Sports in brief: Award turns into Freak show

Baseball: Talk about a freak – Tim Lincecum needed just 15 wins to bag another N.L. Cy Young Award.

“It’s turned into a game of complete numbers and statistics and what people do with that,” Lincecum said.

Lincecum (above) won the Cy Young Award Thursday for the second straight year, emerging from one of the tightest votes in the history of the honor to become the first repeat winner since Randy Johnson.

Only 10 points separated the top three vote-getters. Chris Carpenter was second and St. Louis teammate Adam Wainwright finished third despite getting the most first-place votes.

Lincecum, nicknamed “The Freak” for his giant stride, led the N.L. with 261 strikeouts and tied for the league lead with four complete games and two shutouts.

He attracts plenty of attention on the mound with his shoulder-length brown hair and twisting delivery. But it was his 15 victories – the fewest for a Cy Young starter over a non-shortened season – that were really noticeable for the award winner.

The 2009 honors for Lincecum and Kansas City Royals ace Zack Greinke reflect a recent shift in how pitchers are evaluated. The focus has changed to more developed statistics, including some that even take into account team defense.

Greinke equaled the previous low of 16 wins for a non-shortened season when he won the A.L. award Tuesday.

Associated Press

Gonzaga gets IPFW tonight

College basketball: For the second straight week, Gonzaga will face an opponent that played at Washington State the previous night. Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne, which lost to WSU on Thursday, takes on the Bulldogs (1-1) at 6 tonight at the McCarthey Athletic Center.

The Mastodons, picked to finish sixth in the Summit League preseason poll, were 13-17 last season. IPFW lost to Wisconsin 75-46 and defeated NAIA Madonna 86-57.

GU beat Mississippi Valley State in its home opener last Friday, one day after the Delta Devils lost to WSU.

South African to keep medal

Track and field: South African runner Caster Semenya will keep her 800-meter gold medal from the world championships, and the results of her gender tests will be kept confidential, the South African sports ministry said.

However, the question of whether she remains eligible to compete as a woman remained uncertain.

The IAAF, track and field’s governing body, said it would not release the results of the gender tests and would not comment on the announcement by the South Africans.

Associated Press