Will Lincecum win back-to-back Cy Young's?

If I had to answer this question right now, I would have to say yes. As of this morning Tim Lincecum leads the league in K's (132), he's 2nd in NL in ERA (2.37), and tied for 2nd in W's (8). His dynamic 4-pitch arsenal keeps good hitters off balance and sends average hitters back to the pine. He's also coming off an amazing stretch of starts where he's thrown 3 CG's, including 2 shutouts, in his last 4 starts. There's only one word that comes to mind when talking about Lincecum and that's dominent.

There are other names in the NL Cy Young conversation as we near the All-Star Break, including guys like San Francisco Giants teammate Matt Cain (9-2, 2.57 ERA, 85 K's), Johan Santana (9-5, 3.08 ERA, 100 K's), Chad Billingsley (9-3, 3.10 ERA, 99 K's), Yovani Gallardo (8-4, 2.86 ERA, 102 K's), and Dan Haren (6-5, 2.25 ERA, 104 K's), so obviously the Cy Young isn't in the bag, but would you want to bet against Lincecum at this point? I know I wouldn't.

He's completely healthy, the track-record is there, and most importantly the Giants are in playoff contention. Last season it seemed like Lincecum would win games in spite of his team, whereas this year the Giants are actually scoring some runs an

d the bullpen has been outstanding. One thing that's become evident over the last couple of years is that Lincecum is a big game pitcher, so if the Giants can stay in contention until the end of the season, the likelihood of Lincecum pitching in big games with the season on the line goes up. In this type of scenario, I like his chances of racking up bigtime stats and hopefully getting the Giants into the playoffs. With two more starts before the All-Star Break he could conceivably get to 10 wins, which is halfway to the Cy-Young plateau of 20 wins.

It certainly not a sure thing, but which everything he's already accomplished in his young career, I wouldn't bet against him.

Fantasy Impact: No surprises here, if you've got Lincecum then you're a happy camper and if you don't then I doubt you'll be able to get him. He's about as untouchable as they get.