to the 'High' Young."

Rimshot!

Clearly, Tim Lincecum is in the news for the second time this month for something much more rewarding – namely his second-consecutive NL Cy Young Award. It's really difficult not to give the award to a guy who won it last year and managed to improve on his numbers in 2009. From MLB.com:

Lincecum clearly improved overall. The 25-year-old trimmed his ERA by 0.14. Opponents hit .206 off him this season, compared to .221 in 2008. After walking 84 in 227 innings a year ago, he improved to 68 walks in 225 1/3 innings this season.

The other names on the short list of candidates were Chris Carpenter and Adam Wainwright of the Cardinals. Going in, one had to assume that teammates being so great would, in some way, cancel each other out ... and that's exactly what happened.

Wainwright actually received the most first-place votes (12) but only recorded five second place and 15 third place votes. Lincecum had 11 first, 12 second and nine third place votes. Carpenter, who actually finished second ahead of Wainwright, had nine first, 14 second and seven third place votes.

They really should have figured out a way to split the trophy in three. Carpenter led the league in ERA (2.24) and was second in WHIP (1.01), Lincecum led in strikeouts and K/9 and was second in opponent batting average (.209), while Wainwright in wins (19) and inning pitched (233.0) and was near the top of every category.

In the end, Lincecum's numbers were slightly better than the two Cardinals – as evidenced by his league-best 8.2 WAR (wins above replacement). With two Cy Young award winners in 2009 with 15 and 16 wins, it shows the voters are looking at the numbers that really matter. That's a good thing.

This post originally appeared on the Sporting Blog. For more, see The Sporting Blog Archives.