Lincecum vs. Oswalt

Buster Olney has in his blog today a comparison of Tim Lincecum, 2007-2009, with Roy Oswalt, 2001-2003.

W-L Record

Lincecum: 40-17
Oswalt: 43-17

ERA

Lincecum: 2.90
Oswalt: 2.92

Starts

Lincecum: 89
Oswalt: 72

Cy Youngs:

Lincecum: 2
Oswalt: 0

This is bullcrap. Oswalt has finished in the Top 5 in Cy Young voting five times in his career, coming as close as 3rd in 2004.

I want to know more.

2001: 14-3, 2.73 ERA/1.06 WHIP, 144K:24BB. It goes to Randy Johnson, with Curt Schilling, Matt Morris, and Jon Lieber (!) getting more votes than Roy. Of course, Roy only threw 141.2IP.

2002: 19-9, 3.31 ERA/1.19 WHIP, 208K:62BB. It goes again to Randy Johnson, with Curt Schilling, John Smoltz, and Eric Gagne and Roy tied for 4th. Smoltz and Gagne were both relieving.

2004: 20-10, 3.49 ERA/1.25 WHIP, 206K:62BB. Roger Clemens gets it for Houston, with his 18-4 record. Randy Johnson is next, and Roy gets his 1st 1st-place vote.

2005: 20-12, 2.94 ERA/1.20 WHIP, 184K:48BB. Chris Carpenter goes 21-5 and wins it. Dontrelle Willis and Roger Clemens finish ahead of Roy.

2006: 15-8, 2.98 ERA/1.17 WHIP, 166K:38BB. Brandon Webb wins the Cy Young Award, with Trevor Hoffman and Chris Carpenter finishing ahead of Roy.

Hard to argue with the guys that won it in those years. I retract my indignance.