SAN FRANCISCO — Tim Lincecum has been so dominant in his first two full major league seasons that even his top bosses don't know how he can get much better.

Two NL Cy Young Awards, a pair of All-Star selections — all at age 25.

Lincecum has a couple of ideas in that area: Grow up and make better decisions personally, and pitch the San Francisco Giants into the playoffs at last.

The hard-throwing right-hander figured the Cardinals' Chris Carpenter was set to win this year's NL Cy Young award, but Lincecum captured the honor Thursday for the second straight year by the slimmest of margins.

In one of the tightest votes in the history of the award, only 10 points separated the top three vote-getters. Carpenter was second and St. Louis teammate Adam Wainwright finished third despite getting the most first-place votes.

It's been quite a month for Lincecum, a 15-game winner in 2009 who led the league with 261 strikeouts and tied for top marks in the NL with four complete games and two shutouts.

“I couldn't ever have seen this happening growing up,” he said during a news conference at AT&T Park. “I just came out lucky on top.”

Lincecum, with nicknames of “Freak” and “Franchise” because of his funky delivery and quick ascent to the big leagues, became the first repeat winner since Randy Johnson won four in a row from 1999-2002 with Arizona. The Big Unit won his 300th game in June for the Giants and Lincecum leaned on him at times for expertise.

Yet Lincecum has always done things his own way, from not icing his arm to munching Philly cheesesteaks pregame and socializing in the clubhouse before his starts. The 5-foot-11, 170-pound Lincecum broke into the majors in May 2007 — less than a year after being drafted with the 10th overall pick out of Washington — with two top-notch pitches, but he's worked to develop a changeup that is now his “go-to” pitch.

Lincecum received 11 first-place votes, 12 seconds and nine thirds for 100 points in balloting released by the Baseball Writers' Association of America. Carpenter had nine firsts, 14 seconds and seven thirds to finish with 94.