ESPN

A couple of weeks ago, it looked like Brandon Webb had the National League Cy Young Award firmly in his grasp. However, after just missing his first career shutout his last time out, Tim Lincecum continued his late charge at the award by finishing the job in Saturday's contest, blanking the Padres on just four hits.

Lincecum walked three and struck out 12 in recording his eighth double-digit strikeout game of the season. His record moved to 17-3, his ERA is now a National League-best 2.43, and his 237 strikeouts lead the major leagues.

Only one Padres player even reached second base in the first eight innings, and that was on a stolen base. The right-hander has gone into overdrive in the second half of the season, with a 2.19 ERA, 1.03 WHIP, and 102 strikeouts in 78 innings since the break.

One thing many people are going to be looking at is the career-high 138 pitches Lincecum needed to finish the game, following 127 in his previous outing. He threw 92 pitches September 2, but in the three outings before that his pitch counts were 119, 115, and 132. He's certainly been racking up the mileage lately. The 24-year-old has thrown the third-most pitches in the big leagues this season, trailing A.J. Burnett and CC Sabathia.

After his teammate Matt Cain, who is fourth on the list of pitches thrown, lost Thursday night, Giants manager Bruce Bochy told the San Francisco Chronicle that he and the staff would look into the workload of both Cain and Lincecum and see if an adjustment is necessary. Bochy said he and pitching coach Dave Righetti spoke Friday and decided to maintain the status quo.

"If these guys feel fine, which they do, they're going to pitch," Bochy said.

Lincecum was still hitting 95 in the ninth inning, even as he passed the 130-pitch mark, and Bochy, wanting to get him the shutout, admitted after the game that "he put me in a tough spot," and that they will monitor him closely in his final outings.

For his part, Lincecum has routinely dismissed any workload concerns, and his college history of throwing 150-160 pitches per game quite often is well known.

There no doubt will be some debate about how much of a workload a young pitcher can handle, but I think Lincecum's proverbial "unorthodox" mechanics are actually helpful in this case, and that if anyone can handle it, he can.

Francisco Rodriguez broke the record for saves in a season with his 58th. Not that it is meaningful in K-Rod's case, but it's interesting to note that Bobby Thigpen saved only 30 games the season after he recorded 57. However, it would not shock anyone if K-Rod had less than 40 saves next season, especially if he signs elsewhere this offseason. … Congrats as well to Hanley Ramirez on going 30/30, which is something a lot of fantasy owners certainly expected he could do. … The Diamondbacks decided to make a change, and demoted Brandon Lyon from his closer role in favor of Chad Qualls, who has been lights-out since the beginning of August. However, Qualls was not available Saturday night, having pitched in four of the previous six games, so it was left to Tony Pena to close the door in the ninth, and he failed at the task, giving up a pinch-hit double to, ironically, his former teammate Micah Owings. … Evan Longoria was back in the lineup in the first game of the Rays doubleheader. It was the first time since breaking his wrist last month, and he went 2-for-5 with two RBIs on a bases-loaded single. He expects to have some lingering soreness that he can play through for the balance of the season. James Shields was money in that contest, shutting out the Yankees over eight innings … Carlos Gomez had three hits and six RBIs as the Twins swept a doubleheader from the Orioles, as he looks like he's breaking out of a prolonged slump to keep his name on the lineup card. His teammate Denard Span was even better, with four hits, two homers, and a steal in the sweep, and is now hitting .309 with a .393 on-base percentage, six homers, and 17 steals in less than 300 at-bats. … Chone Figgins was back in the lineup after missing four games following being hit on the elbow by a pitch. He went 0-for-4. … Juan Rivera had four hits, a homer, and an RBI and is hitting .250 with nine homers since the break. However, he left the game in the eighth with a groin injury, and was replaced by Gary Matthews Jr. … Matt Lindstrom worked a scoreless ninth for his fourth save since taking over the closer's job. He saved the win for Josh Johnson, who dropped his ERA to 3.30 in striking out nine over six frames. … Milton Bradley (back) lasted four innings in his return to the lineup before being ejected for arguing a double-play call. … Travis Snider had a homer and five RBIs in game one of the Blue Jays' doubleheader, and drove in another run in the second game. He's hitting .316 since he was called up to the big leagues. … A.J. Burnett has a 2.95 ERA since the All-Star Game, with 88 strikeouts in 79 1/3 innings after shutting down the Red Sox in game one. … Bartolo Colon allowed five runs, but only two were earned as he worked six innings for the Red Sox in the second game. However, there is no room for him in the rotation at the moment. …It was a third straight rough start for Manny Parra, who allowed five runs and failed to get out of the second inning against the Phillies, who got a good outing from Cole Hamels to move closer in the wild-card race. Parra has allowed 16 runs in his past three starts, although only 10 of them have been earned. … Mike Gonzalez shut the door on the Mets in the first games of the Braves' doubleheader to rebound from his only blown save of the season his most recent time out. … Jon Niese threw eight shutout innings, striking out seven, as the Mets won game two. Niese went 11 days between making his first and second big league starts, and is a sleeper for the final couple of weeks. … Mark Teahen had five hits and two homers in the Royals' twinbill sweep of the Indians. He's hitting .349 this month, after a miserable last two months where he hit .222. … Adam Wainwright gave up more than two runs in a start for the first time since returning from the DL five games ago, giving up six in four innings against the Pirates. He'll bounce back.