New York, NY -- (Sports Network) - San Francisco Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum has been named the 2008 National League Cy Young Award winner by members of the Baseball Writers' Association of America.

Lincecum placed first on 23 of the 32 ballots cast by two writers from each NL city to become just the second hurler in Giants history to win the award and the first since lefty Mike McCormick in 1967. Lincecum finished second on seven ballots and third on one, as he received 137 points based on the 5-3-1 tabulation system.

"On behalf of the entire Giants organization, and our wonderful fans, we congratulate Tim Lincecum on his outstanding achievement," said Giants managing general partner Bill Neukom. "By winning the Cy Young award, Tim has been recognized as the National League's premier pitcher in 2008."

Arizona's Brandon Webb, the 2006 winner of this award, finished second for the second straight year with 73 points, placing first on four ballots, second on 15 and third on eight others. New York's Johan Santana received four first- place votes and was third with 55 points.

"I was more shocked than anything," said Lincecum of his reaction to winning. "With the competition I was hoping I would be in the mix ... I was thinking that it would be either Santana or Sabathia."

Lincecum was dominant in just his second big league season, going 18-5 for the 72-win Giants. He led the majors with 265 strikeouts, was second in the NL with a 2.62 earned run average and had the highest winning percentage in the Senior Circuit (.783).

The 24-year-old held opponents to a league best.221 batting average against. Amazingly, Lincecum held both righties and lefties to a .221 clip.

"This is a great day for Tim, for the Giants and for our fans everywhere," Neukom said. "Tim is an exceptionally talented baseball player who has earned this high honor through his hard work, dedication and competitive spirit."

Lincecum, the 10th overall pick by the Giants in the 2006 draft, had already collected both the Players Choice and Sporting News NL pitcher-of-the-year awards earlier this offseason.

He joins Dwight Gooden (1985) and Fernando Valenzuela (1981) as the only pitchers to win the NL Cy Young Award in their second season. Brett Saberhagen (1985) also did it in the AL.

"As far as this award goes, I wasn't really thinking anything of it until recently," said Lincecum. "I'm just trying to keep my emotions in check. I just want to become better every day, and get better every outing.

Webb, meanwhile, won his first nine starts of the year, en route to an NL best 22 wins, while pitching to a 3.30 earned run average. His .759 winning percentage was second only to Lincecum (.783).

There have been 34 pitchers who have won at least 22 games in the past 31 years, and 19 of them have gone on to win the Cy Young. Of the 15 who did not, Webb is just the second to lose to a pitcher with fewer than 20 wins.

Santana, a two-time Cy Young Award winner in the AL, was 16-7 in his first season with the Mets, while leading the league in ERA (2.53) and innings pitched (234 1/3).

Rounding out the voting was Philly's Brad Lidge (10 points), Milwaukee's CC Sabathia (nine points), who received a first-place vote and Ryan Dempster (four points) of the Chicago Cubs.