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From The Associated Press

Lincecum wins NL Cy Young Award, Webb finishes second

NEW YORK—Tim Lincecum won the National League Cy Young Award by a comfortable margin Tuesday, taking home pitching’s highest honor in his second major league season.

The slender kid with the whirling windup joined Mike McCormick (1967) as the only San Francisco Giants pitchers to win a Cy Young.

Lincecum received 23 of 32 first-place votes and 137 points in balloting by the Baseball Writers’ Association of America. Brandon Webb of the Arizona Diamondbacks got four first-place votes and finished second with 73 points.

Listed at 5-foot-11 and 160 pounds, tiny by today’s standards for a big league pitcher, Lincecum defied detractors — and the laws of physics — by firing 97 mph fastballs past one hulking slugger after another.

The 24-year-old right-hander was 18-5 with a 2.62 ERA and a major league-best 265 strikeouts, remarkable numbers for a fourth-place team that finished 72-90.

Lincecum led the NL in winning percentage (.783), ranked second in ERA and was third with 227 innings. He made his first All-Star squad, but an illness prevented him from appearing in the July 15 game at Yankee Stadium.

New York Mets ace Johan Santana, who led the league in ERA (2.53) and innings (234 1-3), also garnered four first-place votes and came in third.

Indians pitcher Herb Score dies

CLEVELAND—Herb Score, the Cleveland Indians pitcher and former broadcaster whose promise on the mound was shattered by a line drive, died Tuesday. He was 75.

Score died at his home in Rocky River, Ohio, the team said in a statement. He had been in a wheelchair since suffering a stroke in 2002, four years after he was seriously injured in a car accident.

A hard-throwing left-hander with a big fastball and big heart, Score pitched for the Indians from 1955-59. He was named the American League Rookie of the Year in 1955 after going 16-10. He went 20-9 in 1956 and was twice named to the All-Star team.

However, Score’s career took a sad and nearly tragic turn on May 7, 1957, when Gil McDougald of the New York Yankees lined a ball off Score’s right eye, breaking his nose and a number of bones in his face. As Score lay fallen on the field covered in blood, the public address announcer asked the crowd at Municipal Stadium, “If there is a doctor in the stands, will he please report to the playing field.”

Fearful of being hit again, Score changed his pitching motion, with less than favorable results. After two losing seasons in Cleveland he pitched parts of three seasons with the Chicago White Sox. He never won more than nine games after the injury and retired in 1962 with a 55-46 record and 837 strikeouts in 858-plus innings.

Brady back with Patriots, rehabbing

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.—Tom Brady is back with his Patriots teammates, laughing and talking with them — and, more importantly, rehabilitating the injured left knee that ended his season in the very first quarter.

“It’s good to see him around, hanging out, smiling,” New England defensive end Jarvis Green said Tuesday. “It looks like he’s in a good mood. I just spoke to him a few times, joked with him, but it looks like he’s OK.”

Brady underwent surgery on Oct. 6 and said on his Web site on Oct. 18 that he had another operation on the knee after it became infected. The Boston Herald reported that he had two more procedures since then to fight an infection and that he was on a six-week course of intravenous antibiotics. The team has not commented on those details.

The star quarterback was back in Foxborough on Nov. 4 and has been working in the Gillette Stadium training room beside teammates who are busy preparing for games. He has not been seen in the locker room during the period when it is open to the media. A black knee brace was on the chair at his locker Tuesday.

Brady appears to be making normal progress for someone with a post-surgical infection, and fears of a major setback seem to have subsided. His teammates sense that in his demeanor.

NASCAR’s France not pleased with ABC

Jimmie Johnson’s dominance may have taken some of the sizzle out of the Sprint Cup Chase for the championship, but that doesn’t mean NASCAR chairman Brian France thinks Johnson’s last major steps toward a third straight points title had to be relegated to cable TV.

France said Tuesday he wasn’t pleased with ABC’s decision to bump the final laps of last weekend’s race in Phoenix to ABC-owned ESPN2 so the network could air an episode of “America’s Funniest Home Videos.”

“We didn’t like it, that was not what we had anticipated but we have talked to them repeatedly in the last couple days,” France said. “There were lots of circumstances that we have to consider. They have their own issues they had to manage around. Unfortunately we got the short end of that.”

France, however, says the interests of NASCAR and its television partners are “in line” and that a rare early afternoon storm and a late accident that forced two red-flag stoppages couldn’t be helped.

“America’s Funniest Home Videos” aired between 7:30-8 p.m. in the Eastern and Central time zones. The race had a rating for 4.6 in the 7-7:30 p.m. spot before the broadcast was moved.

NFL rescinds fine against Randy Moss

FOXBOROUGH, Mass.—The NFL has rescinded a $20,000 fine levied against New England Patriots receiver Randy Moss for his comments about officiating.

The fine was withdrawn by Ray Anderson, the league’s vice president of operations, after a review, league spokesman Greg Aiello said Tuesday.

Moss’ remarks came after the Patriots lost 18-15 at Indianapolis on Nov. 2. The fine was never announced by the league.

Moss said at the time there were “some real iffy calls out there.” He added that good calls and bad calls are part of the game, and “you’ve got to live and die with them.”

Hoffman era likely over in San Diego

SAN DIEGO—Trevor Hoffman’s record-setting run as San Diego Padres closer is almost certainly over after the team withdrew its contract offer for 2009.

Hoffman, baseball’s career saves leader and the face of the franchise since Tony Gwynn retired following the 2001 season, was upset with the abrupt, impersonal way the club ended contract talks, agent Rick Thurman said Tuesday.

Thurman doubts negotiations can be rekindled.

“I would say because of the way it was handled, it appears as though he’s done as a Padre,” Thurman said.

Hoffman’s appearances out of the bullpen were announced by the ominous gongs from AC/DC’s “Hells Bells.” The Padres apparently rang out the Hoffman era when they pulled their offer of $4 million for 2009 and a $4 million club option for 2010. Thurman said the club also refused the closer’s request for a meeting with top executives, who appear to be slashing salary because of owner John Moores’ difficult divorce.

The 41-year-old Hoffman has 554 career saves. He was in Puerto Rico on a Nike tour and wasn’t available for comment, Thurman said.